Ted Fresson Inverness Airport at Dalcross

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Ernest Edmund "Ted" Fresson, (20 September 1891 – 25 September 1963) was a British engineer and

aviation pioneer Aviation pioneers are people directly and indirectly responsible for the advancement of flight, including people who worked to achieve manned flight before the invention of aircraft, as well as others who achieved significant "firsts" in aviation a ...

Life

Fresson was sent by his company to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1911, but returned to the UK to serve in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, undergoing flying training in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in 1918. After the war he went back to China where he built, reassembled and designed aircraft for local dignitaries. He returned to the United Kingdom after the 1927 revolution, and started giving joy rides to the public, flying for a company called Berkshire Aviation Tours, touring England and Scotland, flying from any available fields. In January 1929 with another Berkshire pilot he founded North British Aviation Co Ltd, based at

Hooton Park Royal Air Force Hooton Park or more simply RAF Hooton Park, on the Wirral Peninsula, Cheshire, is a former Royal Air Force station originally built for the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 as a training aerodrome for pilots in the First World War. ...

on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. This company performed pleasure flights and air displays in the northwest of England, mainly using

Avro 504K The Avro 504 was a First World War biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the war totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind tha ...

aircraft, and was incorporated into Alan

Cobham's Flying Circus Sir Alan John Cobham, KBE, AFC (6 May 1894 – 21 October 1973) was an English aviation pioneer. Early life and family As a child he attended Wilson's School, then in Camberwell, London. The school relocated to the former site of Croyd ...

in 1933. He established an airline, Highland Airways, in Scotland in April 1933. He was awarded the first contract for domestic

airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be the ...

in the UK on 29 May 1934, flying between

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he advised the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

and

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

on where to build its airfields in Scotland: he is credited with building the first

tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...

runway built in the UK, at

RNAS Hatston RNAS Hatston, also called HMS ''Sparrowhawk'', was a Royal Naval Air Station, one mile to the north west of Kirkwall on the island of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It was located near the strategically vital naval base of Scapa Flow, which for mo ...

, Orkney. His airline was absorbed into the wartime

Scottish Airways Scottish Airways was an airline serving most of Scotland, especially the Highlands and Islands. It was active from 1937 until 1947, when it was merged into British European Airways. History Foundation The company was established on 12 August 1 ...

, and into the nationalised

British European Airways Corporation British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

after the war: he continued to work in the airline's management until he was let go in March 1948. In retirement, he continued to fly charter passengers across northern Scotland.

Honours

Fresson Monument, Kirkwall Airport - geograph

In the

1943 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1943 were appointments by King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by people of the British Empire. They were published on 2 June 1943 for the United Kingdom and Canada. The re ...

, he was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in recognition of his work as Managing Director of Scottish Airways Limited. In 2011, a bronze statue of Fresson was unveiled at

Sumburgh Airport Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving Shetland in Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and s ...

. A memorial to him stands in front of Kirkwall Airport.

Selected works

References

External links

Likeness
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fresson, E. E. 1891 births 1963 deaths 20th-century British engineers British business executives Royal Flying Corps officers Aviation history of Scotland Commercial aviators British World War I pilots Officers of the Order of the British Empire British expatriates in China