Speaker for the evening was club member David Mann, who took as his topic the historic airfield site at Crail.

We heard that most of the structures remaining are of the Royal Naval Air Station - a World War II airfield, which is located to the east of Crail, and was designated as HMS Jackdaw. During the war it was a naval air torpedo attack school flying ‘Swordfish’ then ‘Barracuda’ aircraft.

But use of the site as an airfield dates from World War I, when it served as a Royal Flying Corp (RFC) training depot from 1918 to 1919 - 120 Aero Squadron, flying ‘Sopwith Camels’ and with something like 300 personnel on site. During the Interwar years the site was returned to farming.

The site also housed HMS Bruce, a naval training school, with around 1400 boys passing through the school. Later and during the ‘Cold War’ years JSSL – the Joint Services School for Linguists, operated from1956 to 1959. Some 3000 students were trained, with Russian being the principal language taught.

David went on to discuss the airfield as it currently is. Many of the buildings are listed so development options are limited, although Crail Raceway holds a number of motor events throughout the year. The airfield is also well known for the car boot sales, which are held on alternate Sunday's.

In concluding David expressed his thanks to Crail Museum for help provided in researching his talk. (www.crailmuseum.org.uk).

Following questions a vote of thanks was proposed by Colin Campbell.