RAF Dornoch

RAF Dornoch was a World War II airfield which served as a satellite and dispersal airfield to RAF Kinloss.

All we are aware of:

No. 40 Satellite Landing Ground, Dornoch
Location: South of Town, beside Golf Course.

OS Ref: NH 800 885

Purpose: Dispersal Airfield used by 45 Maintenance Unit, Kinloss, and later 46 Maintenance Unit,

Opened: 8.8.1940
Closed: 30.9.1945

Present Condition: Still in occasional use as an airstrip. No wartime buildings remain.

Notes: Used for storage of spare, damaged or obsolete aircraft from its parent base. It stored Whitleys, Spitfires, Havocs, from Kinloss. 108 aircraft were recorded at the airfield in April 1944. The Royal Golf Hotel was requisitioned as billets for the station.

- Action Stations, No.7: Airfields of Scotland, North-East & NI.^[1]

Dornoch Airfield

Dornoch airfield buildings
� Phil Williams

The airfield is reported to have re-opened in 1967, to provide services to Inverness and Wick, however this proved uneconomic.

The surviving runway remains in use for private pilots, and is provided with a small terminal building.

The yellow board visible to the left the lean-to next to the main building with the aerial carries instructions for pilots who have made a landing on the runway to complete a flight record form, stored in a small red box on top of the lean-to, and and mail it to Highland Regional Council.

We can't find any instructions, but the airfield is very close to the bombing ranges of RAF Tain, so contacting the range controller would seem to be prudent, as is checking for any NOTAM that may be current.