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RAF Milltown
Royal Air Force Milltown or RAF Milltown is a former Royal Air Force station located south of the Moray Firth and 3.6 miles (5.8 km) north east of Elgin, Scotland.
Flying stopped in 1977 and the site became a defence communication station. The site was returned to previous owners the Innes estate and will become the site of a solar farm.
RAF Milltown, was originally established as a decoy airfield, for RAF Lossiemouth which is located 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) to the north west. Decoy airfields, known as 'Q sites', were typically located close to real airfields and would be illuminated at night in the hope that any attack by enemy aircraft would be carried out on the decoy rather than the actual airfield. On 27 October 1941, the decoy site was abandoned and work commenced on constructing a real airfield which was intended for use by an operational training unit of RAF Coastal Command with a secondary role as an RAF Bomber Command forward operating location.
Three runways were constructed: 05/23 (5,700 ft (1,737.3 m) in length); 11/29 (4,620 ft (1,408.1 m)); and 17/35 (4,200 ft (1,280.1 m)), which were accompanied by twenty-seven aircraft hardstandings around a perimeter track. Two hangars were built, a T2 type in the southern side of the airfield within the technical area and a B1 type on the northern side. The eastern edge of the airfield accommodated a bomb store.
At the time the airfield opened on 14 June 1943, Coastal Command no longer required its use, and therefore the first occupants were C-flight of Bomber Command's No. 20 Operational Training Unit (No. 20 OTU) which was based at RAF Lossiemouth. C-flight trained crews to fly the Vickers Wellington medium bomber until demand reduced and it left on 1 September 1944.
Coastal Command subsequently took control of the station and the first unit arrived on 15 September 1944 was No. 224 Squadron from RAF St. Eval, flying the Consolidated Liberator GR.VI. The squadron flew patrols searching for German U-boats and ships in the seas around Norway and Denmark, with at least four U-boats being sunk or damaged by the squadron during September and October 1944. During the winter of 1944 and 1945, many stations located further south were fog-bound which resulted in Milltown being used as a diversion airfield for large numbers of bomber aircraft. This included on 21 December 1944 when forty-six aircraft diverted to Milltown, a mixture of Avro Lancasters, Boeing Fortresses and Liberators.
Milltown was used during 1944 as base to launch missions to sink the German battleship Tirpitz which at the time was operating in Norwegian fjords. Twelve Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron left Milltown on 29 October 1944 as part of Operation Obviate and joined other aircraft operating from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Kinloss. That mission was unsuccessful, however a further attempt known as Operation Catechism, finally resulted in the battleship being sunk near Tromsø on 12 November 1944.
No. 224 Squadron began conversion to the Liberator GR.VIII in November 1944. The unit temporarily moved to Lossiemouth whilst one of Milltown's runways was repaired during January 1945, continuing patrols until 2 June and then returning to RAF St. Eval in July.
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RAF Milltown
Royal Air Force Milltown or RAF Milltown is a former Royal Air Force station located south of the Moray Firth and 3.6 miles (5.8 km) north east of Elgin, Scotland.
Flying stopped in 1977 and the site became a defence communication station. The site was returned to previous owners the Innes estate and will become the site of a solar farm.
RAF Milltown, was originally established as a decoy airfield, for RAF Lossiemouth which is located 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) to the north west. Decoy airfields, known as 'Q sites', were typically located close to real airfields and would be illuminated at night in the hope that any attack by enemy aircraft would be carried out on the decoy rather than the actual airfield. On 27 October 1941, the decoy site was abandoned and work commenced on constructing a real airfield which was intended for use by an operational training unit of RAF Coastal Command with a secondary role as an RAF Bomber Command forward operating location.
Three runways were constructed: 05/23 (5,700 ft (1,737.3 m) in length); 11/29 (4,620 ft (1,408.1 m)); and 17/35 (4,200 ft (1,280.1 m)), which were accompanied by twenty-seven aircraft hardstandings around a perimeter track. Two hangars were built, a T2 type in the southern side of the airfield within the technical area and a B1 type on the northern side. The eastern edge of the airfield accommodated a bomb store.
At the time the airfield opened on 14 June 1943, Coastal Command no longer required its use, and therefore the first occupants were C-flight of Bomber Command's No. 20 Operational Training Unit (No. 20 OTU) which was based at RAF Lossiemouth. C-flight trained crews to fly the Vickers Wellington medium bomber until demand reduced and it left on 1 September 1944.
Coastal Command subsequently took control of the station and the first unit arrived on 15 September 1944 was No. 224 Squadron from RAF St. Eval, flying the Consolidated Liberator GR.VI. The squadron flew patrols searching for German U-boats and ships in the seas around Norway and Denmark, with at least four U-boats being sunk or damaged by the squadron during September and October 1944. During the winter of 1944 and 1945, many stations located further south were fog-bound which resulted in Milltown being used as a diversion airfield for large numbers of bomber aircraft. This included on 21 December 1944 when forty-six aircraft diverted to Milltown, a mixture of Avro Lancasters, Boeing Fortresses and Liberators.
Milltown was used during 1944 as base to launch missions to sink the German battleship Tirpitz which at the time was operating in Norwegian fjords. Twelve Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron left Milltown on 29 October 1944 as part of Operation Obviate and joined other aircraft operating from RAF Lossiemouth and RAF Kinloss. That mission was unsuccessful, however a further attempt known as Operation Catechism, finally resulted in the battleship being sunk near Tromsø on 12 November 1944.
No. 224 Squadron began conversion to the Liberator GR.VIII in November 1944. The unit temporarily moved to Lossiemouth whilst one of Milltown's runways was repaired during January 1945, continuing patrols until 2 June and then returning to RAF St. Eval in July.