RAF East Fortune
RAF East Fortune
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RAF-era buildings still stand on the airfield, now the National Museum of Flight
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator |
Royal Naval Air Service Royal Air Force |
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| Location | East Fortune, East Lothian | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1915 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1915-1920, 1940-1947 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 0 ft / 0 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 55°59′06″N 002°42′50″W / 55.98500°N 2.71389°WCoordinates: 55°59′06″N 002°42′50″W / 55.98500°N 2.71389°W | ||||||||||||||||||
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 RAF East Fortune
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Royal Air Force Station East Fortune or more simply RAF East Fortune is a former Royal Air Force station, just south of the village of East Fortune, a short distance east of Edinburgh in Scotland. It was used as a fighter station during World War I and for training and night fighters during World War II. The motto of the station was "Fortune Favours the Bold".
In the post-war era the runways have been taken over for local private aviation use, while the former RAF buildings have been used for the National Museum of Flight since 1976.
The foundation of East Fortune as an flying station pre-dates the creation of the RAF; East Fortune was established as a fighter and airship airfield in 1915. In 1919 the British airship R34 made the first ever return flight across the Atlantic and the first east-west crossing by air, flying from East Fortune to Mineola, New York. The flight took 108 hours and 12 minutes.
During World War II, RAF East Fortune was a flying training establishment, initially for night-fighter operations, changing to training for daylight operations from 1942, and eventually becoming a station for a group of de Havilland Mosquito aircraft. It was also made available as an emergency landing option for bomber aircraft.
After the war the site ceased to be used by the RAF. The runway was extended across the B1347 to take American bombers during the cold war but was never used for this purpose. During the summer of 1961 Turnhouse Airport was closed for construction work and all civil and air force traffic was diverted through East Fortune. The extended runway at East Fortune was used for the summer of 1961 and on a very wet Sunday in April 1961 a BA Viscount from Heathrow overshot the runway and ended up in the grass at the end of the runway after a 180 degree turn. The aircraft was fully laden but there were no injuries. The concrete extension of the East Fortune runway is now used as a runway for microlight aircraft. In 1976 the Scottish Museum of Flight was opened on the site of the former RAF station.
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Wikipedia