MOTHERS who gave birth while aboard air ambulances serving remote Scottish islands are being urged to come forward as part of a major new project at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune.

The museum is home to a Britten-Norman Islander, an aircraft used by Loganair from 1967 to 2006 for an air ambulance service covering the Hebrides, Shetland and Orkney.

The air ambulance service ferried many expectant mothers to mainland maternity wards but 22 babies – including one set of twins – were born aboard Britten-Norman Islanders as their mothers were being whisked to hospital.

Now, the museum is looking to record some of their stories.

The aircraft will be re-displayed next year as part of a £3.6 million project to restore two nationally significant Second World War hangars at the museum, and create vibrant new exhibitions within them at the same time.

The new displays will dramatically present military, commercial and leisure flight and will, for the first time, explore in detail the human stories linked to individual aircraft.