page_title: RAF Andreas
section_title: Infrastructure purchase
hierarchical_section_title: RAF Andreas / Subsequent use / Infrastructure purchase
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking down Rwy 29 RAF Andreas
context_page_description: Royal Air Force Andreas or more simply RAF Andreas is a former Royal Air Force station in the Isle of Man which was operational between 1941 and 1946. It was built in fields between Andreas and Bride. As was common practice, the station was named after the parish in which it was situated.
context_section_description: After the station closed, the Isle of Man Government, through the Local Government Board, took steps to acquire three of the communal sites (the WAAF quarters, the hospital and sick quarters and a site in the centre of Andreas village) to convert them into family accommodation. This was badly needed to rehouse families living in condemned properties in Ramsey and to relieve the general housing shortage on the island as a consequence of the war. Every effort was made to convert the brick-built huts into acceptable two- and three-bedroom homes with electrically heated living rooms and kitchens. Each had a toilet installed, but bathrooms had to be shared. During 1947, a total of 81 families were accommodated as a temporary measure pending the construction of new housing estates. It was to be several years before such new housing was ready, and upon their completion, this temporary housing, by now badly affected by damp, was demolished. One structure to survive was the old gymnasium which still stands, and continues to provide the village of Andreas with a very useful parish hall.
  Meanwhile, negotiations between the Manx Government and the Air Ministry were proceeding as to the future of the airfield. Tynwald, the Isle of Man's Parliament, accepted an offer to purchase the whole of the airfield for the price originally paid in compensation to the land owners: £23,750 in all. No charge was made for the buildings, the Air Ministry agreeing to this as a gesture of appreciation to the government and people of the Isle of Man for their co-operation during the early years of the war.
  The airfield's runways were soon put to good use by the newly formed Andreas Racing Association for motorcycle racing. The Association's emblem is the Three Legs of Man, set against the "A" layout of the airfield's runways.
  The airfield was used on Saturday 25 June 1949, when two Sivewright Airways aircraft diverted there as they were unable to land at Ronaldsway due to advection fog. The 28 passengers were taken to Douglas by motor coach.
caption: The view looking down Rwy 29 RAF Andreas (June 2018)
exif: {}