RAF Eglinton

RAF Eglinton opened in April 1941 a few miles east of Londonderry in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It served chiefly as a fighter station guarding the approaches to the city and the strategically vital port of Derry, a key escort base for the Battle of the Atlantic. Among its early occupants was No. 133 Squadron, one of the three “Eagle” units manned by American volunteers serving in the RAF; arriving in the autumn of 1941, it exchanged its Hawker Hurricanes for Supermarine Spitfires before moving south and ultimately passing to the United States Army Air Forces. A succession of other RAF fighter squadrons, together with American and Commonwealth units, also passed through the airfield during the war.

From 1943 the station was handed to the Royal Navy and commissioned as a Fleet Air Arm base, HMS Gannet, supporting carrier air groups and convoy-protection flying over the North Atlantic. It worked alongside the nearby satellite field at Maydown.

The Navy retained Eglinton until 1959, after which it returned to civil use. The site continued as a regional airport and was renamed City of Derry Airport in 1994, the role it fills today.