Ritchie Camp

Ritchie Camp served RAF Kirknewton, a Royal Air Force station at Whitemoss, a mile south east of Kirknewton, West Lothian, Scotland during World War II. Primarily an RAF radar base, RAF Kirknewton was home to a variety of units during the war

RAF Kirknewton was used as a temporary POW Camp for German officers during WWII, while they were awaiting transfer to the USA, and it is likely that the camp may have housed these prisoners, together with their guards.

Some time after the war, Kirknewton airfield and Ritchie Camp were made available to several small United States Air Force units tasked with providing mobile radio facilities in Britain, including 6952nd Security Group, formerly the 6952nd Radio Squadron Mobile, formerly the 37th Radio Squadron Mobile, United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS). Around 500 American service personnel were tasked with the interception of voice and Morse signals, including military and commercial naval traffic, with priority being given to signals involving Soviet radar and air operations. At one point, they serviced the Hot Line between Washington and Moscow.

The base finally closed in August 1966.

As part of the drawdown of British Forces from West Germany, the 1st Battalion The Black Watch returned from Minden in March 1968 and were stationed at Ritchie Camp before moving in January 1972 to Hong Kong.

In 1971, it was announced that the 1st Battalion The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were to be reformed. At that time, Balaklava Company,The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were based in Gibraltar. They returned home, via Barnard Castle, County Durham and became the nucleus of the new battalion which assembled in Ritchie Camp. From here they undertook 3 tours of duty in Northern Ireland. Amongst visitors to the regiment were HM The Queen, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and HRH Princess Anne.

When the battalion moved to Osnabrück in November 1974, the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots took up residence, arriving from Cyprus, til June 1976 when they moved to Munster. They were replaced by the 1st Battalion The Queen's Own Highlanders from Osnabrück in June 1976, leaving in March 1980 for Hong Kong.

The 1st Battalion The Gordon Highlanders, transferring from Chester in March 1980, were resident in Ritchie Camp til February 1983, when they moved on to Hemer. In 1981, they were participants in the wedding of The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

In February 1983, they moved to Hemer, when the 1st Battalion The Royal Scots moved in from Ballykinler. They moved in March 1985 to Werl, handing over the camp to The 1st Battalion The Black Watch who had been in Werl. After a short stay, they moved a few miles to Redford Barracks, Edinburgh in April 1986.

Scottish regiments based in Ritchie Camp were required to provide the Royal Guard at Balmoral. One of their duties was to run film shows for the Royal Family. Projectionists received their training in the camp cinema, a relic of the American occupants. The building used as an officers' mess was designed on the American officers' club style. One of the hangars on the airfield housed to Motor Transport (MT) vehicles. The airfield itself was used for driver training, low level military training and recreation. There were insufficient houses for soldiers' families locally; additional housing (married quarters) was provided in Lanark and Edinburgh.

Responding to a Commons Written Question on 26 February 1987, the Secretary of State for Defence stated that 'We have recently agreed in principle to make these sites (Winston camp, Lanark, and Ritchie camp, Kirknewton) available to the United States forces for use as peacetime medical storage facilities and as hospitals which would be activated in the event of war.' The Americans handed the site back to the MoD in 1991, when it was described as a Contingency Hospital.

A Tree Preservation Order was placed on Ritchie Camp in December 1987.

The Princess Royal, Patron, Crucial Crew Project, attended a Crucial Crew event hosted by the Lothian and Borders Police 'F' Division at Ritchie Camp on 13 June 1993.

In 1999, the camp was demolished and replaced with up-market housing, and the area renamed 'Newlands'.