Royal Naval Air Station Machrihanish (HMS Landrail), is a former

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

air station, close to

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; gd, Ceann Loch Chille Chiarain or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishi ...

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute ( sco, Argyll an Buit; gd, Earra-Ghàidheal agus Bòd, ) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod (14 July 202 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Location

Located 3 miles (5 km) west of Campbeltown on the western side of the

Kintyre Kintyre ( gd, Cinn Tìre, ) is a peninsula in western Scotland, in the southwest of Argyll and Bute. The peninsula stretches about , from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to East and West Loch Tarbert in the north. The region immediately nor ...

Peninsula, Machrihanish is a former RAF air station, notable for its weather forecasts. The base had an exceptionally long runway (3049m / 10,000 feet), together with a large number of technical buildings and accommodation.

History

Machrihanish was established as a naval air station in 1916, operating maritime patrol aircraft and airships until 1918. A new airfield opened on 15 June 1941 as Strabane Naval Air Station, and named HMS Landrail, becoming RNAS Machrihanish later in the month and operated until 1946. The old airfield became HMS Landrail II. The Air Station was re-activated again during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

for training purposes. Between 1960 and 1962, the base was reconstructed and the current runway built. Thereafter the base developed in relation to NATO requirements during the Cold War, and was the focus of anti-submarine operations with US-controlled nuclear depth charges. A US Navy SEAL unit is also said to have been based here. £10 million was spent to upgrade the station in the early 1990s, keeping it on a care-and-maintenance basis to provide a runway for emergencies or in the event of conflict. The base remained a UK and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

military base until 1997.

Campbeltown Airport

Between the wars a commercial aerodrome was established and is still operated by the government-owned

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is a company based at Inverness Airport that owns and operates 11 airports in the Scottish Highlands, the Northern Isles and the Western Isles. It is a private limited company wholly owned by the ...

operates with IATA location code "GQJ". It uses the same single runway which, at 3049m (10,000 feet), is the longest in Scotland. The terminal building are at the south-eastern end. There are scheduled flights to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

Units

A number of units were here at some point:

References

Buildings and structures in Argyll and Bute Military of Scotland

Machrihanish Machrihanish ( gd, Machaire Shanais, ) is a village in Argyll, on the west coast of Scotland. It is a short distance north of the tip of the Mull of Kintyre, which faces out towards Northern Ireland and the Atlantic. Machrihanish bay The main ...

{{UK-navy-stub