RAF Ballykelly
RAF Ballykelly
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| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Ballykelly | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 55°03′16″N 07°01′12″W / 55.05444°N 7.02000°WCoordinates: 55°03′16″N 07°01′12″W / 55.05444°N 7.02000°W | ||||||||||||||||||
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 RAF Ballykelly
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RAF Ballykelly was a Royal Air Force station which opened in 1941 in Ballykelly, County Londonderry. It closed in 1971 when the site was handed over to the British Army as Shackleton Barracks. A small part of the base has been used as a refuelling point by army helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft usually operating out of RAF Aldergrove near the town of Antrim.
RAF Ballykelly opened in June 1941 during the Second World War as an airfield for RAF Coastal Command. In 1943, the main runway was extended and acquired an unusual characteristic in that it crossed an active railway line. Rules were put in place giving trains the right of way over landing aircraft. The airfield was used for anti-submarine patrols and escort convoys over the Atlantic Ocean. At various times Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft flew from Ballykelly in the fight against German U-boats, ranging from the Bay of Biscay to northern Norway. By the end of the war, Ballykelly located squadrons had been responsible for sinking twelve U-boats, sharing with other aircraft and surface ships in the destruction of several others, and damaging many more.
During the Second World War, an RAF bomber on a training flight clipped a telephone line behind a church in Ballykelly and crashed, claiming the lives of the crew.
The airfield was closed at the end of the Second World War, but re-opened in 1947 as the home of the RAF Joint Anti-Submarine School, a training flight flying Avro Shackleton aircraft. It closed briefly in 1951 to allow preparatory work to be done for the arrival of the Shackleton aircraft in 1952.
In 1955, RAF Ballykelly was home to three squadrons of Shackletons, 204 Squadron, 206 Squadron and 240 Squadron. There was also a station flight with two Lockheed Hudsons, two Douglas Dakotas and an Auster. In 1957 and again in 1958, 240 Squadron was among those involved in Operation Grapple, nuclear weapon testing on Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean.
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Wikipedia