College welcomes guests for McIntyre Memorial event
Ayrshire College was delighted to host a special aeronautical society dinner in honour of the man known as ‘the father of Prestwick Airport’.
The David McIntyre Memorial Dinner and Lecture is an annual event organised by the Prestwick Branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society — and the College’s Dam Park campus was chosen as the perfect venue to host this year’s ceremony on March 26.
In 1935, Group Captain McIntyre and the Duke of Hamilton were two young men who founded a small firm called Scottish Aviation and bought some farmland which became Prestwick's first runway. Only two years previously, the two friends had set a world record of their time by being the first to fly over Mt Everest.
The David McIntyre Memorial Dinner and Lecture brings together people from various aerospace industries, universities, colleges, politicians and aviation companies.
This year's event was attended by the President of The Royal Aeronautical Society, Ms Kerissa Khan, a Graduate of The University of Glasgow, and only the second female President of the Society in 158 years.
The lecture was given by Jonathan Hinkles, who recently stood down as CEO of Loganair, about the challenges in building a sustainable regional airline. He has also held senior roles with Virgin Atlantic, Zoom Airlines and CityFlyer Express.
The President was given a tour of the Ayrshire College's Aeronautical facility, hosted by Alastair Heron (Head of Aerospace), and accompanied by Tim Allen (Branch Chair), John Stevens (Secretary) Gavin Murray (Assistant Principal), Rod Winhall (Branch Committee) and Nicholas-Le-Toi (President's guest).
Gavin Murray, Assistant Principal, Ayrshire College, said: “It was an honour to host the Royal Aeronautical Society dinner I would like to thank all of our guests and speakers who attended and who made it such a special evening.”
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