Royal Air Force Dumfries or more simply RAF Dumfries was 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 located near

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

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 Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The airfield opened on 17 June 1940 and was sold in 1960 to a private firm. The disused airfield is now used as the

Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum The Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum is a volunteer-operated aviation museum located in and around the World War II-era watch tower (control tower) at the former RAF Dumfries, located two miles north east of the centre of Dumfries, Scotla ...

History

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. ...

, (18 MU) was allotted to No. 41 Group RAF (41 Gp) and became the lodger unit on 17 June 1940. No aircraft were flown in until the end of June when the obstructions placed on the airfield to prevent enemy aircraft from landing were removed. 18 MU reverted to a tenant unit on 13 July 1940 and No. 10 Bombing and Gunnery School RAF (10 B&GS) of

No. 25 Group RAF No. 25 Group RAF is a former Royal Air Force group. It was initially active between 1918 and 1919. It reformed during 1937, remaining active throughout the Second World War, disbanding again in 1948. It reformed a second time during 1951 and disba ...

(25 Gp) (

RAF Flying Training Command Flying Training Command was an organization of the Royal Air Force; it controlled flight training units. The command's headquarters were at RAF Shinfield Park, Reading in Berkshire. History Flying Training Command was formed from the element ...

) relocated from

RAF Warmwell Royal Air Force Warmwell or more simply RAF Warmwell is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station near Warmwell in Dorset, England from 1937 to 1946, located about 5 miles east-southeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dor ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. 10 B&GS trained bomb-aimers and gunners in

Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow The Handley Page H.P.54 Harrow was a heavy bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Handley Page. It was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and used during the Second World War, although not as a bomber. The Harro ...

s and

Fairey Battle The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Ha ...

s before further training at

Operational Training Unit Royal Air Force Operational Training Units (OTUs) were training units that prepared aircrew for operations on a particular type or types of aircraft or roles. OTUs ;No. 1 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (1 (C)OTU): The Unit was formed i ...

s. The airfield consisted of a grass runway, upgraded to hard surfaces due to the demands of operational training. Whilst this work was being undertaken 10 B&GS utilised the satellite landing ground at RAF Winterseugh, Annan,

. Due to the numbers of aircraft 18 MU was forced to disperse the aircraft to satellite landing grounds at

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

near

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; ), also known as The Toon or The Cleyhole, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries ...

, RAF Lennoxlove near Haddington, RAF Wath Head in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

and also RAF Hornby Hall,

. No. 11 Sub-Ferry Flight was posted to the airfield between April and July 1940. 10 B&GS was re-designated No. 10 Air Observers School RAF (10 AOS) in September 1940 and began training navigators in

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the World W ...

and

Blackburn Botha The Blackburn B.26 Botha was a four-seat reconnaissance and torpedo bomber. It was produced by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft at its factories at Brough and Dumbarton. The Botha was developed during the mid 1930s in response ...

aircraft. In April 1940 10 AOS was renamed No. 10 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF (10 (O)AFU) and was re-equipped with

Avro Anson The Avro Anson is a British twin-engine, multi-role aircraft built by the aircraft manufacturer Avro. Large numbers of the type served in a variety of roles for the Royal Air Force (RAF), Fleet Air Arm (FAA), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), R ...

s. RAF Dumfries had a moment of danger on 25 March 1943, when a German

Dornier Do 217 The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. It was a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937-38 as a heavy bomber ...

aircraft shot up the airfield beacon, but crashed shortly afterwards. The pilot,

Oberleutnant (English: First Lieutenant) is a senior lieutenant Officer (armed forces), officer rank in the German (language), German-speaking armed forces of Germany (Bundeswehr), the Austrian Armed Forces, and the Swiss Armed Forces. In Austria, ''Oberle ...

Martin Piscke was later interred in

Troqueer Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a sub ...

Cemetery in Dumfries town, with full military honours. On the night of 3/4 August 1943 a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington (nicknamed the Wimpy) is a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson, a key feature of t ...

bomber with engine problems diverted to Dumfries but crashed 1 ¹⁄₂ miles (2.4 km) short of the runway. Over 400 courses had been conducted 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 ...

at RAF Dumfries. 10 (O)AFU was again renamed No. 10 Air Navigation School RAF (10 ANS) in August 1945 and disbanded in September 1945. 18 MU closed in 1957 having prepared and dispatched almost 5,000 aircraft to units and after the war stored aircraft awaiting disposal. The airfield was a training station for national service recruits to the

Royal Air Force Regiment The Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regiment) is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries-out security tasks relating to the protection of assets and personnel dedicated ...

between 1947 and 1957. The airfield was then placed under care and maintenance until the site was sold to a private company in 1960. The following units were also here at some point: ;Squadrons * No. 225 Squadron RAF * No. 614 Squadron RAF * No. 651 Squadron RAF * No. 652 Squadron RAF ;Units * No. 1 Gliding School RAF (April 1950 – September 1955) became No. 661 Gliding School RAF (September 1955 – January 1958) * No. 11 (Service) Ferry Pilots Pool RAF (April – June 1941) * No. 14 Maintenance Unit RAF (April 1955 – July 1957) * No. 29 Group Communication Flight RAF (July 1942 – July 1945)

Aviation Museum

It now houses the

, which first opened to the public in the summer of 1977.

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Dumfries Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dumfries Royal Air Force stations in Scotland Museums in Dumfries and Galloway Air force museums in the United Kingdom RAF Military airbases established in 1940