Edzell Airfield, Inch

There was a military aerodrome at Edzell in both the First and the Second World Wars, and after 1945. The First World War aerodrome lay on a different site, to the north. In August 1918 the aerodrome was recorded in a survey of RAF stations as ‘No. 26 Training Depot, NW Area, No 20 Group, 30th Wing’ whose function was ‘A Training Depot Station (Three Unit) for Single Seater Fighter training’. Training Depots were established during 1917, after it was decided to concentrate flying training at a limited number of sites. Most were still under construction when the war ended.

The aerodrome occupied an area of about 85 hectares, measuring 1100m by 820m, with the aerodrome buildings (of which there were over 40) on the north-west side. As was standard for these training depots, there were six aeroplane hangars and an Aeroplane Repair Shed, as well as huts for teaching, workshops and accommodation for the officers who commanded the depot, their officer and Non-Commissioned Officer pupils, and the male and female service personnel who worked there. At the time of the report, in August 1918, the aerodrome buildings were still under construction, and Edzell was not included on the list of permanent air stations. In August 1918 the station’s establishment was 180 pupils, and a permanent staff of 659, of whom 216 were women. The aerodrome was designed to house 36 SE5 and 36 Avro fighter aircraft, but it is unlikely that these numbers were achieved.

The Training Depot closed in 1919 and the First World War buildings were largely swept away. An aerodrome was established at the beginning of the Second World War on a different site, to the south.

Comparison between the 1918 plan of the aerodrome and modern mapping suggests that some hut footings may survive at the northern corner of the site, at NO 62496 71149.

Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 29 May 2013