Royal Air Force Annan or more simply RAF Annan is a former

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

located about north-east of the town of Annan,

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

, Scotland, which was operational during the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Station history

Initially serving as a sub-site of No. 18 Maintenance Unit in 1940–1941, RAF Annan was opened as an air station in April 1942 as the base for No. 55 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU), to train fighter pilots. As part of No. 81 Group 55 OTU pilots flew at low level over the

Solway Firth The Solway Firth ( gd, Tràchd Romhra) is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria (including the Solway Plain) and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in ...

training to fly "Rhubarb" missions, crossing the English Channel to attack

targets of opportunity A target of opportunity is a Targeting (warfare), target "visible to a surface or air sensor or observer, which is within range of available weapons and against which fire has not been scheduled or requested." A target of opportunity comes in two f ...

in France and the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

. Initially they flew

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

s; and later,

Miles Master The Miles M.9 Master was a British two-seat monoplane advanced trainer designed and built by aviation company Miles Aircraft Ltd. It was inducted in large numbers into both the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second Wor ...

trainers and

Hawker Typhoon The Hawker Typhoon is a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. It was intended to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, as a replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, but several design problems were encountered and i ...

fighter-bombers. In June 1943 55 OTU was transferred to No. 9 Group; and on 26 January 1944 was redesignated No. 4 Tactical Exercise Unit (TEU), then No. 3 TEU on 28 March 1944. No. 3 TEU moved to

RAF Aston Down Aston Down is in Gloucestershire, South West England, east of Minchinhampton, southeast of Stroud and west of Cirencester. The nearest settlement is the large village of Chalford, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northwest. The airfield was used ...

in July 1944, and Annan then served as a sub-site of No. 14 Maintenance Unit from August 1944 until August 1952.

Units

The following units were based at RAF Annan: * Sub-site,

No. 18 Maintenance Unit RAF The following is a list of Royal Air Force Maintenance Units (MU). The majority of MUs were previously Equipment Depots (ED), Storage Depots (SD) and Aircraft Storage Units (ASU)s. No. 1 MU – No. 100 MU No. 101 MU – No. 200 MU No ...

(1940 – 1941) * No. 55 Operational Training Unit RAF (April 1942 – January 1944) ** Night Conversion Unit (March – April 1944) (Part of 55 OTU) **No. 4 Tactical Exercise Unit (January – March 1944) **No. 3 Tactical Exercise Unit (March – May 1944) * Detachment,

No. 10 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit RAF Number 10, #10 or variations thereof may refer to: * 10 (number), the natural number itself * 10 Downing Street, the UK Prime Minister's office * No. 10, a standard envelope size in North America Fiction, art and entertainment * ''#10'' (The Gu ...

(April 1942) * No. 107 Squadron RAF (August 1942) * Sub-site,

No. 14 Maintenance Unit RAF RAF Carlisle (previously RAF Kingstown) was a Royal Air Force establishment, now closed after being used for a variety of roles over a period of fifty eight years and formerly located north of Carlisle, Cumbria, Carlisle city centre in Cumbria, ...

(August 1944 – August 1952) * No. 56 (Maintenance) Wing RAF (July 1944 - May 1946)

Station facilities

The air station had two concrete runways at right angles, running north-east/south-west (), and north-west/south-east (). The main technical area was in the north-eastern sector, and there were at least seven

blister hangar A blister hangar is a novel arched, portable aircraft hangar designed by notable British airport architect Graham R Dawbarn patented by Miskins and Sons in 1939. Originally made of wooden ribs clad with profiled steel sheets, steel lattice ribs a ...

s around the perimeter. There was a camp about north-east of the airfield near the village of Creca which contained various accommodation buildings, huts, and air raid shelters. Another camp existed about south of the airfield.

Fate

On 1 July 1955 the site was taken over for the construction of the

Chapelcross nuclear power station Chapelcross nuclear power station is a former Magnox nuclear power plant, nuclear power station undergoing decommissioning. It is located in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Annan in Dumfries and Galloway in southwest Scotland, and was in operation ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

RAF Annan at solwaymilitarytrail.co.uk
Retrieved 9 May 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Annan A 1942 establishments in Scotland 1944 disestablishments in Scotland

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...