RNAS Burscough (HMS Ringtail)

RNAS Burscough (HMS Ringtail) was a former Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air station which was situated 1.5 statute miles south-west of the small town of Burscough, Lancashire. The Admiralty acquired 650 acres of land in December 1942 and the airfield was built with four runways and several hangars, being commissioned on 1 September 1943.

Operational history

The air station was planned to accommodate FAA day, night and torpedo fighter squadrons for their formation, training and working-up. Many FAA squadrons were based at Burscough for period of a few weeks or few months, before moving to front-line FAA bases or on to aircraft carriers for deployment in action in the European or Far Eastern war fronts.

One of the first FAA units to operate from HMS Ringtail was 809 Squadron FAA equipped with Supermarine Seafires which arrived from RAF Andover on 19 December 1943, remaining until it flew its aircraft aboard the aircraft carrier HMS Stalker on 29 December.

RNAS Burscough closed for flying in May 1946. Thereafter, the hangars were used for the storage of aircraft engines and other FAA equipment until the airfield was disposed of in 1957.During the 1960s, crop-spraying aircraft, both fixed wing and helicopters, used the otherwise inactive airfield as an operating base for refuelling and filling the aircraft's spray tanks.

References

*"The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm", Ray Sturtivant and Theo Ballance, Air-Britain, Tonbridge Kent, 1994, ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
*"Fleet Air Arm Aircraft 1939 to 1945", Ray Sturtivant with Mick Burrow, Air-Britain, Tunbridge Wells Kent, 1995, ISBN 0-85130-232-7
*"Action Stations: 3 - Wales and the North-West", David J.Smith, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Cambridge, 1981, ISBN 0-85059-485-5