Full WW2 control tower details and photos for this wartime airfield are coming soon. Please check back later as this is work progress. If you would like to contribute information or photos please get in touch.
Wartime role
RAF Tiree was a wartime airfield at on the Isle of Tiree, Inner Hebrides. During the Second World War it served as a strategic outpost airfield for Atlantic and Northern Approaches work, supporting Coastal Command patrols, ferrying and weather/ASR activity. developed during the early war years and used throughout 1940-45 as a remote but valuable base.
Like most British wartime stations, RAF Tiree functioned as a small, self-contained town. Beyond the runways were technical areas for maintenance and armament, dispersed hardstandings to reduce losses during raids, and domestic sites where airmen, WAAFs or naval personnel lived, trained, and waited for the next tasking. On operational nights or intensive training days the routine revolved around briefings, meteorology, aircraft servicing, and a tight rhythm of take-off and recovery windows.
Who flew from here
Aircraft commonly associated with wartime flying here: Lockheed Hudson, Consolidated Liberator, Handley Page Halifax (met flights), Anson (liaison/training).
Records for RAF Tiree show a mix of operational and support activity. Some units were long-term residents with a stable identity, while others arrived as detachments – often for conversion training, gunnery work-ups, dispersal, or to cover a specific operational requirement. That pattern is typical of the RAF’s wartime system: stations were constantly re-tasked as the air war shifted from defence to offence, from the Battle of the Atlantic to the bomber offensive, and later to preparations for the invasion of Northwest Europe.
- Coastal Command detachments operating patrol and escort missions across the Atlantic approaches
- Weather reconnaissance elements, commonly associated with meteorological flights (including No. 518 Squadron in the Hebrides network)
- Air-Sea Rescue capability linked to Coastal Command’s northern routes
Operations and highlights
Tiree’s value was geography: it pushed patrol lines westward, helping to close gaps in air cover over convoys and giving aircraft a place to divert in extreme weather.
Remote operations meant logistics were an everyday challenge – fuel, spares and accommodation had to cope with Atlantic storms as well as operational demand.
Wider context: the RAF and its Allies depended on layered infrastructure. Training stations produced crews, conversion units taught them to survive in heavier or faster aircraft, and operational bases launched combat sorties. Even a ‘quiet’ airfield could be strategically important as a diversion, a dispersal site, or a specialist hub for ferrying, target-towing, glider operations, or meteorology.
Legacy and remains
The island setting makes Tiree’s wartime story unusually vivid; even where buildings have gone, the sense of isolation explains why this outpost mattered.
Landscape and flying conditions: RAF Tiree’s geography influenced operations. Prevailing winds dictated runway selection, while local terrain and weather shaped training and safety. In winter, short daylight and low cloud increased the workload; in summer, longer hours enabled intensive training programmes and high sortie rates. These practical factors are often reflected in accident reports and ORBs, which mention crosswinds, icing, fog, and diversion landings.