Crimond Naval Air Station

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(ex - HMS Merganser)
now an HF & LF transceiver radio station
operated by Babcock Communications ltd.

HMS Merganser (aka. "Crimond Airfield", "Crimond Aerodrome" or "Rattray Aerodrome"), was a Royal Naval Air Station near Crimond, Aberdeenshire. The station opened on 3 October 1944 during The Second World War and served as a training establishment for Telegraphist Air Gunners and Torpedo Bombing Reconnaissance crews. The base was closed in 1946, being moved into a state of care & maintenance.The base was also used as a Royal Naval Wireless Station until 2004 when Ministry of Defence long range radio was outsourced to Merlin Communications, now VT Communications since taken over by Babcock Communications plc., and continues to provide HF and LF services.

Work began on the airfield in March 1944, and the field was in use by May when 714 Squadron arrived from Fearn for Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance training, to be followed in July by 744 Squadron for Telegraphist Air Gunner training. Formal commissioning of the airfield took place on October 3, 1944, when it became HMS Merganser. Having originally been selected by the Admiralty, rather than the Air Ministry, the airfield was named after a bird, in this case, a species of duck.

Next to arrive was 717 Squadron, also for training in Torpedo Bomber Reconnaissance. In early 1945, 817 and 818 Squadrons formed at Rattray, moving quickly to other postings. 753 Squadron arrived for Observer Training, and remained in operation until August 1946. Several Barracuda units were resident at the field, to meet the demand for Observer Training. Unfortunately, the Barracuda demanded skilled handling, resulting in a relatively high number of incidents, with four aircraft wrecked, and others damaged in strikes with other aircraft, antenna masts, and towers.On September 1, 1946, the airfield was finally closed, and placed on care and maintenance.

In March 2003, the Defence Procurement Agency announced that Crimond would be included as part of the upgrading of the long distance communications system for the British armed forces. The rationalisation and upgrading of the High Frequency communications system was carried out by VT Merlin Communications under a 15 year, £220 million, Public Private Partnership programme and is due to be operational by 2008. VT Merlin will operate the HF Communications Services initially with current military personnel and management but then replace them with VT Merlin employees. Aberdeenshire council gave planning permission in 2003 for the erection of eight new antennas at Crimond.

www.babcock.co.uk/pages/markets/critical-infrastructure...
banthebomb.org/militaryscotland/47.html


To the south of the airfield, across the A90, lay two sizeable camps. Keyhead Camp was due south of the airfield, and aerial photography shows some 150 concrete hut bases on the site. Moss-side Camp lay to the east of Keyhead, across a minor road, and some 50 hut bases can be seen in the aerial imagery.

www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/CrimondAirf...
www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/6344/crimond.htm