Airfield search

Fordoun

Also known as:	Fordoun Aerodrome / RAF Fordoun / RAF Station, Fordoun
County:	Aberdeenshire
Current Status:	Farmland / Industry / Public road
Date:	2 November 1942 - 30 September 1950; subsequent minor use
Current Use:	Disused
Used By:	RAF (main user) / Civil (minor use)
Landing Surface Type(s):	Paved
Aircraft Role(s):	General aviation (minor use) / Trainer (main role)

A relatively typical satellite built in the middle years of World War Two, the main flying use of Fordoun during this period was to support Airspeed Oxfords of No 2 Flying Instructors School. This Montrose-based unit employed the airfield over two periods between November 1942 and September 1944. More unusual visitors were decoy Douglas Bostons which were dispersed here during 1943 and 1944 to try and deceive the enemy.

Fordoun passed to War Office control in October 1944. A gliding school remained but the RAF returned to a much greater degree in August 1945 as first No 98 and then No 243 Maintenance Units employed this airfield as a sub-site for ammunition storage until September 1950. Thereafter Fordoun witnessed a mixture of limited civil flying, free-fall parachuting and go-kart racing from the 1960s until all these forms of activity eventually petered out by the early 1990s.

Leading energy services company, Hunting, subsequently bought a large part of the airfield in 1995 and has significantly transformed it for use as an oil pipe storage facility. There is some other industry prominent at Fordoun, where the two runways and perimeter track survive at least in length to maintain a semblance of its aviation past.

The following organisations are either based at, use and/or have at least potentially significant connections with the airfield (as at 01/05/2024):