RAF Oban

Ardantrive Bay, Kerrera © http://www.geograph.org.uk/user/Mick%20G/

Ardantrive Bay, Kerrera
© Mick Garrat

RAF Oban was a World War II flying boat base located at the north end of Kerrera island, in Ardantrive Bay, and operated in conjunction with the Flying Boat Maintenance Unit at Ganavan, located to the north east. The base lay just over half a mile west of Oban town, across Oban Bay.

Flying boats first used the bay around 1933, but it was December 1937 before the location was in regular use by the RAF, initially as a refuelling point for aircraft travelling around Britain. World War II saw the base raised to full operational status, reverting to care and maintenance on April 28, 1945. Operationally, the base was part of 18 Group Coastal Command, and operated No 302 Ferry Training Unit, together with a number of other squadrons, as can be seen on the RAF Memorial pictured at Ganavan Bay.

Some evidence of the base still remains, in the form of the pier, some of the brick and concrete buildings, and the former bomb store buildings.

Oban War and Peace Museum contains information and displays relating to the role played by the area during the war, and includes what may be the largest flying boat model in Scotland.