RAF Skeabrae
Former Royal Air Force station on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Royal Air Force Skeabrae, or more simply RAF Skeabrae, is a former Royal Air Force station located on Mainland, Orkney, United Kingdom.
RAF Skeabrae  | |||||||||||||
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| Dounby, Mainland, Orkney in Scotland | |||||||||||||
.jpg) RAF Skeabrae on a target dossier of the German Luftwaffe, 1941 | |||||||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||||||
| Type | Royal Air Force station | ||||||||||||
| Code | KJ[1] | ||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force Royal Navy | ||||||||||||
| Controlled by | RAF Fighter Command Fleet Air Arm | ||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||
  RAF Skeabrae Location within Orkney  RAF Skeabrae RAF Skeabrae (the United Kingdom) | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 59°03′52″N 003°16′09″W | ||||||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||||||
| Built | 1940 | ||||||||||||
| In use | August 1940 - 1957 | ||||||||||||
| Battles/wars | European theatre of World War II | ||||||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||||||
| Elevation | 18 metres (59 ft)[1] AMSL | ||||||||||||
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History
Royal Air Force
The following units were here at some point:
- Squadrons
- No. 3 Squadron RAF (1941)[2]
- No. 66 Squadron RAF (1943)[3]
- No. 118 Squadron RAF (1944)[4]
- No. 129 Squadron RAF (1943)[5]
- No. 132 Squadron RAF (1942)[5]
- No. 164 Squadron RAF (1942)[6]
- No. 234 Squadron RAF (1943)[7]
- No. 253 Squadron RAF (1941)[8]
- No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF (1943)[9]
- No. 313 Squadron RAF (1944)[9]
- No. 329 Squadron RAF (1945)[10]
- No. 331 Squadron RAF (1941-42)[10]
- No. 441 Squadron RCAF (1944-45)[11]
- No. 451 Squadron RAAF[11]
- No. 453 Squadron RAAF (1943-44)[12]
- No. 598 Squadron RAF[13]
- No. 602 Squadron RAF (1942-43 & 1944)[13]
- No. 603 Squadron RAF[13]
- No. 611 Squadron RAF (1944)[14]
- Units
- Advanced Ship Recognition Flight RAF (January - February 1943) became No. 1476 (Advanced Ship Recognition) Flight RAF (February - June 1943 & June - January 1944)[15]
- No. 1491 (Fighter Gunnery) Flight RAF (November 1942 - August 1943)[16]
- 1841 Naval Air Squadron[17]
- No. 2714 Squadron RAF Regiment[17]
- No. 2745 Squadron RAF Regiment[17]
- No. 2766 Squadron RAF Regiment[17]
- No. 2824 Squadron RAF Regiment[17]
Royal Navy
Lodger facilities for Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadrons were granted by No. 13 and No. 14 Groups from May 1940. Following the end of the war, the airfield was transferred to Admiralty control and maintained as a station in reserve. The airbase was borne on the books of Sparrowhawk from May 1944, and was later commissioned as HMS Tern II on 15 September 1945. By September 1946, it was borne on the books of Fulmar.[18]
- Units
Current use
The site is currently private agricultural land.[17]