Royal Air Force, Bermuda (1939–1945) facts for kids
The Royal Air Force (RAF) was a British air force that played a big role in Bermuda during World War II. Bermuda is a small island in the Atlantic Ocean. Its location made it a key spot for ships and, later, for planes flying across the ocean.
Because Bermuda is hilly, it was hard to build a regular airport with long runways. But in the 1930s, many large passenger planes were "flying boats." These planes could land on water, so Bermuda was perfect for them!
A company called Imperial Airways built a special station for flying boats on Darrell's Island. This island became an airport for people traveling to Bermuda and for planes making long flights across the Atlantic.
The RAF in World War II
Before World War II, the RAF took over the Royal Navy's air branch, called the Fleet Air Arm (FAA). From 1933, a small RAF team worked at the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island. Their job was to fix planes that belonged to the Royal Navy's ships based in Bermuda. These planes were used for spotting and looking around.
The RAF team also kept spare planes in storage, packed in crates. If a plane couldn't be fixed, they would build a new one from the parts. In 1939, the Royal Navy took back control of the Fleet Air Arm. They moved their air station to Boaz Island.
When World War II started in 1939, the RAF took over Darrell's Island. Two main RAF groups worked there:
- RAF Transport Command used large flying boats to carry goods and people between Europe and the Americas.
- RAF Ferry Command was in charge of flying new planes from factories to where they were needed for fighting.
Britain needed many planes, more than its own factories could make. So, the Air Ministry ordered planes from the USA, which was not yet in the war. These included flying boats like the PBY Catalina, which could fly long distances across the Atlantic in stages.
Imperial Airways, which later became British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), kept flying in Bermuda during the war. Their planes helped with the war effort. They brought mail to Darrell's Island, where British spies checked it.
In January 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Bermuda. He was returning to Britain after meeting with US President Franklin Roosevelt in Washington D.C. Churchill flew into Darrell's Island on a BOAC Boeing 314 flying boat. He then decided to fly directly from Bermuda to England, making it the first time a national leader flew across the Atlantic!
The first person from Bermuda to die in World War II was Flying Officer Grant Ede. He was a pilot who flew a Gloster Gladiator plane. He fought in the 1940 Battle of Norway. Sadly, he died when his ship, HMS Glorious, was sunk during the evacuation from Norway.
In 1940, the Bermuda Flying School opened on Darrell's Island. Its goal was to train pilots for the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy. The school trained local volunteers using Luscombe seaplanes. Those who passed their training joined the RAF or the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The school trained 80 pilots before it closed in 1942. This happened because there were too many trained pilots at that time.
After the school closed, the group that ran it became a recruiting office. They helped 60 aircrew candidates and 22 women join the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Many Bermudians joined the air services during the war.
In 1940, the USA was given permission to build military bases in Bermuda for 99 years. They started building a naval air station for flying boats and an airfield for regular planes. The agreement said that the airfield, called Kindley Field, would be used by both the US Army and the Royal Air Force. When Kindley Field opened in 1943, RAF Transport Command moved there.
When the USA joined the war at the end of 1941, the US Navy started flying patrols from Bermuda. Bermuda was a place where large groups of ships, called convoys, would gather. These convoys needed protection from enemy submarines. The RAF did not have a special group there to provide air cover. The Fleet Air Arm did some patrols from its base, RNAS Bermuda, on Boaz Island. These patrols stopped in 1941 when a US Navy patrol squadron arrived. This US squadron flew from Darrell's Island until the new US base was ready.
The RAF stayed in Bermuda until the end of the war. Then, both RAF commands left the island. Darrell's Island went back to being a civil airport. But soon, land-based planes replaced flying boats for trans-Atlantic flights. So, Darrell's Island airport closed in 1948.
After the War
After the war, the senior RAF officer in Bermuda, Wing Commander E.M. Ware, helped turn the RAF's part of the military airfield into a civilian airport. Buildings from Darrell's Island were moved to create the first airport terminal. Ware stayed in Bermuda and became the Director of Civil Aviation for many years.
Even though the RAF no longer has a permanent base in Bermuda, they still use the island as a stop for planes flying across the Atlantic. RAF planes often stop there when traveling between the UK and places like Belize, or for training exercises.
See also
