Fife Flyers – HMS Jackdaw II Traditional Cache
Fife Flyers – HMS Jackdaw II
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Part of the Fife Flyers series. Although Fife has no commercial airport the county has a long history with aviation, mainly military. Some of the airports and airfield in this series are still in use however the majority have now well disappeared with only remnants remaining of those days gone by in some cases you will just have to use your imagination. In all cases, airports and airfield were located on flat accessible land. Most of the caches in this series will be easy to get to and find.
Dunino Airfield started life at the beginning of World War II as an RAF airfield. Initially it appears to have comprised of nothing more than a grass runway with few if any buildings. 309 squadron staffed mainly by Poles was deployed here in March,1941 flying Lysanders. When they arrived there was no accommodation for most of them and they were billeted in tents hidden in the woods. Although they were only meant to stay a few months,309 squadron did not depart here until the end of 1942. The airfield was handed over to the Fleet Air Arm due to overcrowding at Crail and named HMS Jackdaw II. It was a most unsatisfactory location for aircraft operations being located among undulating ground. The runways which were still of grass often could not be used when it rained heavily. When they were extended over the uneven ground, the pilots complained they were unable to see the opposite ends of them! A Walrus squadron was based here for a short time as were some Swordfish squadrons. Crail based units used it for training. By 1944, Dunino Airfield was mainly being used as a store for Fleet Air Arm aircraft. Several new hangers were built for this purpose. The airfield was used for storage until 1946 when it closed although the site was retained by the Navy until sold off in 1957.The cache is located about 0.4 miles from the airfield itself but affords good views over the area. Some buildings and the control tower still exist. The cache is a regular lock’n lock container.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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