Airport History

Part of the Inner Hebrides, Tiree is an island 22 miles west of the Scottish mainland. Known as the ‘sunshine isle’, Tiree has a deserved reputation for bright early summers despite having an average of thirty-four days of gales each year.

Tiree has played a key role in aviation history in Scotland, with the first flight landing on the island on 18 July in 1929. Chartered by the Tiree Association, it flew over to visit a sports day on The Reef, piloted by Captain A N Kingwill, performing a short aerial display and taking paying customers for flights around the island.

In 1934, the first air ambulance came to Tiree. Pilot David Barclay made the first commercial flight to the island in a DH 89 Dragon Rapide on 1 July 1936 for Northern and Scottish Airways, marking the start of regular flights to and from the island.

Passengers for these early flights would meet the crew in a wooden hut on the concourse of St Enoch’s railway station in Glasgow, travelling to Renfrew airfield to board the aircraft.

Tickets for the early commercial flights were sold by local agents, the first of whom was Colin MacPhail, who was a crofter, a special constable and lay preacher. Described as having, “handcuffs in one pocket and a Bible in the other”, he would weigh passengers before each flight near his wooden hut on The Reef. His role also included clearing the beach of any cattle or livestock before each flight and hoisting the windsock.

The Air Ministry requisitioned The Reef in 1940, in the hope of building a fighter base on the island. However, construction of the first runways were not successful, and these were replaced with three more substantial runways with deeper foundations using local stone of which the longest was 1,472m.

A new aerodrome was constructed with ten large aircraft hangars and a camp supporting 2,000 service personnel from all over the world. 224 Squadron arrived in 1942, flying Hudsons on anti-submarine patrols and air-sea rescue missions. RAF Tiree was mothballed after five months when the squadron moved to Hampshire but reopened a year later when 518 Squadron arrived. Using Halifaxes, they collected weather information and it was a message from one of these flights in June 1944 that persuaded Churchill to delay the D-Day landings by 24 hours to let a storm pass.  

Sadly, two of these aircraft collided in low cloud over the aerodrome on 16 August 1944 and all 16 crew members were lost. A memorial plaque outside the current terminal building commemorates this Coastal Command crew.

During the Second World War, commercial flights continued, using a landing strip on the grass some distance from the RAF base. Only passengers with a personal connection to the island were allowed to travel as Tiree was a restricted area, requiring travel permits.

The RAF handed the airfield over to the Ministry of Civil Aviation in 1947 with Captain David Barclay continuing to pilot the Tiree plane as he had done so in the years previously. He retired in 1965 having flown 17,349 hours and one and a half million miles in his civilian career.

Local legendary figure, known as “BEA Archie” - Archie MacArthur took up the position of Station Manager in 1960, serving 28 years in the role. He was known for greeting every passenger by name and even handing “spends” to children on their way to Glasgow.

On 4 March 1986, Tiree Airport, along with seven other airports, were incorporated by the UK Civil Aviation Authority into the newly formed Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. The current Airport Manager is Phil Knowles, who moved to the island in 2001.  

Phil said, “We are a small team, and we all have to be skilled in all aspects of airport operations, from ground-handling, providing a fire service, wildlife management, cutting grass and providing flight information services. We all have strong links to the community on the island which makes us a close-knit team.”

Tiree airport is situated in an area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The airport team have worked with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), to create a breeding friendly environment for birds, including Corncrakes and Small Terns, while not endangering aircraft movements. At the same time, the team work to manage the numbers of  geese attempting to set up home on the airfield.

The airport has also recently replaced 12 metres of drainage pipe which helps to drain the reef. Controlling this flow of water run-off from land to sea also creates the ideal conditions and habitat for native species of wildlife with herons and otters being a regular sight. Tiree is also home to nine species of bees including the rare Great Yellow Bumblebee and work is underway to create a wildflower area alongside the disused runway to attract them.

Due to storm surges Tiree, has experienced coastal erosion over the years at Tràigh Bhàigh (Crossapol Beach), which is adjacent to Tiree Airport. This erosion has exposed metal and concrete demolition waste from the former RAF base. Non- hazardous, these materials now act as dune protection with the marram grass and native species once again taking hold as the dunes reform.

The airport team regularly hold open days and participate in events such as charity car washes to raise money for local charities including the Scottish Chairty Air Ambulance and for suicide awareness groups. They also work with the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service on training exercises at the airport and attend domestic fire incidents, outside of airport operations.