Shackleton Barracks
Encyclopedia
Shackleton Barracks, Ballykelly, County Londonderry
, Northern Ireland
, was a British Army
base that was originally known as RAF Ballykelly, a Royal Air Force
station which opened in 1941. More recently a small part of the base was used as a refuelling point by army helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft usually operating out of RAF Aldergrove
near the town of Antrim.
as a base for RAF Coastal Command
. In 1943, the main runway was extended and acquired an unusual characteristic in that it crossed an active railway line. Rules were put in place giving trains the right of way over landing aircraft. The base was used for anti-submarine patrols and escort convoys over the Atlantic Ocean
. At various times Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft flew from Ballykelly in the fight against German U-boat
s, ranging from the Bay of Biscay
to northern Norway
. By the end of the war, Ballykelly-based squadrons had been responsible for sinking twelve U-boats, sharing with other aircraft and surface ships in the destruction of several others, and damaging many more.
During the Second World War, an RAF bomber on a training flight clipped a telephone line behind a church in Ballykelly and crashed, claiming the lives of the crew.
aircraft. It closed briefly in 1951 to allow preparatory work to be done for the arrival of the Shackleton aircraft in 1952.
In 1955, RAF Ballykelly was home to three squadrons of Shackletons, 204 Squadron
, 206 Squadron
and 240 Squadron
. There was also a station flight with two Lockheed Hudson
s, two Douglas Dakotas and an Auster
. In 1957 and again in 1958, 240 Squadron was among those involved in Operation Grapple
, nuclear weapon
testing on Christmas Island
in the Pacific Ocean.
By 1961, 206 and 240 Squadrons had been replaced by two other Shackleton squadrons: 203 Squadron
and 210 Squadron
. The three Squadrons were part of the ASW
(Anti-Submarine Warfare) force. They also covered search and rescue
(SAR) standby duties together with their counterparts at RAF Kinloss
and RAF St. Mawgan
.
Some Royal NavyFleet Air Arm
units including 819 Squadron
moved onto the station in 1962 and the navy referred to it as HMS Sealion. The runways were extended again in 1963 to allow for potential dispersal of the RAF's V-bomber force. In 1968, a 204 Squadron Shackleton flying from Ballykelly suffered the last loss of an RAF Shackleton. Sqn Ldr
Clive Haggett and his crew, a total of 12 men, were killed when their aircraft flew into the Mull of Kintyre
early one rainy morning.
During a trans-atlantic yacht race in 1967/8 a French competitor was lost. One of the Shackeltons from Ballykelly found him by adopting search positions well before the expected search location. They dropped life preserving equipment to him and marked his position to enable pick up by surface vessels. Some days later President De Gaulle visited Ballykelly to personally award medals to members of the crew.
The town of Ballykelly suffered badly in 1982 with the Droppin Well bombing
which resulted in the loss of eighteen lives including both local civilians and soldiers from Shackelton Barracks.
The base was the HQ of 8 Infantry Brigade until it was disbanded in summer 2006. It was, until summer 2008, home to an infantry battalion - 2 Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
. Both the Army Air Corps and RAF used the airfield, but no aircraft were stationed there by 2007.
aircraft operated by Eirjet
on behalf of Ryanair
landed at Ballykelly after the pilot mistook the runway for that of nearby City of Derry Airport
. The 39 passengers who boarded the flight at Liverpool
airport continued their journey to City of Derry Airport by bus.
(MoD). The closure eventually took place in March 2008, when the infantry battalion, 2nd Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment moved to Woolwich
garrison, London. The base was also home to 8th Infantry Brigade HQ, but it was disbanded and handed over responsibility to HQ 39th Infantry Brigade
, Lisburn
on 1 September 2006. The former base was sold by the MoD to Merrion Property Development, of Dublin, which renamed the place as Longview and refurbished it as a housing development.
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
base that was originally known as RAF Ballykelly, a Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
station which opened in 1941. More recently a small part of the base was used as a refuelling point by army helicopters and small fixed-wing aircraft usually operating out of RAF Aldergrove
RAF Aldergrove
RAF Aldergrove was a Royal Air Force station situated northwest of Belfast. It adjoined Belfast International Airport, sometimes referred to simply as Aldergrove which is the name of the surrounding area...
near the town of Antrim.
