RAF Macmerry

Royal Air Force Macmerry or more simply RAF Macmerry is a former Royal Air Force satellite station located 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west of Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland and 11.4 miles (18.3 km) east of Edinburgh. It was situated immediately to the north east of Macmerry on the north side of the A1 road. It has also been called RNAS Macmerry (when used by the Royal Navy) and unofficially RAF Tranent and RAF Penston during its life.^[2]

History

A landing ground known as Penston was used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. Subsequently, an adjacent site was developed as Macmerry airfield by the Edinburgh Flying Club, and this was used for scheduled flights by North Eastern Airways from 1936 to 1939. In 1942 Macmerry was expanded to encompass the former Penston site.

Civil flying ceased with the outbreak of the

• No. 13 Squadron RAF during August 1942 with Blenheims^[4]
• No. 63 Squadron RAF November 1942-July 1943 with Mustangs^[5]
• No. 225 Squadron RAF August 1942-October 1942 with Mustangs^[6]
• No. 607 Squadron RAF January 1941-March 1941 with Hurricanes^[7]
• No. 614 Squadron RAF March 1941-August 1942 with Blenheims and Lysanders^[8]
• 740 Naval Air Squadron December 1943-September 1945 with various aircraft^[9]
• Air Firing Squadron of
  No. 58 Operational Training Unit RAF (OTU) (December 1941 - April 1942)^[10]
• Satellite of
  No. 132 (Coastal) OTU^[11]
• No. 3 Gliding School RAF (March 1944 - April 1946)^[12]
• No. 1497 (Target Towing) Flight RAF (December 1942 - June 1943)^[13]
• No. 1318 Mobile Wing RAF Regiment^[9]
• No. 2737 Squadron RAF Regiment^[9]
• No. 2830 Squadron RAF Regiment^[9]
• No. 2949 Squadron RAF Regiment^[9]

Current use

The airfield site is now occupied by agriculture, a go-kart centre and the realigned A1 dual carriageway, whereas the technical and domestic sites are an industrial estate.^[9]

See also

• List of former Royal Air Force stations

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Falconer, J (2012). RAF Airfields of World War 2. UK: Ian Allan Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-85780-349-5
  .
• Jefford, C G (1988). RAF Squadrons. A comprehensive record of the movement and equipment of all RAF squadrons and their antecedents since 1912.
  ISBN 1-85310-053-6
  .
• Lake, A (1999). Flying units of the RAF.
  ISBN 1-84037-086-6
  .
• Smith, David J. (1983). Action Stations 7. Military Airfields of Scotland, the North-East and Northern Ireland.
  ISBN 0-85059-563-0
  .
• Sturtivant, R; Hamlin, J; Halley, J (1997). Royal Air Force flying training and support units. UK: Air-Britain (Historians).
  ISBN 0-85130-252-1
  .