Short Airfield History

Strathaven is the third oldest operational airfield on the west of Scotland mainland - the other two being Prestwick and Glasgow Airports.

It was founded by The Scottish Flying Club in the early 1960s after a decade of searching for a site to replace their former base at Glasgow's Renfrew Airport.

Gp Cpt George Pinkerton, chairman of the Scottish Flying Club when it bought Couplaw farm in 1964, was the pilot who shot down the first German aircraft over British soil in WW2.

He was still chairman in the 1970s when the airfield was given to the RAF Benevolent Fund so it "would continue to be used for flying". This is probably why many people think it is an ex-wartime airfield.

Flying clubs based at Strathaven over the years include the West of Scotland Flying Club, Glasgow and Strathclyde University Gliding Club, the Rutherglen Flying Group and the Strathclyde Gliding Club.

The airfield was sold by the RAF Benevolent Fund in 2005 to microlight aircraft instructor Colin MacKinnon, whose Microlight Scotland flying school had been based at Cumbernauld Airport.

The airfield is now back in the hands of the revived Scottish Flying Club -  now trading as a not-for-profit company called Strathaven Airfield Ltd - and is being completely refurbished. And we are determined to keep that traditional grass runway flying club atmosphere.

The golden era of The Scottish Flying Club

The early history of Strathaven Airfield

The 1980s and 90s

Into a new century