A record of images from the time EGPB was a busy airport during the oil extraction boom of 70s and 80s.
Being just south of 60°N the June sky was light all year. Locally this is called the ‘simmer dim’.
Looking north from Sumburgh Head.
An overview from the radar site near Sumburgh Head.
In the early days the airport was a ‘bush’ operation serving a mainly rural, isolated community. With the arrival of the oil companies the capacity of the airport was stretched beyond reasonable limits. The Wilsness Terminal was regarded by many as a short-lived white elephant but earlier terminal building was in a quite inadequate site for the amount of traffic, but the CAA was community oriented. Here’s the terminal used for a Boys’ Brigade parade around 1981.
The CAA staff were accommodated in new housing in Toab. The road going towards the sea is Ninian Drive.
This is the airport terminal today.
The were a few opportunities to visit the oil industry.
And this view of the (in)famous Brent Spar which has an article to itself on Wikipedia.
Off course everyone moves on in life. Here’s John Hall working for a builder in the south of England having almost landed in our back garden.
And finally looking along runway 33 in the twilight.
