Dornoch

57°52'10"N004°01'27"W

Runway: 10/28 - 775x23meters/...feet - grass

Dornoch air field (Also known as RAF Dornoch or No.40 Satellite Landing Ground) is an airfield in the North of Scotland.
The airfield was built in 1933 as a civilian airfield. From 1941 it served as a dispersal airfield for RAF Kinloss, 45Maintenance Unit (MU). It was only used for a brief period however, because lack of suitable camouflaged places meant aircraft could only be parked in the open. From 30 September 1942 it was placed on a Care and Maintenance status.
A year later it was returned to service with 46MU. They used Dornoch for storage of spare, damaged or obsolete Beaufighters. 108 aircraft were recorded at the airfield in July 1944. In April 1945 the airfield was at its maximum capacity, but Beaufighter and Lancaster aircraft were at that time repaired, rather than stored. For this purpose a hangar had been brought to the airfield.
The last aircraft left on 27 September 1945, and the airfield was closed on 30 September 1945.


Dorloch airfield during World War II. The picture clearly shows it had two runways at the time (Historylinks Museum Dorloch).

After the war the airfield was returned to farm use. At some point the location where RAF aircraft had been stored was converted into a golf course. The airfield reportedly re-opened in 1967 to provide services to Inverness and Wick. The services (by Loganair) proved to be uneconomic, however, and stopped in 1972. The surviving runway remains in use for private pilots and is provided with a small terminal building. It sees very little traffic however and the airfield is unmanned. A yellow board carries instructions for pilots using the airfield.
In August 2011 the Highland Council was assessing Dornoch Airfield in an attempt to increase the income generated and collected. With modern technology (Internet, debet and creditcards) it should be made easier to pay for the airfield and ease flight information planning.


Shed, office and courtesy board at Dornoch airfield (Wikipedia).