RAF Grangemouth

RAF Grangemouth lay about three miles north-east of Falkirk in Stirlingshire, on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. The site first opened in May 1939 as Central Scotland Airport, briefly serving civil aviation and a navigation school before the outbreak of war brought it into Royal Air Force hands. It spent its operational life under Fighter Command, defending the industrial belt of central Scotland and, increasingly, training new fighter pilots.

A succession of squadrons passed through in the war’s early years. No. 602 Squadron flew Spitfires from the field in 1939, while No. 141 Squadron operated Blenheims and Gladiators, No. 263 Squadron brought Hurricanes and the early Westland Whirlwind, and No. 614 Squadron used Lysanders. From December 1940 the station’s main purpose became instruction, with No. 58 Operational Training Unit converting pilots onto the Spitfire using a fleet that also included Miles Master trainers. Many of its pupils came from overseas, including a sizeable Polish contingent.

Training was costly: a memorial in the town commemorates 71 trainee pilots from eleven nations killed in accidents there. The OTU disbanded in October 1943, and after the war the airfield housed a gliding school and then Maintenance Command before closing in June 1955. The land was later given over to industry, retail and housing, though a few hangars and a Spitfire memorial survive.