RAF Dalcross

RAF Dalcross was a wartime airfield at Dalcross, east of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Built for the Air Ministry, it opened in 1940 and for most of the Second World War came under No. 13 (Fighter) Group. From the outset it served chiefly as a training and support station rather than a front-line bomber base, though it also hosted fighter and reconnaissance detachments.

The airfield’s longest-serving resident was No. 2 Air Gunnery School, which operated there from 1941 until 1945, flying aircraft such as Avro Ansons, Boulton Paul Defiants and Miles Martinets to train air gunners. No. 19 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit was based at Dalcross between October 1942 and February 1944, while squadron detachments — including Nos. 41, 63, 88, 122 and 614 — passed through with types ranging from Westland Lysanders to Spitfires, Bostons and Mustangs.

Gliding and advanced flying training continued after the war, with No. 7 Gliding School and, later, an Advanced Flying Training School using the site into the 1950s. In 1947 the aerodrome passed to civilian control and grew into what is today Inverness Airport, with the former technical and accommodation areas now occupied by the Dalcross Industrial Estate.