RAF Dundonald/gailes/fullarton/barassie

RAF Dundonald was a wartime airfield in South Ayrshire, Scotland, lying a few miles inland from the coastal town of Troon. It opened in March 1940 as a relief landing ground for nearby RAF Prestwick, and in its first phase served chiefly as somewhere novice pilots could practise circuits and landings, flying de Havilland Tiger Moth trainers from a pair of short grass strips later strengthened with Sommerfeld Track. After the early training work tailed off in 1941, the station fell largely quiet.

Its more significant role came under Fighter Command and the Combined Operations programme. No. 1441 (Combined Operations Development) Flight moved in during October 1942, and on 28 April 1943 it was expanded into No. 516 Squadron. The squadron flew a notably varied fleet — North American Mustangs and Hawker Hurricanes alongside Bristol Blenheims, Westland Lysanders, Avro Ansons and Percival Proctors — and existed to give realism to commando and amphibious-assault training, mounting mock air attacks, laying smoke screens and supporting the rehearsals that fed into the build-up for D-Day.

With the Normandy landings achieved, the need for such training fell away and No. 516 Squadron disbanded in December 1944. Dundonald was reduced to care and maintenance and formally closed on 1 August 1945, the site being retained by the Army. It was later built over by a Monsanto nylon factory in the 1960s and is today occupied by the Olympic Business Park, though traces of the old runways remain visible from the air.