RAF Grangemouth
RAF Grangemouth
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Air Ministry | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, Scotland | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 16 ft / 5 m | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 56°01′11″N 003°41′30″W / 56.01972°N 3.69167°WCoordinates: 56°01′11″N 003°41′30″W / 56.01972°N 3.69167°W | ||||||||||||||
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 RAF Grangemouth
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RAF Grangemouth is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 mi (4.8 km) north east of Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland. It was opened as the Central Scotland Airport in May 1939 and operated as a Civilian Air Navigation School (CANS) until early September 1939.
From September 1939 - March 1941 it was used by 602 Squadron flying Supermarine Spitfires, 141 Squadron flying Bristol Blenheims and Gloster Gladiators and 263 Squadron flying Westland Lysanders. In December 1940 it was used by No. 58 Operational Training Unit (later renamed No. 2 Tactical Exercise Unit).
The air traffic control tower (watch tower) was of a pre-war civilian type. There were 10 Hangars, two were of a civil type and the other eight were of the Blister type.
In an attempt to reduce the number of crashes caused by over-shooting, the east/west runway was extended by about 300 yards in the summer of 1942. This runway intersected with the Inchyra Road runway and extended west to where Candie Crescent now starts off Overton Road. The Charlotte Dundas Shopping centre was built over part of the remains of this runway in 1960-1961.
After the war, it was used as a gliding school and by No. 13 Refresher Flying School, then by RAF Maintenance Command until closure in 1955.
Unfortunately at 0200 one Sunday in 1952 a fire started & some of the buildings were destroyed.
Today the site is now part of Inchyra Park, a light industrial area, the Charlotte Dundas Shopping Centre, and a housing estate. The shorter runway is now Inchyra Road, Grangemouth. Contrary to many reports, the vast majority of the site is NOT now covered by petrochemicals industry. Only a relatively small area east of Inchyra Road has such industry on it and which was only built on during the 1970s and thereafter.
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Wikipedia