RAF Ouston

RAF Ouston
Near Ouston, Northumberland in England
WW2 Pillbox at RAF Ouston
RAF Ouston Shown within Northumberland
Coordinates	55°01′29″N 01°52′21″W / 55.02472°N 1.87250°W / 55.02472; -1.87250Coordinates: 55°01′29″N 01°52′21″W / 55.02472°N 1.87250°W / 55.02472; -1.87250
Type	Royal Air Force station
Site information
Owner	Air Ministry
Operator	Royal Air Force
Site history
Built	1940 (1940)
In use	1941-1974 (1974) Royal Air Force 1974 onwards, British Army
Airfield information
Elevation	450 feet (140 m) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 04/22 5,970 feet (1,820 m) Concrete 08/26 3,770 feet (1,150 m) Concrete 14/32 4,300 feet (1,300 m) Concrete

Royal Air Force Ouston, or more simply RAF Ouston, is a former Royal Air Force station that was located near the village of Stamfordham and the village of Heddon-on-the-Wall on Hadrian's Wall near Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built as a Second World War aerodrome and is today used by the British Army. Just north of the airfield is Richmond Hill, Northumberland, in the parish of Stamfordham.

In late 1938, the Air Ministry instructed a group of officials to go to Ouston to evaluate the possibility of building an airfield there. Unfortunately, the signal sent out by the ministry wasn't specific enough and some of the officials went to the one located a few miles southwest of Hexham. However, the intent at the time, was for an airfield at the Ouston 12 mi (19 km) West of Newcastle and North of the Stanegate Roman road to Carlisle, Cumbria.

Construction work was slow to begin with because the area was quite remote from communication lines and there was some opposition from the local farming community, despite the land being quite low quality. The station was built to a fairly normal design, having a mixture of prewar-style buildings and the utility types which came later. A "J"-type hangar dominated the airfield, with the control tower situated in front of it.

The station opened on 10 March 1941 as a Fighter Sector HQ under No. 13 Group RAF (13 Gp) to replace RAF Usworth, with its staff mainly being drawn from that station. The station's badge was a lion rampant in front of a Roman helmet. This was influenced by the nearby Hadrian's Wall and the lion is taken from the Percy family arms (the Percy's being local landowners). The station motto underneath the badge was 'Persist'.