Second World War
RAF Ballykelly opened in June 1941 during the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as a base for RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...
. In 1943, the main runway was extended and acquired an unusual characteristic in that it crossed an active railway line. Rules were put in place giving trains the right of way over landing aircraft. The base was used for anti-submarine patrols and escort convoys over the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. At various times Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft flew from Ballykelly in the fight against German U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s, ranging from the Bay of Biscay
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Brest south to the Spanish border, and the northern coast of Spain west to Cape Ortegal, and is named in English after the province of Biscay, in the Spanish...
to northern Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. By the end of the war, Ballykelly-based squadrons had been responsible for sinking twelve U-boats, sharing with other aircraft and surface ships in the destruction of several others, and damaging many more.
During the Second World War, an RAF bomber on a training flight clipped a telephone line behind a church in Ballykelly and crashed, claiming the lives of the crew.
Post-war
The base was closed at the end of the Second World War, but re-opened in 1947 as the home of the RAF Joint Anti-Submarine School, a training flight flying Avro ShackletonAvro Shackleton
The Avro Shackleton was a British long-range maritime patrol aircraft for use by the Royal Air Force. It was developed by Avro from the Avro Lincoln bomber with a new fuselage...
aircraft. It closed briefly in 1951 to allow preparatory work to be done for the arrival of the Shackleton aircraft in 1952.
In 1955, RAF Ballykelly was home to three squadrons of Shackletons, 204 Squadron
No. 204 Squadron RAF
No 204 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron formed in 1918 near Dunkerque, France, from No 4 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service, which had already been formed in 1915 and reformed once in 1916. The squadron served during World War I in the roles of bomber, scout and fighter unit...
, 206 Squadron
No. 206 Squadron RAF
No. 206 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit employed, until 2005, in the maritime patrol role with the Nimrod MR.2 at RAF Kinloss, Moray. It was announced in December 2004 that 206 Squadron would disband on 1 April 2005, with half of its crews being redistributed to Nos. 120 and 201 Squadrons, also...
and 240 Squadron
No. 240 Squadron RAF
No. 240 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force flying boat and seaplane squadron during World War I, World War II and up to 1959. It was then reformed as a strategic missile squadron, serving thus till 1963.-Formation and World War I:No...
. There was also a station flight with two Lockheed Hudson
Lockheed Hudson
The Lockheed Hudson was an American-built light bomber and coastal reconnaissance aircraft built initially for the Royal Air Force shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War and primarily operated by the RAF thereafter...
s, two Douglas Dakotas and an Auster
Auster AOP
Auster AOP may refer to:* Taylorcraft Auster - Taylorcraft Auster I, II, III, IV and V* Auster AOP.6* Auster AOP.9...
. In 1957 and again in 1958, 240 Squadron was among those involved in Operation Grapple
Operation Grapple
Operation Grapple, and operations Grapple X, Grapple Y and Grapple Z, were the names of British nuclear tests of the hydrogen bomb. They were held 1956—1958 at Malden Island and Christmas Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Nine nuclear detonations took place during the trials, resulting in...
, nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
testing on Christmas Island
Kiritimati
Kiritimati or Christmas Island is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands, and part of the Republic of Kiribati....
in the Pacific Ocean.
By 1961, 206 and 240 Squadrons had been replaced by two other Shackleton squadrons: 203 Squadron
No. 203 Squadron RAF
No. 203 Squadron RAF was originally formed as No. 3 Squadron Royal Naval Air Service. It was renumbered No. 203 when the Royal Air Force was formed on 1 April 1918.-First World War:...
and 210 Squadron
No. 210 Squadron RAF
No. 210 Squadron was a Royal Air Force unit established in World War I. Disbanded and reformed a number of times in the ensuing years, it operated as a fighter squadron during World War I and as a maritime patrol squadron during the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Cold War before it was...
. The three Squadrons were part of the ASW
Anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare is a branch of naval warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, or other submarines to find, track and deter, damage or destroy enemy submarines....
(Anti-Submarine Warfare) force. They also covered search and rescue
Search and rescue
Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...
