ACQUISITION

Lodger facility for an RN Air Section on RAF station from 01 April 1940.

Transferred from  RAF  to Admiralty 16 March 1943

COMMISSIONED

22 March 1943 

PAID OFF

31 December 1944 to Care & Maintenance on books of 'ELAND'

AFO 2541/44 & 7504.45

CLOSED

FUNCTION

Reserve aircraft storage.

Facilities for disembarked squadrons.

Torpedo facilities.

Fleet Requirements unit (777 NAS)

ADDRESS

R.N. Air Station,

Hastings,

Freetown,

Sierra Leone

LOCALITY

The airfield is situated on the Sierra Leone peninsula, 8 miles SE. of Freetown, and ½ mile NE. of the village of Hastings. It lies between Hastings creek and "Kingfishers' creek", tributaries of the Bunce River, and immediately N. of of the Sierra Leone Government railway line form Freetown.

R.A.F. seaplane base at Jui lies one mile N. on Hastings creek.

LANDMARKS

.The Sierra Leone peninsula  and the mouth of the Sierra Leone river, with Freetown on its S. shore.

The Bunce river flowing NW. into the Sierra Leone river.

The Sierra Leone Government railway line, forming the airfield's S. boundary.

Creeks flowing into the Bunce river form W. and SE. boundaries off the airfield, Mangrove swamps extend from its N. side to the river.

ROAD AND RAIL ACCESS

Access by road to Hastings and to the main road to Freetown, distant11½ miles (R).

The airfield has its own railway siding; railway station at Hastings, adjacent S. of airfield, is on the direct line to Freetown.

A small wharf in Hastings creek, W. of the airfield, gives access by water to Jui and, via Bunce river, to Freetown.

Jetties connected to the railway system at Freetown, where unloading is carried out by lighters; cranes at the jetties with a lifting capacity of 10 tons.

CONTROL

Control building  at S. end of airfield in front of the hangers.

Caution:

Bumpy conditions may be experienced in the vicinity of the adjacent mountains. For night flying when winds are usually light and variable, approach should be made with care and preferably on QDM.267°, touching down at the "27" end of the runway, but not E. of the white line which marks the beginning of a steep down slope towards the end of the runway.

It is dangerous to overshoot owing to difficulty in taking off again over the mountains.

ELEVATION

95' above M.S.L.

RUNWAYS /LANDING AREA

One, Laterite, tar sprayed and sanded:

09/27 QDM. 087°/267° .... 1400 X 50 yds.

There are in addition three cleared strips, not suitable for landing or take-off.  These lie NW/SE., NNW/SSE and NE/SW (partly concreted), across the runway ; the NNW/SSE strip is used as a dispersal area in its southern portion, the other two are as taxi strips.

TRACKS

40' taxi strip leading from the S. hangar area to the runway in the vicinity  of the E. hangar area.

OBSTRUCTIONS

Navigation:
 

Mountains from SE,., through S., to NW., rising to 2419' and 2418' at 31/2 mile4s W. and 3 miles S., respectively.

Circuit:

Foothills of a spur of these mountains begin to rise close to the landing area (796' at 11.2miles SE.).

Hill, 293' distant 20000 yds S. by W.

Hill, 1896' distant 2600 yds NW.

Approach:

None, but see "caution" under 'control'.

APPROACH

No safe approach sector designated.

WIND INDICATOR

Windsock mast S. of the runway ,near its centre.

HOMING - VISUAL

By day:

By night:

Not known

Not known

Equipment removed when station reduced to     care & maintenance

HOMING - -RADIO

D/F: Beacon:

Not known

Not known

Equipment removed when station reduced to     care & maintenance

APPROACH - VISUAL

By day:  

By night:  

Not known
Not known

APPROACH - RADIO

Not known

Equipment removed when station reduced to     care & maintenance

COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

W/T and R/T:

VH/F:

Not known

Not known

Equipment removed when station reduced to     care & maintenance

GROUND RADAR

None.

ACCOMMODATION

Living quarters at two camps on S. & NE. of the airfield:-

Capacity:

ARMOURIES

To accommodate 2 - 3 squadrons.

COMPASS BASE

One; diameter 60'

DISPERSAL

Two, Laterite, tar sprayed, approx 450 x 50 yds., and 70 x 50 yds., forming the southern part of the NNW/SSE cleared strip, can be used for dispersal.

HANGARS

At the S. and E. ends of the landing area. All hangars fronted by cement or tarmac aprons.

MEDICAL

Sick quarters on S. side of airfield. Two sick Bays, one in each camp.

METEOROLOGICAL

Air Ministry provide facilities.

Tornadoes, liable at the beginning and end of the SW. monsoon period (May - October), usually blow from the E., enduring for about 40 minutes at force 6, but may attain gusts up to 60 knots.

Visibility, usually good,

 may fall to 500 yds. in dust haze during Harmattan (easterly) season (December - February).  Morning mist, sometimes dense, is prevalent throughout thee year, nut rarely persists after 0900 hours. Cloud base is frequently well below he tops of the mountains.

FUEL AND OIL

Aviation .............. Two tanks of 37000 gallons capacity each.

M/T......................Storage capacity of 3000 gallons.

Oil ....................... No tank storage

SLIPWAY

Slipway and small concrete apron on the bank of a creek at the extreme NE. of the airfield. 2 -ton and 5-ton Coles cranes, for use at the slipway

Three A/C moorings rte situated off the slipway..

The creek is known locally as "Kingfisher Creek" and gives access to the Bunce river, distant about 1500 yds.

Three additional moorings are available  off the wharf ob Hastings creek on the W. side of the airfield; this creek gives access to the R.A.F. Seaplane Base at Jui, distant abut 2¼ miles by water, and thence to Bunce river, a further ¾ mile.

Aircraft alight in the river and taxi up the creek; facilities arte suitable only for small type seaplanes.

TEST BASE

Not A/C radar base.

TEST BUTT

Not known

WORKSHOPS

To 2 -3 squadron scale.

A site has been reserved for the possible post-war development of the station as an R.N. Aircraft Maintenance Y Yard.

BOMBING AND FIRING RANGES

R. P. Firing:

One

Information taken from CB 4368 B. Admiralty Handbook of Naval Air Stations Aug. 45