Dounreay

58°34'47"N003°43'49"W

runway: 05/23 - 2000yds - concrete
runway: 11/29 - 1100yds - concrete
runway: 17/35 - 1100yds - concrete

Air field Dounreay was an airfield in the north Scotland.
Construction of the airfield began in 1942. A camp was built to house the workers who built the RAF aerodrome and later the air crew and ground staff. The buildings were nissen-huts, built in groups christened with the name of an aircraft – Hurricane, Swordfish, Martinet, Corsair. It was originally intended for use by Coastal Command, but in 1943 Coastal Command announced they would not occupy it.  It then was offered to serve as an airbase for Bomber Command, but they never used it because it was unsuitable for bombers, not expandable and dangerous because of nearby high hills.
Because it lacked priority as a result, the base was not completed until April 1944 and put on Care and Maintenance status immediately.


Plan of Dounreay airfield in the 1940s (Royal Navy Reseach Archive)

When the Admiralty showed an interest, it was passed on to the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. The Royal Navy renamed it RNAS Dounreay/HMS Tern II, but they never commissioned it. Instead it remained on Care and Maintenance status in anticipation of a Soviet attack on Europe until passed on to the Air Ministry in 1949.


Dounreay airfield, presumably taken around 1955 (dounreay.com).

In 1954 the airfield was proposed as the site for a fast breeder reactor and it was subsequently taken over by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). UKAEA was to operate the nuclair facility under supervision of the Minister for Supply. The airfield remained a property of the Air Ministry however. As a result the Ministries agreed that:
- The Air Ministry would be consulted about the siting of the atomic energy buildings, including any future runway extensions.
- The main Dounreay runway and its approaches would remain unobstructed and full consultation had to take place prior to sanctioning the construction of any buildings that might interfere with planes landing or taking off.
- Certain existing military buildings would be left intact for use in a future war.
- In the event of a war, the runway and associated buildings would be immediately available for operational use, irrespective of whatever construction stage the atomic energy plant was at.
- The atomic energy organization would at no future time erect buildings or take any action which would interfere with the wartime availability of the main runway, without the agreement of both the Air Ministry and the Admiralty.
Effectively this meant that the construction and operation of the Dounreay nucleair plant took place against the requirement that the main runway of the airfield would be maintained in a state of operational readiness at all times. Buildings that had originally been built during the war for air crew and ground staff were converted to accommodation for the construction workforce. The new staff that arrived at the nuclair plant were initially housed there too. Dounrays two cross runways were not retained and the plant was in part built on top of them.
Ultimately the facility consisted of three nucleair reactors. The first nuclear reactor went critical for a test run in May 1958. The second reactor went critical on 14 November 1959 and was connected to the national grid in 1962.


Boston Camp, where the construction workers lived, late 1950s (dounreay.com).


Dounreay and its camps, after construction for the nucleair site had begun, as can be seen in the foreground (dounreay.com).

In the 1960s the UK deterrence evolved into a submarine-based deterrent. As a result the airfield was no longer considered neccesary for bombers. Regular UKAEA flights began using the airfield in 1970. The usable part of the main runway was 1006 meters in length. As the main access road to the site crossed the runway, it needed to be closed every time an aircraft wanted to land or take off. Dounreay site records show that the control of vehicles was ineffective and there were numerous incidents.
In March 1972 for instance, a Royal Navy Heron took off from the runway without waiting for the constabulary to clear the intersection.
By 1975 the number of flights stood at 1316 per year, ten years later at 1350. Northern Air Taxis of Leeds was the first operator to fly from the airfield, with a Beagle 206. They connected the plant to Manchester and London. When the contract transferred to Vern Air it used a Beechcraft QueenAir. The final contractor was Northern Executive Aviation.
Prince Charles flew to the airfield a few times at the controls of the Queens Flight. Other VIPs who landed at the aerodrome in the 1970s were the Duke of Edinburgh and Margaret Thatcher, shortly after becoming Prime Minister in 1979.
Regular Charter work ceased in 1990 and after the airfield closed in 1993 the runway was converted into a car park.


Passengers board a Beagle for the inaugural flight from Dounreay in 1970 (dounreay.com).


Landing of a Queens Flight H.S. Andover carrying the Duke of Edinborough on a visit to HMS Vulcan in 1974 (dounreay.com).


A Dan-Air Andover carrying VIPs to Dounreay in 1978 (dounreay.com).


This twin-engine Piper PA 31-350 Navajo operated by an air charter company crashed with seven passengers on board while taking off in May 1987. No-one was injured (dounreay.com).

The air traffic control tower was located on the south side of the airfield. Its ground and first floors had been converted into a visitor center in 1960. In 2007 a gale damaged the building to the extent that repair was deemed too costly. As a result it was demolished.
The runway and taxitrack system is still easily recognisable, especially from the air. The civilian part of the nucleair facility is in the process of being dismantled since 2005. One reactor remains though, which is the shore based research reactor of the Royal Navy. Known as HMS Vulcan, or the Vulcan NRTE (Naval Reactor Test Establishment) as it is now known, it houses the prototype nuclear propulsion plants of the type operated by the Royal Navy in its submarine fleet. In 2011 the MoD stated that NRTE could be scaled down or closed after 2015 when the current series of tests ends.


The control towers first two floors were used as an exhibition center until 2006 (dounreay.com).


The control tower was demolished in June 2007 after having damaged beyond economical repair by a storm in 2006 (dounreay.com).


Overview of Dounreay in 2004 (Google Earth)