RAF Castle Archdale
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RAF Castle Archdale was a Royal Air Force station in County Fermanagh Northern Ireland.
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[edit] WWII History
RAF Castle Archdale was used during World War Two by flying boats of the RAF. From Castle Archdale, PBY Catalinas and Short Sunderlands could patrol the North Atlantic for German U-boats. A secret agreement with the government of the Irish Free State allowed aircraft to fly from Lough Erne to the Atlantic, providing vital air cover from one of the most westerly RAF bases in the United Kingdom. (See The Cranborne Report).
[edit] Notable operations
Catalina Z of the 209 Squadron stationed there spotted the German battleship Bismarck after it sank HMS Hood, helping track it before its sinking.[1]
[edit] Postwar
The base was closed after WWII and today is part of Castle Archdale Country Park. The concrete grounds for parking aircraft are now used as a caravan site and other buildings lie derelict and overgrown in the surrounding forest. A museum in the park grounds has a section devoted to the events there during WWII.
