A Brief History of the Scottish Gliding Centre.

The entrance hallway to the clubhouse has a pictographic display tracing the Scottish Gliding Centre through the years to the present day. Most of what follows is condensed from this display and from Andrew Thorburn's notes. (Andrew Thorburn was the founder member of the Scottish Gliding Union and the "father" of gliding in Scotland.)

Our gliding club is called the Scottish Gliding Centre and is operated by the Scottish Gliding Union Ltd.. The club is also frequently referred to by the name of its airfield. So you might find the club referred to by any of the following names:

'The Scottish Gliding Centre' (SGC)
'The Scottish Gliding Union' (SGU) or
'Portmoak'

The company title was chosen in 1934 when the SGU was formed by uniting a number of small local gliding clubs, and the SGC as we know it dates from then although there had been gliding activities in the surrounding areas prior to that. 1938 is significant because it was the year of the first soaring flights launched from the Lomond hills in Fife.

By the outbreak of war, the club had established its headquarters at East Feal farm near Leslie in Fife, consisting of a clubroom, hangar and dormitory, and was operating holiday courses for the public. This location however was no longer available after the war, and operations were transferred to Balado airfield, west of Kinross, in 1946. In 1957 a further move became necessary when Balado was returned to military use and the SGC became homeless again. A narrow strip of flat land at Portmoak farm close to Loch Leven near Scotlandwell was purchased and a hangar and new clubhouse erected. The new location proved to be highly successful, enabling soaring flights around extensive nearby ridges and further afield.

As well as an having an active membership many with wartime flying experience, the club was able to offer flying experiences to members of the public. Even some of the local schools including Braehead in Buckhaven, with a headmaster many years ahead of his time, ran a part-time gliding activity during the 1960s for some of their pupils.

In 1967 with considerable foresight the then board took the opportunity arising to purchase the remainder of Portmoak farm. This provided the club with a large flat site of some 80 hectares adjacent to Loch Leven in Kinross. The SGU has operated at this site to the present day steadily improving the airfield which is now capable of sustaining flying operations more or less around the year and bringing the benefit of additional tourism to the area.

The Scottish Gliding Centre celebrated its 60^th anniversary during the summer of 1998 and held open days on 27^th & 28^th June to mark the occasion.
The Scottish Gliding Union Ltd. celebrated its 70^th anniversary on the 7^th of July, 2004 with events on 10^th and 11^th July.

page last updated on 31st March 2005 ©2002-2005 and the

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