East Fortune is a village in

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...

, Scotland, located 2 miles (3 km) north west of

East Linton East Linton is a village and former police burgh in East Lothian, Scotland, situated on the River Tyne and A199 road (former A1 road) five miles east of Haddington, with an estimated population of in . During the 19th century the population ...

. The area is known for its airfield which was constructed in 1915 to help protect Britain from attack by German

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

airships during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. The

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

airship station also included an

airship hangar Airship hangars (also known as airship sheds) are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a ...

. In 1919 the British airship R34 made the first

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

crossing of the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, flying from East Fortune to

Mineola, New York Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

. The name may mean "settlement where hogs are farmed", from Old English ''fōr'', a hog, and ''tūn'', a settlement. In 1922 several buildings and an area of land were used to create East Fortune Hospital. This served as a

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

sanatorium for the south east region of Scotland until the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The airfield was then brought back into service as

RAF East Fortune Royal Air Force East Fortune, or more simply RAF East Fortune, is a former Royal Air Force station located just south of the village of East Fortune. It is a short distance east of Edinburgh, in Scotland. RAF East Fortune was used as a fighter ...

, initially a training airfield, and the hospital patients were transferred to Bangour Hospital in

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geographically by the A ...

. The hospital re-opened after the war, but by 1956, as the number of tuberculosis patients began to fall, the hospital changed its function to house the mentally handicapped. In 1997, the hospital closed down, and its patients were transferred to Roodlands Hospital in Haddington. For a short period in 1961, East Fortune operated as

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

's airport while facilities at

Turnhouse Turnhouse is a suburb in the west of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, near Maybury, Gogar, Cammo Cammo () is a northwestern suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is south of A90, at the edge of the city, approximately from ...

were being reconstructed. In 1975, the National Museum of Flight was opened at the airfield, and has since become a popular tourist attraction. It is also home to a

Concorde The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde () is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France an ...

, G-BOAA from the decommissioned

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and passengers ...

fleet, which forms the centrepiece of a major exhibition about the Concorde programme. At the eastern side of the airfield the old runways and link roads of East Fortune airfield are now used as a motorcycle race track run by the Melville Motorcycle Club. There are around seven race weekends every year with racing on both Saturdays and Sundays, continually attracting over 200 competitors over the several classes available. Riders travel from the local area, Northumberland and as far as Ireland on occasions for most weekends. Melville Motorcycle Club run the track on a not-for-profit basis and have reinvested heavily in resurfacing and upgrading facilities. From 2014, the track also hosts a Greenpower race. At the western side of the airfield East of Scotland Microlights operate from the extension to the main runway that was laid in 1961 when the airfield was used as Edinburgh's Airport. An annual

airshow An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...

is held, normally in July, however no aircraft are able to land during the airshow due to the runways being in an unfit state for aircraft operations.

Sources

External links

Notes on East Fortune Hospital - The Fourth Statistical Account of East LothianRailbrit - East Fortune
{{authority control Villages in East Lothian

See also

Sources

External links