RAF Castle Archdale/lough Erne

RAF Castle Archdale stood on the eastern shore of Lower Lough Erne, near Lisnarick in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Opened in February 1941, it served throughout the Second World War as a flying boat station under RAF Coastal Command, working as part of No. 15 (General Reconnaissance) Group. From the sheltered water of the lough its aircraft flew long anti-submarine and convoy-escort patrols far out over the North Atlantic, a task made easier by the nearby Donegal Corridor over neutral Irish territory.

A succession of squadrons operated from the base, among them Nos. 201, 202, 209, 228, 230 and 240 Squadrons of the RAF and the Canadian Nos. 422 and 423 Squadrons RCAF. They flew flying boats including the Short Sunderland, the Consolidated Catalina and, earlier, the troublesome Saro Lerwick. The station’s most celebrated moment came on 26 May 1941, when a Catalina of No. 209 Squadron relocated the German battleship Bismarck, helping to seal its fate. The crews also went on to claim U-boats sunk, with a first confirmed kill in 1943.

After the war the RAF retained the site for flying boat exercises into the 1950s, lowering its ensign for the last time in 1957. The grounds are now Castle Archdale Country Park, where the old slipway and dock survive and former dispersals have been turned over to caravans, with a small museum recalling its wartime role.