SEVENTY YEARS AGO Saturday April 24, 1952

Pilot and seven passengers have a lucky escape on Islay

The pilot of a privately chartered aircraft and seven passengers had a lucky escape on Saturday afternoon when the aircraft struck the tip of a small bank and severely damaged its undercarriage when it landed on the runway at Glenegedale Airport, Islay. The aircraft, operated by Air Enterprise and piloted by Captain Watson, was taking a party of seven passengers to Islay from Renfrew Airport.

As it was coming in over the Port Ellen to Bowmore road, the wheels of the plane apparently struck the bank. The plane rose in the air and made a heavy landing on the airfield. It tilted, but did not overturn.

An ambulance and crash tender, which constantly standby as this is the commercial airport for the island, rushed to the plane, but there was no fire and, beyond bruises and slight cuts and a shaking, none of the passengers or the pilot was injured. They were attended to by a local doctor. Mr Helmut WB Schroder of a Dunlossit House, Port Askaig, Islay, who was in the plane, later told a reporter that he had flown to Renfrew from London earlier in the day. At Renfrew, he had met members of his house party who had come by car.

He said: ‘The wheels of the plane struck the bank. We were bumped up into the air and came down on the runway with a jolt.’

▮ Editor’s note: Renfrew Airport was decommissioned in 1966.

In 1997: A Kintyre woman has taken the ‘take your dog to work’ theme a step further. Kathy Ramsden of Culfuar Farm, Tayinloan, has been taking a lamb to work with her for the last couple of weeks. The lamb, which was a twin, needs feeding every three to four hours and the only hope it has of surviving is for Kathy to nurture it to health. Back on the farm, everyone is too busy to feed the lamb so frequently so Kathy became its surrogate mum. Knuckles, as Cathy has named the lamb because of its knuckle-looking feet, has been doing well and he’s gaining strength by the day. And where better for Kathy to work, but the Campbeltown office of the National Farmers’ Union. Kathy, right, works at the NFU office as assistant to Morna Paterson, left, who just loves the office’s newest employee.

In 1952: It is hard to believe food rationing from the Second World War continued until 1954, two years into the reign of HM Queen Elizabeth. The Courier provided a handy cut-out-and-keep guide, right, to where you should go to collect your ration book.