RAF Lossiemouth

RAF Lossiemouth stands on the western edge of Lossiemouth in Moray, north-east Scotland. Opened in 1939, it began as a bomber station before becoming a Fleet Air Arm base in the 1940s. The airfield returned to RAF control in 1972 and now operates as a fast-jet base. It is one of two main Typhoon bases in the UK and hosts four front-line squadrons. The station also flies the Poseidon MRA1 for maritime patrol and will soon operate the Wedgetail AEW1 for airborne early warning. The airfield’s history includes wartime detachments of Wellingtons, Hampdens and Blenheims on North Sea patrols. In 1940 a Luftwaffe raid damaged hangars and aircraft, killing one officer and two airmen. Later that year Hurricanes were deployed to a satellite airfield at RAF Elgin to protect the area. By 1942 the station launched unsuccessful strikes against the German battleship Tirpitz from Norwegian waters. Visitors see the main runway complex and the control tower built in 1942. Three blast-damaged hangars still bear cannon-fire scars from the 1940 attack. Nearby, the Lossiemouth churchyard holds the graves of the German aircrew whose Heinkel crashed on the airfield. The station’s wartime satellite at RAF Milltown lies three kilometres to the south-east, now part of the wider defence estate.