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.
Overview
RNAS Twatt was a wartime airfield at Orkney, as a Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS Twatt) also known as HMS Tern. During the Second World War it served as a Fleet Air Arm station supporting anti-submarine patrols, convoy protection, and training in the Northern approaches. developed during the war as part of the Orkney naval air network supporting Scapa Flow and the North Sea/Atlantic routes.
Like most British wartime stations, RNAS Twatt 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.
Squadrons, units and types
Aircraft commonly associated with wartime flying here: Fairey Swordfish, Fairey Fulmar, Blackburn Roc, Sikorsky Hoverfly.
Records for RNAS Twatt 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.
- Fleet Air Arm squadrons and flights including 700, 771, 804, 809, 819 and 822 Squadrons (as recorded in station histories)
- Supporting maintenance and airfield defence units tied to the naval base complex
What happened here
Orkney’s naval air stations formed a protective umbrella for Scapa Flow and the surrounding sea lanes; Twatt contributed aircraft and crews to that defensive web.
Operations ranged from routine patrols to training and work-ups, with weather and short daylight in winter shaping sortie patterns.
How the station ‘worked’: aircraft were usually kept on dispersal pans connected by a perimeter track. Crews moved between briefing rooms, parachute/oxygen sections, and the flight line; ground crew handled refuelling, re-arming and engine changes. The watch office coordinated flying, and on busy days the airfield operated like a factory – turning time, fuel and maintenance hours into sorties.
Legacy and remains
Twatt’s wartime naval identity (HMS Tern) is central – many records sit in Royal Navy/Fleet Air Arm frameworks rather than RAF paperwork.
Landscape and flying conditions: RAF Twatt’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.