If Elvis is 'The King' then his one and only stop in the British Isles might be counted as a royal flying visit. The icon of American and British popular youth culture changed planes at Prestwick airport in 1960 on his way home from doing his military service in Germany. This is how the Scottish Daily Mail recorded it.
Hundreds of screaming teenagers drowned the noise of jet engines when Sergeant Elvis (the Pelvis) Presley flew into Prestwick last night. He shook their hands, signed autograph books, posed for pictures - then bewilderedly whispered to an Air Force lieutenant:- 'Where am I?' It was his first stop on the way back to an army discharge. And the American Air Force had planned his short stay to the split-second. Col. Russell Fisher outlined the operation before the 'Pelvis' plane wiggled down. 'But it all depends on what Sergt Presley wants,' he said. 'He may change the whole scheme.' But Elvis was most co-operative . . . although he wouldn't remove his hat.
'Ah'm real sorry I cain't take it off,' said Elvis, chomping on his gum. 'It kinda breaks the uniform if you know what I mean.' What will he do after demob? 'Well, first ah'll get my feet up and have me a rest,' he said in a drawl that befits an all-American boy from Memphis, Tennessee. 'Then ah'm booked to do a television show from Hollywood with Frank Sinatra.' I said: 'I believe you want to do more serious roles in future films. You have said your first three films were musicals and you were getting tired of them.' Elvis looked me straight in the eye. His lower lip went into that million-dollar droop. 'Man, ah've made four films in my time. Yes, I want to do something more serious.' Hamlet? 'No sir. Not quite so heavy. I know my limitations.'
He spoke to reporters for five minutes - then was whisked away in a staff car to say 'Hullo' to buddies in the local NCO club. Then to the Teenage Club where he was met by the music of one of his early recordings, 'Heartbreak Hotel'. 'Turn it off,' he shouted. 'Turn it off'. They turned it off. Then back to the plane where he confided: 'Ah kind of like the idea of Scotland. Ah'm going to do a European tour and Scotland will certainly be on my list.' Dates haven't been fixed. Colonel J. E. Levan said as Elvis's silver and red aircraft left the runway: 'I don't admire his singing but I've got to listen to it - I've got a teenage son and daughter.' He added: 'But I've sure changed my opinion about that boy. He's gone up in my estimation since he landed here.'
At Frankfort Elvis flew off unkissed. His 16 year-old girl friend, Priscilla Beaulieu, stood weeping as he boarded a military plane. She had jumped over the rope barrier keeping back the small crowd at the airport but Air Force police stopped her. He and Priscilla, daughter of a US Air Force captain, have been going out with each other for six weeks. Presley said: 'She's real cute . . . she's very mature for her age.' Today the girl who missed a last good-bye fondled the gold and diamond wrist-watch he gave her. She said: 'He has promised to telephone as often as he can. He said he'd rather telephone than write because then he can hear my voice.'
Presley, interviewed on TV before he left, said: 'I haven't seen much of Germany'.
Scottish Daily Mail, 3 March 1960. Reproduced by permission of The Daily Mail.