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RAF Kirkistown
Former Royal Air Force station in Northern Ireland
Former Royal Air Force station in Northern Ireland
| Field | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| name | RAF KirkistownHMS Corncrake II | ||
| ensign | [[File:Ensign of the Royal Air Force.svg | 90px]] [[File:Naval Ensign of the United Kingdom.svg | 90px]] |
| partof | |||
| location | Portavogie, County Down | ||
| country | Northern Ireland | ||
| image | Target Dossier for Kirkistown, Northern Ireland - DPLA - ad347042203297e05e60d11f95fced8f (page 2).jpg | ||
| caption | RAF Kirkistown on a target dossier of the German Luftwaffe, 1941 | ||
| image2 | |||
| type | Royal Air Force satellite station | ||
| coordinates | |||
| pushpin_map | Northern Ireland#UK | ||
| pushpin_map_caption | Shown within Northern Ireland | ||
| pushpin_label | RAF Kirkistown | ||
| ownership | Air MinistryAdmiralty | ||
| operator | Royal Air ForceRoyal Navy | ||
| controlledby | RAF Fighter Command 1941-44RAF Northern Ireland 1944-45Fleet Air Arm | ||
| open_to_public | |||
| site_other_label | |||
| site_other | |||
| site_area | |||
| code | IK | ||
| built | /41 | ||
| used | July 1941 – | ||
| height | |||
| length | |||
| fate | |||
| battles | European theatre of World War II | ||
| past_commanders | |||
| garrison | |||
| occupants | |||
| footnotes | |||
| elevation | 6 m | ||
| r1-number | 00/00 | ||
| r1-length | |||
| r1-surface | Tarmac | ||
| r2-number | 00/00 | ||
| r2-length | |||
| r2-surface | Tarmac | ||
| r3-number | 00/00 | ||
| r3-length | |||
| r3-surface | Tarmac | ||
| h1-length | |||
| airfield_other_label | |||
| airfield_other |
| r1-number = 00/00 | r1-length = | r1-surface = Tarmac | r2-number = 00/00 | r2-length = | r2-surface = Tarmac | r3-number = 00/00 | r3-length = | r3-surface = Tarmac | h1-number = | h1-length = | h1-surface = Royal Air Force Kirkistown or more simply RAF Kirkistown is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located 6.3 mi of Ballyhalbert, County Down, Northern Ireland.
It was a satellite to the RAF Fighter Command airfield at Ballyhalbert on the Ards Peninsula.
History
RAF Ballyhalbert opened officially on 28 June 1941 and the Kirkistown satellite airfield opened in July 1941. On 22 January 1942, No. 504 Squadron RAF moved to Kirkistown. In 1945, Ballyhalbert Airfield was designated a Royal Naval Air Station as "H.M.S. Corncrake", and Kirkistown Airfield was known as "H.M.S. Corncrake II". The following units were here at some point:
- No. 485 Squadron RNZAF (1942)
- No. 1493 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (April – May 1942) became No. 1493 (Fighter) Gunnery Flight RAF (May – November 1942)
- No. 2898 Squadron RAF Regiment
- No. 4117 Anti-Aircraft Flight RAF Regiment
; Naval Units
Current use
Today the site is home to Kirkistown Circuit, a regular venue for car and motorcycle races. The circuit utilises the northern parts of the former air base's runways and perimeter roadways.
References
Citations
Bibliography
References
- "Kirkistown". Ballyhalbert Airfield. A Brief Chronology.
- "Kirkistown". [[Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust]].
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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