Royal Air Force Station Kaldadarnes or more simply RAF Kaldadarnes is a former Royal Air Force station, near the town of Selfoss,
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
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Beginnings
The station was built in 1940 by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
and used by the
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) an ...
from March 1941 and throughout the remainder of 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 opposi ...
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On 2 September 1942 the war artist
Eric Ravilious
Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsc ...
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...
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Squadrons
After the cessation of hostilities of the Second World War the British Government handed the airfield over to the
Icelandic Civil Aviation Authority The Icelandic Civil Aviation Administration (Icelandic: Flugmálastjórn Íslands) is the aviation authority of Iceland. The authority has its headquarters in Reykjavík.No. 269 Squadron RAF at the closest public access point, situated in the modern airfield of Selfoss.