Tain Air Weapons Range is a
Ministry of Defence air weapons range on the
Dornoch Firth near
Tain in
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 ...
.
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 ...
aircrews from
RAF Lossiemouth are trained in air weaponry on the range, along with
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
aircrew.
It was previously known as Royal Air Force Tain and Royal Naval Air Station Tain.
History
The airfield opened in September 1941 under the command of
RAF Fighter Command
RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...
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 ...
. It was particularly active in summer 1944 during anti-
u-boat
U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
operations. It closed in spring 1946.
The original airfield is no longer in operation, but still exists within the boundaries of the range.
It became a weapons range in 1954 and is now the largest live weapons range in the Defence Training Estates.
On 1 April 2006, as part of a rationalisation of military training facilities in the UK, control of RAF Tain transferred from the RAF to
Defence Training Estate
Defence Training Estate is an organisation within the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence. It is the operating division of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and is responsible for the management of the 78% of the MoD's estate allocated as ...
s and the range became known as Tain Air Weapons Range.
Units stationed at RAF Tain during the Second World War
The following units were posted to the airfield at some point 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 ...
:
First-line squadrons
*
No. 17 Squadron RAF with the
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 ...
IIB between 17 September and 31 October 1941.
* A detachment of
No. 76 Squadron RAF between 1941 and 1943 with the
Handley Page Halifax I & II.
*
No. 86 Squadron RAF initially as a detachment between 24 March 1944 and 1 July 1944 when the rest of the squadron joined until 9 August 1945 when the squadron moved to
RAF Oakington. The squadron used
Consolidated Liberator IIIa, V & VIII.
* A detachment of
No. 123 Squadron RAF from 22 September 1941 and 11 April 1942 with the
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...
IIA & VB.
* A detachment of
No. 132 Squadron RAF between September 1941 and February 1942 with the Spitfire I & IIB.
*
No. 144 Squadron RAF initially between 8 April 1943 and 9 July 1943 with the
Bristol Beaufighter VIC & X. The squadron returned on 5 August 1943 still with the Beaufighter X staying until 20 October 1943.
*
No. 186 Squadron RAF between 7 January 1944 and 1 March 1944 with the Hurricane IV,
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 ...
IB and the Spitfire VB.
* A detachment of
No. 235 Squadron RAF between 21 January 1943 and 29 August 1943 with the Beaufighter VIC.
* A detachment of
No. 279 Squadron RAF between 31 October 1944 and 3 September 1945 with
Vickers Warwick
The Vickers Warwick was a British twin-engined bomber aircraft developed and operated during the Second World War that was primarily used in other roles. In line with the naming convention followed by other RAF heavy bombers of the era, it wa ...
I, Hurricane IIC and the
Supermarine Sea Otter.
* A detachment of
No. 280 Squadron RAF between 23 November 1945 and 21 June 1946 with the Warwick I.
* A detachment of
No. 281 Squadron RAF between 13 August 1945 and 24 October 1945 with the Warwick I & VI, Sea Otter and
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 ...
XIII.
*
No. 311 Squadron RAF
No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF was a Demographics of Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-manned bomber squadron of the Royal Air Force in the World War II, Second World War. It was the RAF's only Czechoslovak-manned medium bomber, medium and heav ...
between 7 August 1944 and 6 August 1945 using the Liberator V & VI.
*
No. 404 Squadron RCAF between 2 and 20 April 1943 with the Beaufighter XI.
* A detachment of
No. 415 Squadron RCAF initially between 5 August 1942 and 1 September 1942 with the
Handley Page Hampden before the squadron completely moved to Tain for five days.
*
No. 417 Squadron RAF between 24 February and 13 April 1942 with the Spitfire VB.
* A detachment of
No. 455 Squadron RAF between 28 April 1942 and 14 April 1944 with the Hampden and Beaufighter X.
*
No. 547 Squadron RAF initially between 22 January and 2 April 1943 with the Wellington VIII. A detachment returned on 2 April 1943 with the Wellington XI until 31 May 1943.
Meteorological squadrons
* A detachment of
No. 518 Squadron RAF between 25 September 1943 and 1 October 1946 with the Halifax V, III & VI, Hurricane IIC and Spitfire VII.
*
No. 519 Squadron RAF between 17 August 1945 and 8 November 1945 with the
Boeing Fortress I, Spitfire VII and Halifax III.
Naval air squadrons
*
801 Naval Air Squadron between 15 February and 29 April 1942 with
Hawker Sea Hurricane Ib.
*
815 Naval Air Squadron between 7 December 1943 and 24 February 1944 with the
Fairey Barracuda
The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy to be fabricated entirely from metal.
The Barra ...
II.
*
817 Naval Air Squadron between 8 and 26 February 1944 with the Barracuda II.
*
822 Naval Air Squadron between 10 November 1943 and 16 January 1944 with the Barracuda II.
*
829 Naval Air Squadron between 25 November 1943 and 8 February 1944 with the Barracuda II.
Training and development units
*
No. 1 Torpedo Training Unit RAF (November 1945 – December 1946)
* Target Towing and Support Aircraft of
No. 4 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit RAF (December 1944 – August 1946)
* Relief Landing Ground for
No. 8 Air Gunners School RAF (January - April 1944)
* Relief Landing Ground for
No. 19 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit RAF (July 1943 - )
* No. 1491 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (December 1941 – May 1942) became No. 1491 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF (May - November 1942)
*
No. 2831 Squadron RAF Regiment.
*
Coastal Command Development Unit RAF.
An element of the CCDU was split to become No. 1 Torpedo Refresher School RAF, formed here on 3 February 1943. The School was disbanded on 28 January 1944.
* Coastal Command Flying Instructors School RAF
became the Coastal Command Instructors School RAF and was disbanded here on 1 April 1946.
See also
**
Armed forces in Scotland
**
Military history of Scotland
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
Defence Infrastructure Organisation – Scotland range firing times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tain
Installations of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
Bombing ranges
Military airbases established in 1941