Up at the wild north end of the island, Penny Gear, 38, crofter, pony breeder, relief cleaner, school lunch supervisor, airstrip fire warden, bird monitor and daughter of Jim and Sheila, explains why she came back 17 years ago: "I never saw anything on the mainland that I wanted more than Foula".
Jim and Penny head off to the airstrip on fire duty.
The place was deserted, however, and the marines seized the airstrip without firing another weapon.
When I'd flown in the previous morning – the only passenger on the little twin-engine plane – waiting on hard-packed airstrip were a fire crew of two, who then went off to tend to their crofts.
While pointing out the airstrip, A.T.V. trails and volunteer fire hall in her Boston accent, Ms. Budden reveals her tendency to divide the world into people who "get the deal" and those who "don't get the deal".
Either way, the brigade commander's intent -- that the enemy be prevented from firing on the airstrip -- was achieved.
So people on Foula mostly do two or three jobs - on the ferry, cleaning or cooking at the school, providing fire cover at the airstrip when the plane comes in, for the water or electricity boards or the met office, repairing the roads, running the post office, doing wildlife surveys, guiding the island's few hundred summer visitors (mainly birdwatchers).
As they got ready to board a plane at a nearby airstrip, some of Jones' security guards opened fire.
He later served in Egypt and Palestine, and on D-day plus one he landed on Gold Beach in Normandy to help get the airstrips up and running while under sniper fire.
Pilots often had to fly without navigation systems, elude enemy fire, and land on tiny airstrips cut into the sides of mountains.
Soundarya, who was 32, was traveling to the adjoining state of Andhra Pradesh on a campaign stop when the four-seater Cessna caught fire and crashed minutes after takeoff from Jakkur airstrip on the outskirts of Bangalore, a police spokesman said.
