JOHN Mackay e-mailed in about the Picture Detective of 8th July after his sister sent him a copy of the article.
The photo was taken of him and his gyrocopter at the Highland Air Show in the early 1980s. The gyrocopter is a Campbell Cricket, one of two he owned at the time.
"In 1981 and 1982 I used to race motorcycles and whilst rushing down to Knockhill for the practice session on a Saturday afternoon with my car, trailer and motorcycle I was pulled over for speeding," he explained.
"I was informed that I could expect to lose my licence as I was quite a long way over the speed limit.
"I lived in the Black Isle at the time and unfortunately not on a bus route so getting to work would mean having to cycle until I got my licence back.
"I had recently seen the James Bond movie which featured gyrocopters and thought that’s the way to get to work.
"I called Paramount Studios who put me in touch with Wing Commander Ken Wallis who had built and flown the gyrocopter in the Bond film."
Mr MacKay then contacted a company in Raleigh, North Carolina called Bensen which sold kits to build your own.
It had an agent in Ayrshire and he bought a gyro kit which he built and tested. He then met the owner of the Campbell Cricket, a factory-built gyro which was more luxurious compared with the Bensen and he came home with two gyrocopters.
"In order to get a gyro licence I had to train for 25 hours in a fixed wing aeroplane before moving onto the gyro training," he said.
He joined the Highland Aero Club and met Keith Durbidge, an ex Spitfire pilot and the club’s chief flying instructor and gained his licence for fixed wing aircraft and then for gyrocopters.
"The gyrocopter training involved travelling the length of the country several times to find suitable instructors and was an adventure in itself. This took a lot longer than expected and I had my driving licence back before I was ready to fly the gyrocopter, as such I never did commute to work by gyrocopter!" added Mr Mackay.
He emigrated to the USA in 1987 where he continued to fly as a hobby. He returned to the UK in 1996 and qualified as a commercial pilot and is now in Bournemouth and flies a Boeing 737.
The Campbell Cricket stayed in his possession until April this year when he sold it to another gyro enthusiast from Suffolk.
Another reader Maureen Green has identified her son and daughter Euan and Kelly Green — Euan sitting in the plane and Kelly standing beside it.
