The 70th anniversary of the world’s first air ambulance flight was commemorated on May 14, 2003, on the Scottish island of Islay from where the first flight took place.

The original mercy flight was carried out on May 14, 1933, when fisherman John McDermid was in need of urgent medical attention which could not be found on Islay.

He was flown out in a de Havilland Dragon Moth owned by Midland & Scottish Air Ferries, landing at Renfrew Airport from where he was transferred to the Western Infirmary.

Today, the fixed wing component of the air ambulance service for

the whole of Scotland is provided

by Loganair – on behalf of the Scottish Air Ambulance Service using half of its fleet of five Britten-Norman Islander aircraft. Loganair has provided this service for the

last 36 years.

The Scottish Air Ambulance Service is operated by Loganair out of its Glasgow hub with a Loganair Islander, dedicated in the air ambulance role, serving the Western Isles and Campbeltown.

Two other aircraft operate in the Northern Isles, one based in Kirkwall, serving Orkney and one based in Lerwick serving the Shetland Islands.

Said a spokesman: “The B-N Islander is ideally suited to this type of task, with its short take-off

and landing performance and

its ability to operate from all types

of airstrip, from tarmac runways

to firm sand.”

To commemorate the event the deputy chairman and the newly appointed chief executive of

B-N Group, William Hynett, flew

in to Islay in a new Islander, the

latest of the current batch of production aircraft.