Event to explore ‘the other John Rae’

A Kirkwall audience will get a look into the life of one of Orkney’s aviation pioneers.

John Rae was a pilot with Scotland’s first civil air service, the short lived Midland and Scottish Air Ferries Ltd. before joining Ted Fresson’s Highland Airways, which ran the first air mail route between Orkney and the Scottish mainland.

His grandson, Andrew Rae, is a professor of engineering at the University of the Highlands and Islands, and is also keenly involved in research into future fuels for flight through Sustainable Aviation Test Environment (SATE) project based at Kirkwall Airport.

Professor Rae will give a talk on his grandfather — “the other John Rae” — at the King Street Halls in an event organised by Another Orkney Production (AOP) on Tuesday evening.