Orcadian - flown by Capt Fresson
[photo (c): DWL collection]
The 75th anniversary of the first official internal British airmail service is commemorated by a special exhibition in the Orkney museum, Kirkwall for the summer.
On May 29 1934 Captain Ted Fresson, pioneer of flight in the North of Scotland, flew the first airmail service from Inverness to Wick and Kirkwall. Carrying mail and newspapers, he landed in Wick but couldn't provide a mail service to Caithness because his contract only covered mail bound for Orkney. Earlier in the same month he flew the first regular scheduled passenger service on the same route and in November of 1934 he operated the first UK air ambulance flight.
Britain was a late-comer to carrying mail by air, and the Orkney link was an isolated local solution rather than a strategic initiative. Before that the Orkneys were dependent on the time-consuming combination of train and ferry with frequent delays. Nevertheless, a network of airmail links spread across Britain in the mid-1930s, largely thanks to Railway Air Services, a joint venture between the main-line railway companies and Imperial Airways which continued until WW2 and briefly afterwards until nationalisation.
Capt Fresson pioneered aviation in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with the formation of Highland Airways Ltd. Between 1933 and 1948 he established a network of air services and aerodromes in the region, initially employing DH84 Dragon (including Orcadian, seen above at Southend) and DH89 Rapide aircraft. His vision and determination saw the airline establish commercial and mail flights to and from Orkney, Wick, Shetland, Inverness, Aberdeen, Perth and Glasgow. Another first attributed to Capt Fresson was the tarmac runway at Stornoway, acknowledged as the first of its kind in Great Britain.
Captain Ernest Edmund Fresson OBE continued to fly charters until 1958 and died in Inverness in September 1963. The Fresson Trust was set up to honour Capt Fresson and continues to further knowledge of aviation throughout the Highlands and Islands.