(SAR) standby duties together with their counterparts at RAF Kinloss
RAF Kinloss
RAF Kinloss is a Royal Air Force station near Kinloss, on the Moray Firth in the north of Scotland. It opened on 1 April 1939 and served as an RAF training establishment during the Second World War. After the war it was handed over to Coastal Command to watch over Russian ships and submarines in...
and RAF St. Mawgan
RAF St. Mawgan
RAF St Mawgan is a Royal Air Force station near St Mawgan and Newquay in Cornwall. In 2008 the runway part of the site was handed over to Newquay Airport. The remainder of the station still continues to operate under the command of the RAF...
.
Some Royal NavyFleet Air Arm
Fleet Air Arm
The Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the British Royal Navy responsible for the operation of naval aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm currently operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters...
units including 819 Squadron
819 Naval Air Squadron
819 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy aircraft squadron before and during World War II. Along with No. 815 Squadron, it performed the successful night attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto on 11 November 1940...
moved onto the station in 1962 and the navy referred to it as HMS Sealion. The runways were extended again in 1963 to allow for potential dispersal of the RAF's V-bomber force. In 1968, a 204 Squadron Shackleton flying from Ballykelly suffered the last loss of an RAF Shackleton. Sqn Ldr
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Clive Haggett and his crew, a total of 12 men, were killed when their aircraft flew into the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre
The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast is visible and an historic lighthouse, the second commissioned in Scotland, guides shipping in the intervening North Channel...
early one rainy morning.
During a trans-atlantic yacht race in 1967/8 a French competitor was lost. One of the Shackeltons from Ballykelly found him by adopting search positions well before the expected search location. They dropped life preserving equipment to him and marked his position to enable pick up by surface vessels. Some days later President De Gaulle visited Ballykelly to personally award medals to members of the crew.
Army usage
The last of the Shackleton aircraft left RAF Ballykelly on 31 March 1971, the base closed and the site was handed over to the British Army on 2 June 1972, who renamed it Shackleton Barracks.The town of Ballykelly suffered badly in 1982 with the Droppin Well bombing
Droppin Well bombing
The Droppin Well bombing or Ballykelly bombing occurred on 6 December 1982, when the Irish National Liberation Army exploded a time bomb at a disco in Ballykelly, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. The disco was targeted because it was frequented by British Army soldiers from the nearby...
which resulted in the loss of eighteen lives including both local civilians and soldiers from Shackelton Barracks.
The base was the HQ of 8 Infantry Brigade until it was disbanded in summer 2006. It was, until summer 2008, home to an infantry battalion - 2 Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
"PWRR" redirects here. For the railroad with these reporting marks, see Portland and Western Railroad.The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division...
. Both the Army Air Corps and RAF used the airfield, but no aircraft were stationed there by 2007.
Recent incidents
On March 29, 2006, an Airbus A320Airbus A320
The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...
aircraft operated by Eirjet
Eirjet
Eirjet was a charter airline with its head office on the grounds of Shannon International Airport in Shannon, County Clare, Ireland. They operated charter services to sun and ski destinations throughout Europe...
on behalf of Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
landed at Ballykelly after the pilot mistook the runway for that of nearby City of Derry Airport
City of Derry Airport
City of Derry Airport is an airport located northeast of Derry, Northern Ireland. It is located on the south bank of Lough Foyle, a short distance from the village of Eglinton and from the city centre...
. The 39 passengers who boarded the flight at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
airport continued their journey to City of Derry Airport by bus.
Permanent closure and current usage
The Army vacated Shackleton Barracks in early spring 2008, when 776 acres (3.1 km²) of land and 420 buildings were on offer, according to the Ministry of DefenceMinistry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
(MoD). The closure eventually took place in March 2008, when the infantry battalion, 2nd Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment moved to Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
garrison, London. The base was also home to 8th Infantry Brigade HQ, but it was disbanded and handed over responsibility to HQ 39th Infantry Brigade
39th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
The British 39th Infantry Brigade was a military formation of the British Army that was first established during World War I and reformed in the 1950s.-World Wars:...
, Lisburn
Lisburn
DemographicsLisburn Urban Area is within Belfast Metropolitan Urban Area and is classified as a Large Town by the . On census day there were 71,465 people living in Lisburn...
on 1 September 2006. The former base was sold by the MoD to Merrion Property Development, of Dublin, which renamed the place as Longview and refurbished it as a housing development.