Unit History: RNAS Burscough

RNAS Burscough (HMS Ringtail) was a former Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air station which was situated 1.5 statute miles south-west of the small town of Burscough, Lancashire. The Admiralty acquired 650 acres of land in December 1942 and the airfield was built with four runways and several hangars, being commissioned on 1 September 1943.
 
The air station was planned to accommodate FAA day, night and torpedo fighter squadrons for their formation, training and working-up. Many FAA squadrons were based at Burscough for period of a few weeks or few months, before moving to front-line FAA bases or on to aircraft carriers for deployment in action in the European or Far Eastern war fronts.
 
RNAS Burscough closed for flying in May 1946. Thereafter, the hangars were used for the storage of aircraft engines and other FAA equipment until the airfield was disposed of in 1957. During the 1960s, crop-spraying aircraft, both fixed wing and helicopters, used the otherwise inactive airfield.