IF you ever wondered where those James Bond-like gyrocopters seen above the Wiltshire landscape come from, the chances are they took off from a tiny airfield just outside Marlborough.

GS Aviation has been flying out of Clench Common since 1990. The family-run flying firm is one of only a handful of gyrocopter training schools in the country.

Graham Slater is the boss and chief flying instructor, teaching pilots to fly gyrocopters, fixed-wing and flex-wing aircraft. He is also a former British hang-gliding champion. He now has his wife Susan and son David on board, and they have kept busy on the ground during lockdown with the ongoing aircraft maintenance at the airfield hangar.

“I first started flying when I was five,” said David. “My sister Alex flies, and Mum goes as a passenger.”

Around 800 flyers have earned their private pilot’s wings here, and the usually bustling airfield is hoping to fire up the engines of some of its 18 aircraft in the coming weeks now lockdown restrictions have loosened.

Recreational flying is now allowed in England if social distancing rules are observed. “This is good news in some sense,” added David. “But it still restricts our pilot training and the pleasure or trial flights as the cockpit seats are not really two metres apart.”

The flying club has around 60 members, many of whom own a ‘share’ of an aircraft. “It’s a bit like a timeshare,” explained David. “These are expensive machines, so they usually have several owners each.”

Club member Paul Davies has fallen in love with Wiltshire. He lives in North London and thinks nothing of heading to Clench Common to indulge his passion for flight. “I was lucky to find this place,” he said. “The flying school is full of brilliant people and it’s like a second home to me. And of course it’s a real treat to have so many incredible landmarks to navigate by.”