Royal Air Force Annan, or more simply RAF Annan, is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located about north-east of the town of Annan,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, Scotland, which was operational during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Station history

Initially serving as a sub-site of No. 18 Maintenance Unit in 1940–1941, RAF Annan was opened as an air station in April 1942 as the base for No. 55 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU), to train fighter pilots. As part of No. 81 Group 55 OTU pilots flew at low level over the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth is an inlet on the west coast of Great Britain, forming part of the border between England and Scotland. The firth (a Scottish term for an inlet of the sea) divides Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) from Dumfries and Gallow ...

training to fly "Rhubarb" missions, crossing the English Channel to attack targets of opportunity in France and the

Low Countries The Low Countries (; ), historically also known as the Netherlands (), is a coastal lowland region in Northwestern Europe forming the lower Drainage basin, basin of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta and consisting today of the three modern "Bene ...

. Initially they flew

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s; and later,

Miles Master The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft, Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) durin ...

trainers and

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor aircraft, interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems we ...

fighter-bombers. In June 1943 55 OTU was transferred to No. 9 Group; and on 26 January 1944 was redesignated No. 4 Tactical Exercise Unit (TEU), then No. 3 TEU on 28 March 1944. No. 3 TEU moved to

RAF Aston Down Aston Down is in Gloucestershire, South West England, east of Minchinhampton, southeast of Stroud and west of Cirencester. The nearest settlement is the large village of Chalford, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northwest. The airfield was used ...

in July 1944, and Annan then served as a sub-site of No. 14 Maintenance Unit from August 1944 until August 1952.

Units

The following units were based at RAF Annan: * Sub-site,

No. 18 Maintenance Unit RAF The following is a list of Royal Air Force Maintenance Units (MU). The majority of MUs were previously Equipment Depots (ED), Storage Depots (SD) and Aircraft Storage Units (ASU)s. No. 1 MU – No. 100 MU No. 101 MU – No. 200 MU No. ...

(1940 – 1941) * No. 55 Operational Training Unit RAF (April 1942 – January 1944) ** Night Conversion Unit (March – April 1944) (Part of 55 OTU) **No. 4 Tactical Exercise Unit (January – March 1944) **No. 3 Tactical Exercise Unit (March – May 1944) * Detachment, No. 10 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF (April 1942) * No. 107 Squadron RAF (August 1942) * Sub-site, No. 14 Maintenance Unit RAF (August 1944 – August 1952) * No. 56 (Maintenance) Wing RAF (July 1944 - May 1946)

Station facilities

The air station had two concrete runways at right angles, running north-east/south-west (), and north-west/south-east (). The main technical area was in the north-eastern sector, and there were at least seven blister hangars around the perimeter. There was a camp about north-east of the airfield near the village of Creca which contained various accommodation buildings, huts, and air raid shelters. Another camp existed about south of the airfield.

Fate

On 1 July 1955 the site was taken over for the construction of the

Chapelcross nuclear power station Chapelcross nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power plant, nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland, and was in operation ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

RAF Annan at solwaymilitarytrail.co.uk
Retrieved 9 May 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Annan A 1942 establishments in Scotland 1944 disestablishments in Scotland RAF