RAF Edzell, Scotland.

[muppethead]

I have been asked by a friend to post here to find out some info on the now closed RAF Edzell airbase in Tayside, Scotland.

Any info would be helpful, including dates of operation, flying activities and the types of a/c used or based there.

I gather that the base was used by the USAF for a period of time.

Many thanks,
Muppet.

[3xGreens]

muppethead,

I believe it was in fact a US Navy base and closed circa 1997. There is plenty of reading on Jeeves and Google.

[teeteringhead]

Not only USN ....

No 612 (County of Aberdeen) Sqn RAuxAF reportedly flew Vampire FB5s from there for about a year in 1951-2, although the Sqn's main base seems to have been at Dyce.

[Regie Mental]

May I suggest you obtain a copy of the relevant volume of 'Actions Stations'. This series gives the history of all UK airfields by region and whilst now out of print your local library will no doubt have a copy. Alternatively try Abebooks.com

[BEagle]

No 44 MU formed at Edzell on 1 Aug 40, although the aerodrome was already in use as a satellite RLG for 8 SFTS Montrose. Aircraft prepared by the MU were Hurricanes, Oxfords, Wellingtons and Proctors. Hudsons wer also repaired at Edzell.

The first of 2 hard runways was completed in April 1942; Albemarles, Beauforts, Defiants and more Hurricanes were also handled in 1942.

A Beam Approach system was installed in 1943 and was used by the Oxfords of 1518 Beam Approach Training flight which arrived from Scampton inJune 1943.

By mid 1944 the MU was dealing with Beauforts, Defiants, Horsas, Magisters and Mosquitoes; the second runway was completed in July 1944, shortly before Beaufighter Xs appeared on the scene.

At the end of July 1945, no fewer than 819 a/c on this one aerodrome alone were awaiting disposal and this figure was maintained until well into 1946. Dakotas and many other a/c types appeared from time to time in the late '40s; in 1951, 612 Sqn flew Vampires from October until they returned to Dyce in Nov 1952. The aerodrome than became home to 662 Gliding School until 1957.

In 1960, the aerodrome was fesooned with the aerials associated with the US National Security Agency - of whose precise activity in the field of long-range electronic surveillance not much was known, fairly obviously. The base closed in 1996 and was handed back in 1997.

[Cambridge Crash]

May I suggest that you consult the absorbing 'Cold War' book published by English Heritage p 15, 17, including a US-period photo.

Wayne D Cocroft & Roger J C Thomas: Cold War: Building for Nuclear Confrontation 1946-1989 (2003, English Heritage). ISBN 873592 69 8

A fascinating book to anyone who has been in the RAF since the 1980s.

[Eric Aldrovandi]

Some of the aerials formed a circle but they got blown away last year. If you look really hard, you can still see where they used to be though.