Strathallan Airfield lies some 14 miles west of Perth near the village of Auchterarder. It was established in 1966 by brothers William and David Roberts as the base for their aviation company, Strathallan Air Charter Ltd. (Strathair), which provided private charter, air freight and aircraft maintenance services. (Strathallan Air Services est. 1963 and renamed Cirrus Aviation in 1970)
An earlier landing strip had been established by their father, Sir James Roberts (1904-73) in the 1930s next to the family home, Strathallan Castle. Sir James Roberts had used his own Gipsy Moth to travel between Strathallan and his property in Kent. David Roberts was killed in 1971 when his aeroplane crashed on approach to Strathallan.
A large and internationally important collection of historic aircraft was amassed here from the early 1970s by the elder brother, Sir William, who gained credit as an early pioneer of the preservation of aircraft. The collection was auctioned off in 1981. An aircraft museum was maintained at Strathallan until 1988. The bulk of the collection was, however, sold in the early 1980s. Today, Strathallan is used by Skydive Strathallan (est. 1960), parachuting, the biggest and oldest skydiving centre in Scotland.
Among the aircraft collection at Strathallan was a Westland Lysander V9367 that was built in 1938 and had been part of Polish 309 Squadron before being allotted to the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) to function as a ‘target tug’. The Lysander returned to Scotland in 1971 and was restored to flight worthiness at Strathallan. Today, dressed to represent an aircraft of 161 Squadron, which flew clandestine operations over enemy territory (1942-5), the Lysander V9367 is part of the Shuttleworth Collection in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. Another 309 Squadron aircraft once on display at Strathallan (main hangar) was a Lysander (V9441) that bore the code letters AR-A signifying service before 1944 when the squadron changed its code letters to WC.
Research by Ken Bruce
Westland Lysander IIIa ‘V9367 MA-B’ (G-AZWT) via licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Avro Shackleton T4 at Strathallan, the stripes on the propellers were to stop you walking into them. Strathallan’s Shackleton was broken up eventually, although its nose is now in the Midland Air Museum in Coventry. Image: Ken Bruce
Former BOAC de Havilland Comet XK655 at Strathallen, broken up for scrap metal, in 1995 its nose was sold to Gatwick Airport for display purposes on the Spectators Terrace Image: Ken Bruce
V9941 in hangar at Strathallan – Credit: David Kirkwood