RAF Dumfries

RAF Dumfries was a former Royal Air Force station located near Tinwald, Scotland. The airfield opened on 17 June 1940 and was sold in 1960 to a private firm.

The disused airfield is now used as the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum.

History
No. 18 Maintenance Unit RAF, (No. 18 MU) was alloted to No. 41 Group RAF and became the lodger unit on 17 June 1940. No aircraft were flown in until the end of June when the obstructions placed on the airfield to prevent enemy aircraft from landing where removed due to invasion fears. No 18 MU was reverted to a tenant unit on 13 July 1940 and No 10 Bombing and Gunnery School (No 10 B&GS) of No 25 Group (Training Command) relocated from RAF Warmwell, Dorset. No 10 BAGS trained bomb-aimers and gunners in Handley Page Harrows and Fairey Battles before further training within Operational Training Units.

The airfield consisted of a grass runway and due to the demands of operational training the runway was upgraded to hard surfaces. Whilst this work was being undertaken No 10 BAGS utilised the satellite landing ground at RAF Winterseugh, Annan.

Due to the numbers of aircraft 18MU was forced to disperse the aircraft to satellite landing grounds as RAF Low Eldrig near Stranraer, RAF Lennoxlove near Haddington, and RAF Wath Head in Cumbria and also RAF Hornby Hall, Cumbria. No 11 Sub-Ferry Flight was posted to the airfield between April and July 1940.

No 10 BAGS was re-designated No 10 Air Observer School (No 10AOS) in September 1940 and began training navigators in Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Blackburn Botha aircraft. In April 1940 No 10 AOS was renamed No 10 (Observer) Advanced Flying Unit (No 10 (O) AOS) and was re-equipped with the Avro Anson.

Over 400 courses had been conducted during World War II at RAF Dumfries. No 10. (Observer) Advanced Flying Unit was again renamed No. 10 Air Navigation School (No 10 ANS) in August 1945 and was disbanded in September 1945. No 18 MU closed in 1957 having prepared and dispatched almost 5,000 aircraft to units and after the war became an airpark for aircraft before being scrapped.

The airfield was a training station for national service recruits to the Royal Air Force Regiment between 1947 and 1957. The airfield was then placed under care and maintenance until the site was sold to a private company in 1960.

Aviation Museum
It now houses the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum, which first opened to the public in the summer of 1977.