Local History - Action
Royal Air Force, Evanton

If we must all be gunners

Then let us make a bet

We’ll be the best damn gunners

That left this station yet

George Harding RCA
About six miles west of Invergordon on the north coast of the Cromarty firth is the small town of Evanton. Between the town and the coast is a conglomeration of hangars and buildings with the outlines of runways on the grass area beside the sea.

These are the remains of an air field which probably had the most varied history of any in the Moray Firth. The Navy, when at Invergordon, needed a shore base and this was at first Delny just north of Invergordon.

As Delny could not be enlarged for bigger aircraft, a new grass airfield was constructed near Evanton and opened in 1922. It was originally called Novar as the land had belonged to the Novar Estates.

 Novar in the twenties and thirties was used by aircraft from the home fleet when they were based at Invergordon during their cruisers in April and October. Most of the servicing was done at the weekends with the aircraft off to the Fleet on Monday mornings. At the time the FAA aircraft were serviced by RAF personnel with detachments to Novar from Leuchars.

By 1937, Evanton Aerodrome began to expand and became a flight and bombing training school and repair base.

The largest aircraft to use Evanton was a USAAF B17 which landed there after getting lost.

Before it left it was daubed 'Evanton Babe'.

Throughout the Thirties the RAF held a number of public Air Days which were usually on the same day as Empire Day. The 1939 Empire Day was to be the last pre war event and 78 RAF stations were opened to the public. Evanton was the farthest north and was notable for the 9,000 spectators and mile long queue of cars!