FIFE AIRPORT celebrated its 25th anniversary in style on Saturday with an Open Day that attracted more than 1000 visitors and aircraft from across the UK.

The Glenrothes airport was a grass strip until the runway was constructed in 1981 for £500,000. It is now a busy training facility run by Tayside Aviation.

During the day more than 50 trial flying lessons took place in Tayside’s Cessna and Grob trainers. The Sky Youth Fund, supported by British Sky Broadcasting Ltd, sponsored seven trial lessons for pupils from two Glenrothes high schools.

Alan Laing, a pilot and member of Fife Flying Club, works for Sky and helped organise the sponsored flights.

“It was a great opportunity for these students to get a taste of flying an aeroplane,” he said.

“Flying is a great career, and maybe we started one or two new pilots on their way. They all came back grinning from ear to ear. All of them got a chance to fly the aeroplane, and they all went up past Kinross to have a look at T in the Park from the air.”

Red Bull, the soft drinks company and sponsor of international air races helped support the day and put up the top raffle prize of two tickets to the air races to be held at Longleat Park in August.

The winning tickets went to Jim Miller, a member of Fife Flying Club.

During the day over 30 aircraft flew in. The furthest travelled was a Scottish Aviation-built Bulldog three-seater from Munich.

A Pitts Special aerobatic bi-plane gave a stunning display of aerobatics, followed by David Cyster’s Tiger Moth, which is based at Fife.

David is well known for having flown the same aeroplane from the UK to Australia in the mid 1970s. Several other aeroplanes gave aerobatic displays.

A Scottish Gliding Union glider flew in from Portmoak, and did a very fast, and very silent, pass down the runway.

Fife Fire and Rescue and the ambulance service took part, as did the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Stewart Webb, chairman of Fife Flying Club said, “The open day has been a great success and I hope that it has introduced many people from the local area to the joys of flying, and to what we do here at Fife Airport.”