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RNAS Rattray (HMS Merganser)
Crimond, Aberdeenshire in Scotland
View of the airfield
RNAS Rattray Shown within Aberdeenshire
Coordinates	57°36′44″N 01°53′01″W / 57.61222°N 1.88361°W / 57.61222; -1.88361
Type	Royal Naval Air Station
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Royal Navy
Site history
Built	March 1943 (1943)
In use	July 1943-present
Airfield information
Elevation	13 metres (43 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 06/24 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) Concrete 11/29 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) Concrete 15/33 900 metres (2,953 ft) Concrete 02/20 900 metres (2,953 ft) Concrete
Commissioned	3 October 1944

Royal Navy Air Station Rattray, (RNAS Rattray; or HMS Merganser) and also known as Crimond Airfield, Crimond Aerodrome or Rattray Aerodrome was a Royal Naval Air Station near Crimond, Aberdeenshire.

The station started to be built from March 1943, with 774 Naval Air Squadron moving in from July 1943 for Telegraphist Air Gunners training but the site was not commissioned until 3 October 1944.

The base then switched to training Torpedo Bombing Reconnaissance crews.

The following units were here at some point:

• 708 Naval Air Squadron:^[1]
• 714 Naval Air Squadron (May 1944-unknown)^[2]
• 717 Naval Air Squadron (November 1944-unknown)^[2]
• 753 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 766 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 769 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 774 Naval Air Squadron (July 1943-August 1945)^[2]
• 815 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 817 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 818 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 821 Naval Air Squadron^[1]
• 825 Naval Air Squadron^[1]

The base was closed in 1946, being moved into a state of care & maintenance. It was also used as a Royal Naval Wireless Station until 2004.

The site is home to a high frequency transmitter station forming part of the Defence High Frequency Communications Service. The station is operated by Babcock International Group on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.^[3]

• List of air stations of the Royal Navy
• 24 February – Royal Navy submarine HMS Vandal is lost with all 37 crew on sea trials in the Sound of Bute; she would not be located until 1994.^[4][5]
• 27 March – Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Dasher (D37) is destroyed by an accidental explosion in the Firth of Clyde, killing 379 of the crew of 528.
• 30 May – Royal Navy submarine HMS Untamed (P58) is lost with all hands on a training exercise in the Firth of Clyde.
• 30 November – HMS Vanguard (23) is launched at John Brown & Company's shipyard at Clydebank by the Princess Elizabeth. The Royal Navy's largest, fastest and last battleship, she was laid down in October 1941 and will be in commission from 1946-60.^[6]

• Smith, D J (1983). Action Stations: Vol 7. Military airfields of Scotland, the North-East and Northern Ireland. Cambridge: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 0-85059-563-0.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to RNAS Merganser.

• WWII base information