Royal Air Force Kirkistown or more simply RAF Kirkistown is a former
Royal Air Force satellite airfield located of
Ballyhalbert,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
,
Northern Ireland.
It was a satellite to the
RAF Fighter Command airfield at
Ballyhalbert on the
Ards Peninsula.
History
RAF Ballyhalbert
Royal Air Force Ballyhalbert or more simply RAF Ballyhalbert is a former Royal Air Force station at Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula, County Down, Northern Ireland
RAF Kirkistown was a satellite to the larger Ballyhalbert.
Construction b ...
opened officially on 28 June 1941 and the Kirkistown satellite airfield opened in July 1941. On 22 January 1942,
No. 504 Squadron RAF moved to Kirkistown. In 1945, Ballyhalbert Airfield was designated a
Royal Naval Air Station as "H.M.S. Corncrake", and Kirkistown Airfield was known as "H.M.S. Corncrake II".
The following units were here at some point:
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No. 485 Squadron RNZAF (1942)
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808 Naval Air Squadron
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818 Naval Air Squadron
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835 Naval Air Squadron
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881 Naval Air Squadron
881 Naval Air Squadron (881 NAS) was a squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm formed in June 1941. It served as a fighter squadron in the Second World War, taking part in the British invasion of Madagascar in 1942, in the Allied inva ...
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885 Naval Air Squadron
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887 Naval Air Squadron
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No. 1493 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (April - May 1942) became
No. 1493 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF (May - November 1942)
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No. 2898 Squadron RAF Regiment
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No. 4117 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment
Current use
Today the site is home to
Kirkistown Circuit, a regular venue for car and motorcycle races. The circuit utilises the northern parts of the former air base's runways and perimeter roadways.
See also
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List of former Royal Air Force stations
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkistown, RAF
Kirkistown
Kir
Kir
Buildings and structures in County Down
Military history of County Down
Defunct airports in Northern Ireland