Leuchars Station
THE STATION
A British Army barracks in Scotland home to several RAF units. Leuchars Station passed from the RAF to the British Army in 2015 and is home to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the Royal Engineers, Military police units, and also ESUAS and 612 (R) Squadron.
ADDRESS
Main St, Leuchars, St Andrews KY16 0JX
KEY DATES
- 1911 - Flying starts at Leuchars.
- 1920 - Station renamed RAF Leuchars.
- 2014 - The last RAF air defence squadrons left the Station.
- 2015 - The Station was handed over to the British Army.
HISTORY
Aviation at Leuchars dates back to 1911 with a balloon squadron of the Royal Engineers. Heavier than air craft moved in to the site soon afterwards and it was used as a training airfield through the First World War. A Coastal Command station during the Second World War, in 1943 BOAC used the airfield to set up a covert air link to neutral Sweden, rescuing RAF crews who had been shot down and interred as well as importing Swedish goods for the war effort.
Leuchars became a fighter station in 1950 hosting a variety of jet air defence aircraft, belonging both to the RAF and the Royal Navy, due to its coastal location. It remained an air defence airfield through the Cold War and up to 2015 where it was handed over to the British Army.