The Story of Captain Fresson and Highland Airways

Captain EE Fresson was born on 20th September 1891. He founded Highland Airways in 1932 after a "Barnstorming" trip to Wick and Thurso, where he saw the potential of flight to fundamentally improve transport across the Pentland Firth from Thurso and Inverness. His involvement came to an end in 1948 following the nationalisation of civil aviation in 1946. He died in 1963. 

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Fresson and his staff were much admired for the reliability of their service and willingness to fly in the worst of conditions to get medical assistance and supplies to the islanders when surface transport was either too slow or too dangerous. His life was fraught with difficulty and danger, but his determination, intelligence, bravery, and sense of duty saw him surmount nearly all the obstacles life put in his way.

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Fresson is considered to have been instrumental in the development of runways, tarmacked landing surfaces, landing lights and runway lights - things which we all take for granted nowadays. His airline was the first to be awarded the Royal Mail Pennant, meaning that if Highland Airways was not the first airline to be a national mail carrier, it was one of the first.