A privately-owned grass airstrip located on the left bank of the Machany Water, 2½ miles (4 km) northwest of Auchterarder, Strathallan Airfield was established in 1966 by brothers William and David Roberts as the base for their aviation company, Strathallan Air Charter Ltd. (Strathair), which provided private charter, air freight and aircraft maintenance services. An earlier landing strip had been established by their father, Sir James Roberts (1904-73), in the 1930s next to the family home, Strathallan Castle, a quarter-mile (0.5 km) to the south. Roberts had used his own Gipsy Moth aircraft to travel between Strathallan and his property in Kent (England). David Roberts was killed in 1971 when his aeroplane crashed on approach to Strathallan. A large and internationally important collection of historic aircraft was amassed here from the early 1970s by the elder brother, Sir William, who gained credit as an early pioneer of the preservation of aircraft. The collection was auctioned off in 1981.
Strathallan remains the base for the Scottish Parachute Club, now the oldest active parachute club in Britain, which had its first meeting at Scone Airport in 1960 and moved here in 1966.
