Stranraer flying sites
Note: This map only shows the position of Stranrear town within the UK.
STRANRAER see also BARNULTOCH FARM
STRANREAR see also CASTLE KENNEDY
STRANRAER see also CULTS FARM
STRANREAR see also WEST GALENOCH FARM
STRANRAER: Military (Station) and civil flying boat base
Activities: RAF flying boat maintenance and storage facility
Military user: WW2: RAF Coastal Command 18 Group
228 Sqdn (Short Sunderlands)
240 Sqdn (Supermarine Stranraers)
No.4 Operational Training Unit
Location: Wig Bay better known as Loch Ryan
Period of operation: Military WW2. Several visits by civil Imperial Airways flying boats were made here from 1929, perhaps even 1928, and by military flying boats
NOTES: On the 14th Aug 1932 British Flying Boats Ltd operated an experimental service from STRANREAR to Belfast, (MUSGRAVE CHANNEL)
It is reported that in 1947 several Sunderland flying boats were taxied across the Irish Sea (50 miles) to Belfast for conversion to civilian duties by Short & Harland. Why didn't they fly?
STRANRAER: Temporary aerodrome
NOTES: This was this the 35th venue for Alan Cobham’s 1929 Municipal Aerodrome Campaign. The Tour started in May and ended in October with one hundred and seven towns and cities visited, Most of the venues were in England but two were in Wales and eight in Scotland. STRANREAR was the 7th venue in Scotland, the previous visits were to GLASGOW, STIRLING, PERTH, EDINBURGH, LANARK and DUMFRIES. After STRANREAR, AYR was visited,
The aircraft Cobham used for this 'Tour' was the DH61 'Giant Moth' G-AAEV, named 'Youth of Britain'. The punishing schedule Cobham set himself seems astonishing today. Typically he would arrive at a new venue, treat the 'worthies' for a local flight, (or flights), attend a 'slap-up' luncheon to extol the virtues of having an aerodrome or regional airport, take fifty children, ten at a time sponsored by Lord Wakefield for a 'quick flip', then conduct paid 'joy-rides' for the public until dusk. The idea being that the revenue derived from the latter off-setting the costs of the 'Tour'.
FLYING CIRCUS VENUES.
The venue 21st September 1931 for CD Barnard Air Tours? Or even the venue used on the 29th June 1933 by Cobham’s No.1 Tour?
When starting out on this project I’d have jumped to the conclusion these operators used the Landing Ground listed below but I now know better. Today I’d prefer to ask the question, does anybody now know exactly where these “Flying Circus” events took place? These operators often opted to use sites separate to established aerodromes
STRANRAER: Civil Landing Ground
Location: “0.5m E of town imm N of A75 W of jnct. with minor road”
Period of operation: 1930s only or perhaps till the 1950s?
Runway(s): Max landing run: 393 grass
NOTES: Listed in 1930s ‘A.A. Register of Landing Grounds’. Possibly also the site used by at least one of the 1930s ‘Flying Circus’ operators?
It’s a bit obscure to say the least but I found a reliable record saying the Westland Widgeon G-EBRN had been burned at Stranrear in 1951 because it’s owner could no longer afford to house it.
STRANREAR: Civil aerodrome/airport
NOTES: In 1925, for four months, Northern Airlines operated a service to Belfast. Did they use seaplanes or much more probably landplanes? Whichever, where did they operate from? Here again, if they used landplanes possibly they operated from the same site used by the ‘Flying Circus’ operators who arrived in the 1930s?
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