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Posted by Malcolm Fife The disused airfield which you visited was known as Dunino Airfield. There are a few paragraphs of information on it in the book ,Action Stations No7, The Military Airfields of Scotland,North East England and Ireland by David Smith ,published by PSL. I am writing a small publication on Crail and Dunino Airfields which should be available later this year. Dunino Airfield started life at the beginning of World War II as an RAF airfield. Initially it appears to have comprised of nothing more than a grass runway with few if any buildings. 309 squadron staffed mainly by Poles was deployed here in March,1941 flying Lysanders.When they arrived there was no accommodation for most of them and they were billeted in tents hidden in the woods. Although they were only meant to stay a few months h ,309 squadron did not depart here until the end of 1942. The airfield was handed over to the Fleet Air Arm due to overcrowding at Crail. It was a most unsatisfactory location for aircraft operations being located among undulating ground. The runways which were still of grass often could not be used when it rained heavily. When they were extended over the uneven ground ,the pilots complained they were unable to see the opposite ends of them !.A Walrus squadron was based here for a short time as were some Swordfish squadrons. Also Crail based units used it for training. By 1944 ,Dunino Airfield was mainly being used as a store for Fleet Air Arm aircraft. Several new hangers were built for this purpose. There is an aerial photo of the airfield which shows nearly 250 aircraft stored here in 1945 ,many of them Barracudas. It only survived the war for a short time before being closed. The RAF also had another relief airfield a mile or so to the North West at Stravithie. Malcolm Fife.
on 30/8/2003, 13:50:30, in reply to "Kippo an Annexe to H.M.S.Jackdaw"
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Dear Ken,
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