In August 2005 Castletown Heritage Society staged a special exhibition to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) as part of a national series of 'Home Front Recall' events, sponsored by the Big Lottery Fund.

'Castletown Recalls' was held in the Drill Hall in Castletown, and took the form of a display of wartime artefacts, uniforms, models of wartime aircraft and vehicles made by retired bus driver Wullie Sutherland, radios, photographs, newspaper articles and other contemporary paraphernalia. The evening event attracted over 75 members of the local community and visitors from as far afield as Golspie, spanning a broad age range from primary school children to a local 91 year old ex soldier who entertainingly revealed some of his wartime memories.
A popular centrepiece of the display was a map showing the building, facilities and general operational layout of RAF Castletown, which on 7th June 1940 became an operational fighter station of No 13 Group Fighter Command, construction of the three operational runways having been started a year earlier. Many of the larger buildings in Castletown were commandeered as part of station operations and support services for the numerous squadrons and army defence regiments that operated out of the airfield over the course of the war. Some of the purpose constructed buildings remain today, a reminder of the strategic role RAF Castletown played in the defence of Scapa Flow and the coastal waters around the north of Britain.

To support the event, Castletown Heritage published a 32 page booklet 'Castletown Recalls 1939 - 1945' which captures some personal recollections of local Castletown folk to reveal a glimpse of how the Second World War affected the lives of those living in Castletown and the surrounding area. The booklet also contains a brief but fascinating history of RAF Castletown, thanks to the knowledge of local expert, Andrew Gutteridge. Copies of the booklet have been in high demand. CD-ROM based copies of the booklet have been donated to local schools as an easy access educational resource.

Production of the booklet was supported by The National Lottery through the Big Lottery Fund.


To download a PDF copy of the booklet (1.64Mb) right click here and choose Save Target As... and download it to your Desktop. You can then read it using Acrobat Reader - if you don't have the reader it can be downloaded here