RAF Stornoway
RAF Stornoway
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Military | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Royal Air Force | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Stornoway, Isle of Lewis | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1940 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1940-1945 1982-1998 |
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| Elevation AMSL | 26 ft / 8 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 58°13′07″N 006°19′53″W / 58.21861°N 6.33139°WCoordinates: 58°13′07″N 006°19′53″W / 58.21861°N 6.33139°W | ||||||||||||||||||
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 RAF Stornoway
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RAF departed 1998. Airport now run by HIAL (Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd).
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Royal Air Force Station Stornoway or more simply RAF Stornoway is a former Royal Air Force station near the burgh of Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, in the Western Isles of Scotland. No. 112 Signals Unit Stornoway was also part of the RAF's activity on the airfield.
The station was created in the Second World War on the site of a former golf course. It was home to various Coastal Command squadrons patrolling the North Atlantic for U-Boats. In late 1940, a detachment of Avro Anson aircraft arrived from No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The Ansons operated from the site of RAF Stornoway while it was still under construction. By November 1940, the aircraft from 612 Squadron had been posted to RAF Wick and were gradually replaced by Ansons from 48 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Hooton Park.
In March 1940, No. 827 Squadron RNAS operated Fairey Albacore aircraft from Stornoway in conjunction with the Ansons of 48 Squadron on maritime patrols across the Atlantic. This continued until the station was completed at which point they moved away. RAF Stornoway was officially constituted on 1 April 1941 as part of No.15 (Reconnaissance) Group, and then No.18 (Reconnaissance) Group, both of RAF Coastal Command but was finally closed down at the end of the Second World War when it reverted to Stornoway Airport. No. 66 Air-Sea Rescue (ASR) Marine Craft Unit was also based out of Stornoway Harbour during 1943 and 1944.
In 1952 biological agents were brought in to the airport from MRD airport in Mérida, Venezuela for the controversial Operation Cauldron. They were testing the dangerous agents on caged monkeys and guinea pigs who were situated on a navy pontoon nearby at the Braighe. The tests were carried out by scientists from the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) from Porton Down. When a trawler inadvertently passed through one of the clouds of plague bacteria, the ship and crew were temporarily put under covert surveillance during their return from Iceland to Blackpool and onshore. CBDE was later amalgamated and now forms part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Porton Down has encountered controversy for human experimentation using chemical warfare right up until 1990.
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