RAF Bowmore, Islay

RAF Bowmore was a Second World War flying boat base on Loch Indaal, beside the town of Bowmore on the Isle of Islay, Argyll. It opened in September 1940 and served as a maritime patrol station under Coastal Command, taking advantage of the sheltered sea loch for moorings rather than a conventional runway.

From Islay the station flew long-range patrols over the Western Approaches during the Battle of the Atlantic, hunting U-boats and escorting Allied convoys. Short Sunderland and Consolidated Catalina flying boats operated from the loch, and several Coastal Command units passed through, including No. 119 and No. 246 Squadrons and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s No. 422 Squadron. The base was sufficiently photogenic to feature in the 1942 wartime documentary “Coastal Command”, in which it appeared under the fictional name RAF Ferry Bay, with a Sunderland filmed low over the town’s main street and the round Kilarrow Parish Church.

The station’s worst loss came in January 1943, when a returning Sunderland crashed near the shore; most of the crew survived the impact but were killed when the aircraft’s depth charges exploded as they tried to free a trapped gunner. RAF Bowmore closed in March 1946. The site reverted to civilian use and is today associated with the surrounding community at Bowmore.