Tain Airfield
Tain Airfield was a major RAF fighter and maritime patrol airfield during World War Two, and still remains famous today, both at home at abroad. Among the airfield’s many feats was sinking some of the last U-boats during the conflict, one of which (U-534) has since been salvaged to become a popular museum at Birkenhead in Merseyside. Tain Airfield continues to be tangible, with its control tower especially being somewhat iconic and extremely evocative.
On 11 August 2018 Kenneth Bannerman of Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust, aided by Geoff Bolton, a leading aircraftsman who served at RAF Tain during his National Service in 1954 and who now lives in the area, unveiled the memorial on the site of the wartime airfield.
Fearn Airfield
Fearn Airfield, also known as HMS Owl, originally served as Tain’s satellite airfield before becoming one of Britain’s most important World War Two naval airfields. From 1942 this place proved extremely busy through holding numerous Fleet Air Arm squadrons for torpedo bomber and anti-shipping training. Much of this airfield still remains, with Fearn’s naval control tower now being used as a private house following long restoration.
Both memorials are the main standardised design already widely utilised by the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust (ABCT), and its objective is to eventually commemorate each known disused airfield site in Britain with one of two forms of standardised granite memorial – well over 80 have already been unveiled to clearly major effect, with nearly 200 of them to be in place by the end of 2018.
ABCT is the world’s first national airfield charity, truly revolutionary, and making a real difference to the advancement and betterment of everyday society.
Press release by ABCT August 2018