Cluntoe

54°37'18"N 006°31'40"W

runway: 00/36 - 1280x45m/4200x150ft - concrete
runway: 06/24 - 1828x45m/6000x150ft - concrete
runway: 10/28 - 1280x45m/4200x150ft - concrete

Cluntoe airfield (RAF Cluntoe, also known as Ardboe airfield or AAF 238 Combat Crew Replacement Centre B.) was a military airfield 38 kilometers west of Belfast, Northern Ireland
The airfield was built between December 1940 and July 1942. It consisted of three runways (2,600 yards, 2,200 yards and 1,300 yards long), a three mile perimeter taxiway, 30 hardstands, 50 fighter pads and two twinned T2 hangars. Additionally it got communal buildings, headquarters, a hospital, a cinema, a church, sewage facilities, a shooting range, fuel and bomb dumps and nissan huts for living quarters; over 500 buildings in all. The airfield split the local parish of Ardboe in two, a condition that exists to this day. Initially it was used by the RAF and planned to become a bomber OTU. In August 1943 Cluntoe was handed over to the USAAFs 8th Air Force.


A detachment of Royal Air Force personnel pass in review during ceremonies changing over an airfield at Cluntoe, Northern Ireland, from the RAF to the U.S. Army Air Force. Capt. K.K. Wallick, new commanding officer of the airfield, left, acknowledges the courtesy. 29 August 1943 (AFHRC)


Squadron Leader W.B. Rawling, former commanding officer of an airbase at Cluntoe, Northern Ireland which was recently turned over to the U.S. Army Air Force, congratulates Capt. K.K. Wallick, new commanding officeer of the airfield. 29 August 1943 (AFHRC)

The 8th Air Force designated the airfield AAF238, which became No.4 Combat Crew Replacement Centre (CCRC), operating B-17s. At the CCRC experienced pilots leaving the European theatre would meet with new recruits to pass on the benefits of their experience. The airfield also served as a rest stop for bombing aircrews returning home. By late 1943 over 3,500 American troops were stationed at the base, tripling the original population of Ardboe. Coming from a country not affected by war and rationing, money was in abundance, again providing a boost to the local shops and other businesses. If there was ever a place where the British had a right to say "Americans are oversexed, overpaid and over here" it was Ardboe.
By March 1944 it became No.2 CCRC, training B-24 crews. In order to accommodate these aircraft the runways were lengthened from October 1943 until 1944. The Americans stopped using the facility in November 1944, and handed it back to the RAF. It closed in June 1945 and went on care and maintenance.

The airfield was refurbished and reopened in 1952 as a training station for pilots going to the Korean War. Stationed at the station were two flights of No.2 Flying Training School. 'A' Flight used the Percival Prentice, while 'B' Flight used North American Harvards (RAF designator for T-6 Texan).
2FTS left the airfield in 1955 and the airfield was closed again. It was finally sold off in 1957.


Cluntoe tower, ca. 2010 (Second World War in Northern Ireland).

Today the airfield still exists as do many of its buildings. A lot has been looted from the airfield over the decades. Internet sources claim that much of the electrical grid was removed by locals in the years immediately after its final closure. The airfield is now used by local businesses and known as Ardboe Business Park.


Google Earth image, edited for contrast, showing a cloudy Clunstoe in April 2008