Royal Air Force Sumburgh or more simply RAF Sumburgh 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 ...

satellite station A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

that was located on the southern tip of the mainland island of the

Shetland Islands Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the no ...

, and was home to half of

No. 404 Squadron RCAF The numero sign or numero symbol, №, (also represented as Nº, No, No. or no.), is a typographic abbreviation of the word ''number''(''s'') indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles. For example, using the numero sign, t ...

(

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

). At the outbreak 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 opposin ...

the airstrip at the Sumburgh Links was taken over by the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

. By 1941 there were three operational runways at RAF Sumburgh from which a variety of RAF aircraft operated.

History

Sumburgh Links was surveyed and the grass strips laid out by Captain

E. E. Fresson Captain Ernest Edmund "Ted" Fresson, (20 September 1891 – 25 September 1963) was a British engineer and aviation pioneer. Life Fresson was sent by his company to China in 1911, but returned to the UK to serve in the Royal Flying Corps during ...

in 1936, and the airport was opened on 3 June of that year with the inaugural flight from Aberdeen (Kintore) by

de Havilland Dragon Rapide The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rela ...

G-ACPN piloted by Captain Fresson himself. It was also one of the first airfields to have RDF facilities, due to the frequency of low cloud and fog and the proximity of

Sumburgh Head Sumburgh Head is a headland located at the southern tip of the Shetland Mainland in northern Scotland. The head consists of a 100 m high rocky spur and topped by the Sumburgh Head Lighthouse. In the Old Norse language, Sumburgh Head was cal ...

. The building of runways was at the instigation of Capt Fresson, who had proved to the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

at Hatston (Orkney) that it was essential to maintain all-round landing facilities over the winter months. This was taken up by the air force after the obvious success of the Hatston experiment. The longest runway is 800 yards, and the shorter running a length of 600 yards from shoreline to shoreline. No. 404 Squadron operated

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

Mark VI and X aircraft from this station on coastal raids against

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

shipping off the coast of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

. No. 404 Squadron pioneered the use of unguided rocket projectiles against enemy merchant shipping sailing off the Norwegian coast by launching joint strike attacks with No. 144 Squadron (torpedo aircraft or 'Torbeaus') from RAF Sumburgh and

RAF Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placenames ...

in 1943 and early 1944. The following units were posted to the airfield at some point:

Post war

Scheduled services continued during the war and, in 1946,

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

started a scheduled service with

Junkers 52 The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed ''Tante Ju'' ("Aunt Ju") and ''Iron Annie'') is a transport aircraft that was designed and manufactured by German aviation company Junkers. Development of the Ju 52 commenced during 1930, headed by German Aeros ...

s and then

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s. The main runway was lengthened in the mid-1960s.

Current use

The airfield, now called

Sumburgh Airport Sumburgh Airport is the main airport serving Shetland in Scotland. It is located on the southern tip of the mainland, in the parish of Dunrossness, south of Lerwick. The airport is owned by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) and s ...

, is owned by the

Highlands and Islands Airports Limited Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) is a company based at Inverness Airport that owns and operates 11 airports in the Scottish Highlands, the Northern Isles and the Western Isles. It is a private limited company wholly owned by the ...

, and commercial flights are provided by Loganair and Highland Airways.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sumburgh, RAF

Sumburgh Sumburgh is a small settlement in the Shetland Islands, Scotland. Sumburgh is located at the south end of the Mainland on Sumburgh Head. Sumburgh Airport is just outside the village to the north. Sumburgh has a population of approximately 100. Ja ...

Sumbu Mainland, Shetland