RAF Oban was a Royal Air Force flying boat base located in Ardantrive Bay at the northern end of the Isle of Kerrera, on the opposite side of Oban Bay from the town of Oban. It was an important base of operations during the Second World War with aircraft flying out to cover the North Atlantic shipping routes during the Battle of the Atlantic.
RAF flying boats first used the Oban Bay area in 1928, and in August 1931 a Flight of Supermarine Southampton flying boats of No. 201 Squadron visited while on a tour of the British coast.1
In the early 1930s, the Royal Air Force conducted an assessment of the Oban Bay area to determine its viability as a base for flying boat operations. With a sheltered bay large enough for long take-off and landing runs and with Oban’s rail and road links, it was a suitable location for a more permanent location for flying boats. A fuel depot, repair yard and slipway were established on Kerrera and the base officially became operational as a refuelling stop in December 1937.2
Following the outbreak of war with Germany in September 1939, RAF Oban was given full station status. Its headquarters was established at Dungallan House in Oban which had been used as an Auxiliary Hospital during the First World War and is today a luxury guest house. Pilots and groundcrew were billeted in Oban, with many being accommodated in the Columba Hotel.
Munition huts surrounded by earth-banked enclosures were erected a short distance from the Kerrera slipway and stored machine gun ammunition, bombs, depth charges, torpedos and mines which would be carried by the flying boats. The earthen embankments are still visible today.
To protect the Oban Bay area from enemy air attack, two anti-aircraft Rocket Projector Batteries, known as Z Batteries, with one located next to Dunollie Castle and the other at Gallanachmore. An anti-aircraft battery of four 3-inch guns was sited near Balure House and a battery of 3-inch guns was established on the Isle of Lismore. To guard against German U-Boat incursions a minefield in the Sound of Kerrera protected the southern approach while the narrow northern entrance was sealed by an anti-submarine boom net. Indicator Loops designed to detect submarines were also placed on the seabed on the outer approaches to Oban.
RAF Oban came under the control of No. 18 Group RAF Coastal Command and the squadrons based there flew out into the North Atlantic to escort convoys, carry out reconnaissance and anti-submarine patrols, and conduct air-sea rescue missions.
In October 1939, Supermarine Stranraers and Saunders-Roe Lerwicks of No. 209 Squadron RAF arrived from Invergordon and were the first aircraft to be based at RAF Oban. In July 1940, No. 209 Squadron redeployed to Milford Haven and was replaced by No. 210 Squadron RAF which operated Short Sunderlands. The following month a detachment of Short Sunderlands from No. 10 Squadron Royal Australian Air Force arrived and were stationed at RAF Oban until late 1941.
No. 228 Squadron RAF became operational at RAF Oban in March 1942 and remained there until December 1942. In May 1942, No. 423 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force was established at RAF Oban before the squadron relocated in November 1942 when they were replaced by No. 422 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force.
In January 1943, No. 330 Squadron Royal Norwegian Air Force moved from Iceland to RAF Oban where they were reequipped with Short Sunderlands after previously flying Consolidated Catalinas. No. 524 Squadron RAF equipped with Martin PBM Mariners was formed at RAF Oban in October 1943 however the squadron was disbanded later that year.
No. 302 Ferry Training Unit RAF operated out from RAF Oban from July 1943 until April 1945 and No. 4 Flying Boat Servicing Unit RAF was based there from September 1942 to early 1945.
In December 1940, the Luftwaffe carried out reconnaissance flights over Scotland and took aerial photographs of the Oban Bay area. One photo clearly shows nine seaplanes moored in the bay with one aircraft in the maintenance yard on Kerrera as well as the onshore establishments.3
In 1941 a seaplane from Oban took American President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s European representative to Archangel to meet Soviet premier Joseph Stalin. The meeting was to obtain first-hand information for the American President about the state of the Soviet Union’s war situation and their needs for munitions and supplies.
At nearby Ganavan on the mainland, a Flying Boat Maintenance Unit was established where repair and maintenance work on the flying boats could be carried out. The aircraft would be taken up a slipway into hangars which were located where the public car park is today. The concrete slipway is still in use.
In April 1945 as the war was nearing its end, RAF Oban reverted to care and maintenance status and the base was closed down in early 1946.
Notes:
- Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. ↩︎
- Canmore, https://canmore.org.uk/site/289262/kerrera-seaplane-base ↩︎
- Ibid. ↩︎
Cite this article: Ritchie, N. (13 August 2024). RAF Oban: Flying boat base during the Second World War. https://www.scottishhistory.org/blog/raf-oban-second-world-war/
