RAF Castle Archdale

RAF Castle Archdale, also known for a while as RAF Lough Erne was a Royal Air Force station used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force station in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

History

File:Sunderland and Catalina flying boats of RAF Coastal Command at Castle Archdale in Northern Ireland, January 1945. CH14837.jpg

Various flying boats are being hauled out of Lough Erne as the water begins to freeze in January 1945.

RAF Castle Archdale was located on the eastern shore of Lower Lough Erne, near the village of Lisnarrick. It was used during the Second World War by flying boats of No. 209 Squadron RAF. From Castle Archdale, Consolidated Catalinas and Short Sunderlands could patrol the North Atlantic for German U-boats. A secret agreement with the government of Ireland allowed aircraft to fly from Lough Erne to the Atlantic along the Donegal Corridor, providing vital air cover from one of the most westerly RAF bases in the United Kingdom.

In May 1941 the German battleship Bismarck was found during a routine patrol by a Catalina flying out of Castle Archdale boat base on Lower Lough Erne, Northern Ireland.

Postwar

The base was closed after the Second World War and today is part of Castle Archdale Country Park. The slip way remains in use and the concrete stands for parking the Catalina aircraft are now part of a caravan site. Other buildings lie derelict and overgrown in the surrounding forest. A museum in the park grounds has a section devoted to its role during the Second World War.

Units

• No. 119 Squadron RAF
• No. 201 Squadron RAF
• No. 202 Squadron RAF
• No. 228 Squadron RAF
• No. 230 Squadron RAF
• No. 240 Squadron RAF
• No. 422 Squadron RCAF
• No. 423 Squadron RCAF
• No. 302 Ferry Training Unit RAF (briefly in 1942)

See also

• List of former RAF stations
• Castle Archdale estate history.

External links

• Castle Archdale in Coastal Command