![See Scotland from the air : leaflet issued by the Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd Aviation, nd [c1933] | by mikeyashworth](http://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52621328913_6d4e891ba7.jpg)
See Scotland from the air : leaflet issued by the Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd Aviation, nd [c1933]
Little is known about one of the more remarkable sidelines of the old Scottish Motor Traction Co. Ltd. - their 1930s air taxi and aviation department. This undated leaflet possibly dates from c1933 as by that date there is sufficient evidence from other ephemera to know that the Company's fleet of aircraft was growing and in service. This includes mention of the De Havilland 3-seater Fox Moth and 6-seather Dragon Moth airplanes. By this date the SMT was effectively the holding company for numerous other Scottish bus concerns, including the mighty W Alexander's empire, and thanks to railway investment was quite 'flush'. It makes me wonder if, at a later date, the SMT aeroplanes and services were folded into the Railway Air Services that was formed in 1934?
The leaflet sells both a series of tours by air of various tourist locations in Central and East Scotland as well as mentioning the company's air taxi services and the daily flying 'joy-rides' in the Edinburgh area. The latter flights used the base at Bank Field Farm, Corstorphine, which must have been situated on the flatter ground to the south and west which is where in later years the city's main airport of Turnhouse would be built. I note it mentions "Corstorphine Tram Terminus" and this is possibly the later 1934 extension to the city tram system that saw the tracks extended out to Gyle/Maybury Rd and that helped the spread of suburbia over the fields of the parish. You could have also caught an SMT bus there! Oddly one tram terminus is mentioned and at Port Seaton, flights landing on the beach tides permitting, there would have been another until 1928 when the Musselburgh & District Tramway Co abandoned services with the Corporation running out as far as Levenhall and the SMT effectively providing bus services beyond including serving Port Seaton.
One other aerodrome is mentioned - the Company's western base at Glasgow's Renfrew Aerodrome that they also used. The leaflet is duly 'modern' in terms of graphic design and uses the SMT's diamond logo suitably adapted with 'wings' for the purpose! How I wish I had bought that SMT 'Wings' cap bage in that Edinburgh junk shop all those years ago!
See Scotland from the air : leaflet issued by the Scottish Motor Traction Co Ltd Aviation, nd [c1933]
Little is known about one of the more remarkable sidelines of the old Scottish Motor Traction Co. Ltd. - their 1930s air taxi and aviation department. This undated leaflet possibly dates from c1933 as by that date there is sufficient evidence from other ephemera to know that the Company's fleet of aircraft was growing and in service. This includes mention of the De Havilland 3-seater Fox Moth and 6-seather Dragon Moth airplanes. By this date the SMT was effectively the holding company for numerous other Scottish bus concerns, including the mighty W Alexander's empire, and thanks to railway investment was quite 'flush'. It makes me wonder if, at a later date, the SMT aeroplanes and services were folded into the Railway Air Services that was formed in 1934?
The leaflet sells both a series of tours by air of various tourist locations in Central and East Scotland as well as mentioning the company's air taxi services and the daily flying 'joy-rides' in the Edinburgh area. The latter flights used the base at Bank Field Farm, Corstorphine, which must have been situated on the flatter ground to the south and west which is where in later years the city's main airport of Turnhouse would be built. I note it mentions "Corstorphine Tram Terminus" and this is possibly the later 1934 extension to the city tram system that saw the tracks extended out to Gyle/Maybury Rd and that helped the spread of suburbia over the fields of the parish. You could have also caught an SMT bus there! Oddly one tram terminus is mentioned and at Port Seaton, flights landing on the beach tides permitting, there would have been another until 1928 when the Musselburgh & District Tramway Co abandoned services with the Corporation running out as far as Levenhall and the SMT effectively providing bus services beyond including serving Port Seaton.
One other aerodrome is mentioned - the Company's western base at Glasgow's Renfrew Aerodrome that they also used. The leaflet is duly 'modern' in terms of graphic design and uses the SMT's diamond logo suitably adapted with 'wings' for the purpose! How I wish I had bought that SMT 'Wings' cap bage in that Edinburgh junk shop all those years ago!