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Eccles Tofts

Military Airfield (First World War)

Site Name Eccles Tofts

Classification Military Airfield (First World War)

Alternative Name(s) Raf Charterhall

Canmore ID 331253

Site Number NT74NE 34

NGR NT 75600 45200

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/331253

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Scottish Borders, The
  • Parish Eccles
  • Former Region Borders
  • Former District Berwickshire
  • Former County Berwickshire

World War One Audit of Surviving Remains (3 June 2013)

Charterhall military aerodrome was first used during the First World War, when it was known as Eccles Tofts. Between 1916 and 1918 it was an emergency landing strip for No. 77 Home Defence Squadron, whose role was to protect the Firth of Forth area from German Zeppelin airship bombing raids. The squadron’s landing grounds were created in case engine failure or bad weather prevented an aeroplane from returning to one of its more permanent bases; when the squadron was flying the farmer on whose land the strip lay would be warned by telephone to clear animals from the landing area. In a 1918 RAF survey of air stations Eccles Tofts was described as occupying an area of 46 hectares and measuring 594m by 777m on an L-shaped plan. It is not clear exactly where the landing ground was located.

The landing strip was not used between the First and Second World Wars.

Land at Charterhall was acquired in 1941 for the construction of a fighter Operational Training Unit (See NT74NE 7.00).

Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 31 May 2013.

Activities

Project (March 2013 - September 2013)

A project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War. Carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.

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