RAF Dyce

57.2050, -2.2000 — view on OpenStreetMap ↗

About

RAF Dyce lay at Dyce, a few miles north-west of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The site had begun life as a civil aerodrome on 28 July 1934, and during the Second World War it was taken into RAF service as a sector station within No. 13 Group, Fighter Command, charged with the air defence of Aberdeen and the surrounding coast.

A wide variety of units passed through the station. The locally raised No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force was long associated with Dyce, flying Avro Ansons on reconnaissance and anti-shipping work and later Spitfires and Harvards. Fighter squadrons including No. 111 with Hurricanes and No. 603 with Spitfires were based there to guard against Luftwaffe raids, two of which struck the area in the summer of 1940. The airfield also became an important training centre, home to No. 8 (Coastal) Operational Training Unit, which taught photographic reconnaissance using Spitfires and Mosquitoes, while smaller units handled coastal patrol and beam-approach instruction.

After the war the aerodrome returned to civil control, and following the discovery of North Sea oil it grew into one of Europe’s busiest heliports. It survives today as Aberdeen International Airport.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust — Dyce (Aberdeen) and Wikipedia: RAF Dyce. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.

Photographs

The German Air Force in the Second World War Junkers Ju 88R-1 D5+EV of IV/NJG 3 fitted with FuG 202 AI radar. The crew of this aircraft defected from Norway to Britain in May 1943, landing at Dyce in Scotland, and delivering their aircraft and its hitherto secret radar into the hands of the RAF. The photo shows the aircraft post-war, after a period of restoration.
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown authorUnknown author / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_German_Air_Force_in_the_Second_World_War_HU108219.jpgView source & full licence →
Supermarine Spitfire of No. 603 Squadron taxiing out at Dyce in Scotland for another routine convoy patrol, 4 February 1942. Spitfire of No 603 Squadron taxiing out at Dyce for another routine convoy patrol, 4 February 1942.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Supermarine_Spitfire_of_No._603_Squadron_taxiing_out_at_Dyce_in_Scotland_for_another_routine_convoy_patrol,_4_February_1942._CH4838.jpgView source & full licence →
Royal Air Force Coastal Command, 1939-1945. A crew of a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of No. 404 Squadron RCAF, prepare to take off from Dyce, Aberdeen, in the evening of 17 May 1942, to take part in the attack on the German heavy cruiser PRINZ EUGEN off Norway. Six Blenheims were detailed to accompany the strike force of Bristol Beauforts in order to make dummy torpedo attacks on the cruiser so as to confuse the enemy anti-aircraft defences, and to provide fighter cover.
ⓘ licence & creditRoyal Air Force official photographer / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Air_Force_Coastal_Command,_1939-1945._C2449.jpgView source & full licence →

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