Benbecula Airport

For the RAF-operated radar station, previously known as RAF Benbecula, see RRH Benbecula.

Benbecula Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla) (IATA: BEB, ICAO: EGPL) is located on the island of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, off the West Coast of Scotland. It is a small rural airport owned and maintained by Highlands and Islands Airports Limited.

Benbecula Airport Port-adhair Bheinn na Faoghla
IATA: BEB ICAO: EGPL
Summary
Airport type	Private
Owner/Operator	HIAL
Serves	Benbecula
Location	Balivanich
Elevation AMSL	19 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	57°28′52″N 007°21′46″W
Website	Benbecula Airport
Map
EGPL Location in Scotland
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 1,836 6,023 Asphalt 17/35 1,220 4,003 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Movements 1,977 Passengers 30,414
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

History

Early years

An airfield has existed on Benbecula since 1936 when Scottish Airways began operating to what was known as Balivanich Airfield, located on the north west corner of the island.^[3]

Second World War

Between 1941 and 1942, during the Second World War, the airfield became RAF Benbecula, when it came under the control of the Royal Air Force's No. 15 (GR) Group, Coastal Command. During this period it was home to aircraft carrying out patrols in the Atlantic, protecting shipping convoys from German U-Boats.^[3] Such missions were carried out by the Lockheed Hudson and latterly the Boeing Fortress and Vickers Wellington.^[4]

At its peak, RAF Benbecula had several thousand troops stationed at the station and at several other sites around the islands.

The following units were based at the airfield at some point:

• No. 36 Squadron RAF^[5]
• No. 179 Squadron RAF^[6]
• No. 206 Squadron RAF^[7]
• No. 220 Squadron RAF^[8]
• No. 279 Squadron RAF^[9]
• No. 280 Squadron RAF^[9]
• No. 304 Polish Bomber Squadron^[10]
• No. 455 Squadron RAAF^[11]
• 814 Naval Air Squadron^[9]
• 819 Naval Air Squadron^[9]
• 838 Naval Air Squadron^[9]
• 842 Naval Air Squadron^[9]
• No. 2841 Squadron RAF Regiment^[9]

Postwar

The airfield later became the control centre for the nearby Hebrides Rocket Range.^[3] After the Second World War, the airfield became Benbecula Airport.

Airlines and destinations

The airport provides scheduled services to the Scottish mainland and other Hebridean islands. In so doing it provides vital transport connections for the islands of Benbecula, North Uist and South Uist, which are interlinked by causeway but are over two hours from the mainland by sea. The airport is also used by emergency air ambulance flights and by flights supporting the nearby missile test range.

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Hebridean Air Services	Stornoway[12]
Loganair	Glasgow

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Royal Mail	Inverness,[13] Stornoway[13]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at BEB airport. See Wikidata query.

In popular culture

• The airport is also significant to the modern history of Scottish Gaelic literature as, during the Second World War, iconic war poet Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna served in the Home Guard, about which he composed the song Òran a' Home Guard ("The Song of the Home Guard"), which pokes fun at an exercise in which a platoon from North Uist was ordered to simulate retaking Benbecula Airport from the invading Germans.^[14]

References

1. "Benbecula - EGPL". Archived from the original on 16 February 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
2. "Annual airport data 2022 | Civil Aviation Authority". Civil Aviation Authority. 2023. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
3. "About Us - Benbecula Airport". Highlands and Islands Airports Limited. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
4. "Marking the 75th anniversary of Western Isles air bases". Stornoway Gazette. 27 March 2016. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
5. Jefford 1988, p. 37.
6. Jefford 1988, p. 65.
7. Jefford 1988, p. 69.
8. Jefford 1988, p. 72.
9. "Benbecula (Balivanich)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
10. Jefford 1988, p. 85.
11. Jefford 1988, p. 93.
12. "New airline Hebridean Air Services taking off with improved Stornoway - Benbecula timetable". Hebrides News. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
13. n.a. (31 January 2017). "Loganair secures new Royal Mail Contract". BBC.
14. Domhnall Ruadh Choruna, Edited by Fred Macauley (1995), pages 102–105.

Bibliography

• Jefford, C.G. (1988). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.

External links

• Official website