Airfields, especially those used by the Armed Forces, tend to be large open spaces and are often situated somewhat away from built-up areas. Over the years each of the three Services in the UK has used flying fields although the Royal Air Force (RAF) did not exist as a separate entity until 1918. Both the Royal Navy (RN) and the Army (Royal Engineers) were pioneers in the use of aviation and formed kite balloon squadrons prior to the fixed wing aeroplane becoming a practical proposition. The intention to form a Royal Flying Corps with military and naval wings was announced in Parliament on 26th March 1912; it formally came into being on 13th May with Royal sanction. Even so the early aviators had to gain acceptance from not only their fellow military colleagues but also the politicians – as ever resources were very limited.
When powered flying machines came into use the airfields they needed tended to require much in the way of work and materials to create them and so were often located with a railway in the vicinity, this not only being used for the construction phase but later as a supply route for fuel and other goods.
In this article I shall look at one such airfield which began life to serve the RN, was transferred to the RAF once that service became a reality and in 2015 became an Army base with flying facilities maintained for emergency use. It is located on the north shore of the River Eden in Fife and just five miles to the west of the University town of St. Andrews, adjacent to the village of Leuchars. It was railserved and some years ago Backtrack (Vol.17 February 2003) featured some photographs taken by George Gall shortly before the railway closed to all traffic and I now intend to build on that short feature.
It is believed that the earliest flights in Scotland were undertaken at the former Reres Farm by members of the Royal Engineers (RE) during 1908 while testing man-carrying kites, a Balloon Station being established there during 1911 for the First Balloon Squadron RE. According to the book by Ian Smith-Watson the Committee on Imperial Defence considered, in November 1911, whether to go for balloons or aircraft and plumped for the latter. It was later decided that the
