RAF Dunino/ HMS Jackdaw II Fife May 2009

I first visited RAF Dunino some time around 1990. I did take some pictures then, one day I might try and find them.

RAF Dunino opened in 1941 and was initially used by 309 and 614 Squadrons. In November 1941 it was taken over by the Royal Navy and used as back-up for the better known HMS Jackdaw at Crail. The grass runway was never really satisfactory so it was mostly used for storage from 1944 to 1946 and presumably then lay empty until 1956 when the site was disposed of.

I've been here several times over the years but I realised I'd been missing quite a bit after looking at reports from Dittohead and Zimbob & Bryag. I thought I'd got it all this time but I'm sure the flooded shelter in Dittohead's report isn't the same one I saw and he's got another couple of buildings I didn't see. I'll just have to go back and have another go Visited with my two sons.


The first of three pillboxes we saw. I believe there is another one somewhere.


The hangar frame that excited Bryag and Zimbob on their visit. I didn't go too close because there were cows being delivered to the next field, something else to do next time.


The control tower.


last time I was here I went bounding up these stairs and clattered my head off these window frames. Needless to say this time I did exactly the same thing.


The third pillbox we saw


FORK IT!




Something about ablutions




Coos


There were four of these in a line, I don't know what they are.


This tower was in the field opposite. It was asking to be climbed but I thought it was best not to with the kids there.


Close-up of the tower.

Lots more here

Nice stuff, thanks for posting. They really made an effort with those multi coloured bricks on the control tower- very decorative. Do you know what that mast was, some kind of radio antenna or something?

Ahhh the 'nude' hangar.... still makes me moist

You need to see the original HMS Jackdaw Richard, it's fantastic :thumb:

Random said:

Nice stuff, thanks for posting. They really made an effort with those multi coloured bricks on the control tower- very decorative. Do you know what that mast was, some kind of radio antenna or something?

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I was rather hoping somebody would tell me what the tower was. It has a little brick shed beside it, which contains a small electrical panel. There is a modern-ish switch on the panel that has two buttons. There is a bar from the top that disappears through some railway sleepers on the ground, presumably into a pit that contains some machinery. The two items pictured were lying beside it, they may or may not be related, you know what farmers are like for leaving random stuff lying around.

zimbob said:

Ahhh the 'nude' hangar.... still makes me moist

You need to see the original HMS Jackdaw Richard, it's fantastic :thumb:

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I really do need to go and see it, I may try and organise an expedition.

great post mate the naked hangar does have a certain charm about it. As for the two items you found the first one looks like a jockey wheel and the second looks as if its the driving wheel for some farm equipment but don't quote me on it, just guessing

RichardB said:

There were four of these in a line, I don't know what they are.

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They'll have been in front of the M.T. Bays and were used to anchor the doors open.
Some interesting stuff still remaining there. Love the skeleton hangar.

Richard, about the tower...I've just been looking at one of my WW2 airfield map copies to see if I can match it up to anything that sounds similar.
What kind of base does your tower have? If it's a round one of 60' diameter then it would be a Compass Platform. This is pure guesswork, btw, as I've no idea what it looked like apart from the base. The only other things I've found are a W/T Transmitter (which looks like a long building on the map, not a tower) and the usual Sleeve Streamer Mast, which doesn't really match your more complex tower.
Hope that helps a bit...probably raises more questions though!

EDIT: Ooh, just thought...whereabouts was it situated in relation to the control tower and the runways? There seems to be a specific place for compass platforms.

Okay, scrub the compass platform...I've just seen a piccie of one and there's absolutely no tower involved!
I've just been reading about Chance Lighting, though. Usually portable and taken to where needed on a trailer (from the Floodlight Tractor and Trailer building), occasionally they sometimes had their own hard-standing. I would have thought yours was a bit high, although they were used to illuminate the width of a runway as a one-off beacon for the pilot to get into position between the runway lights, which were very dim. Mmmm...could be that, maybe?

I'll try to get better pictures of the tower next time. I think we'd all been out in the wind long enough by then and the "when are we going home"s were getting more frequent. The base wasn't all that big, not much over 6' square.

The control tower was at the centre here, the mast is directly East in the middle of the brown field, at the end of the green line, here.

Because the runway was grass it's hard to tell where it was but I believe it was in the vicinity of the buildings to the West of the control tower.

Cheers for the Flash Earth links, Richard. I'm still none the wiser as I'm only going by a bit of guesswork. However, I reckon it would've been part of the tecnical site...unless, of course, that it's a later addition and nothing to do with the airfield as it was!
I see what you mean about the runways!

RichardB said:

There were four of these in a line, I don't know what they are.

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The Stone of Destiny and three decoys

Nice to see the nudie hangar again! I was tempted to climb, but my sweaty palms would have made it (more) dangerous

RichardB said:

This tower was in the field opposite. It was asking to be climbed but I thought it was best not to with the kids there.

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Ahhh, you needed Bryag the interpid!

There's actually another hangar that's almost nude, except for a wall at one end, and another that's in such good condition that it must have been re-clad. You can see them in Dittohead's report.

For reasons that still escape me we were walking at Tentsmuir Forest in the pissing rain this afternoon. On the plus side we came across a more complete version of the mystery tower from Dunino. It appears to be a wind-powered water pump. The Tentsmuir one has its pump on the surface while the Dunino one's pump is underground. The phone number on the sign means it's no older than 1990s.

RichardB said:

It appears to be a wind-powered water pump. The Tentsmuir one has its pump on the surface while the Dunino one's pump is underground. The phone number on the sign means it's no older than 1990s.

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How amazing is that!
Cheers, Richard...a fab conclusion to the puzzle.