page_title: Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove
section_title: Second World War
hierarchical_section_title: Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove / History / Second World War
caption_attribution_description: English: Winter wave breaking over the island of Rockall. The wave's height over the steep West side may be estimated at 170&#160;feet. Photographed from an RAF Coastal Command aircraft from RAF Aldergrove during World War II.
context_page_description: Joint Helicopter Command Flying Station Aldergrove or more simply JHC FS Aldergrove is located 4.4 miles south of Antrim, Northern Ireland and 18 miles northwest of Belfast and adjoins Belfast International Airport. It is sometimes referred to simply as Aldergrove which is the name of a nearby village. The military flying units share the Aldergrove runways but have their own separate facilities and helipad.
  The site was formerly RAF Aldergrove, a Royal Air Force station which was in operation between 1918 and 2009.
context_section_description: Aldergrove's location made it an important station of RAF Coastal Command in the Battle of the Atlantic during the Second World War. From the base, long-range reconnaissance aircraft were able to patrol the Eastern Atlantic for U-boats. Some of these patrols ranged as far out as the distant islet of Rockall.
  Various squadrons were posted here during this time:
  A detachment of No. 224 Squadron RAF between 1 September 1938 and 15 April 1941 with the Hudson I and III version's.
  A detachment of No. 235 Squadron RAF with the Bristol Blenheim IVF between 24 June 1940 and 4 June 1941.
  No. 231 Squadron RAF between 1 July 1940 and 15 July 1940 with the Westland Lysander II.
  No. 245 Squadron RAF with Hurricane I between 20 July 1940 and 14 July 1941.
  No. 233 Squadron RAF between 3 August 1940 and 14 September 1940 with the Hudson I.
  No. 102 Squadron RAF with the Whitley V between 1 September 1940 and 10 October 1940.
  No. 272 Squadron RAF reformed here on 18 November 1940 with the Blenheim IVF and stayed until 3 April 1941.
  No. 252 Squadron RAF between 6 April 1941 and 15 June 1941 with Beaufighter IC.
  No. 254 Squadron RAF using Blenheim IVF between 29 May 1941 and 12 December 1941.
  No. 143 Squadron RAF reformed here on 15 June 1941 with the Bristol Beaufighter IC, and stayed here until 24 March 1944.
  A detachment of No. 48 Squadron RAF between 3 August 1941 and 20 October 1941 with the Lockheed Hudson V & III's.
  No. 206 Squadron RAF between 12 August 1941 and 1 July 1942 using various versions of the Hudson including the I/II/III/IV and V.
  No. 311 Squadron RAF between 28 April 1942 and 12 June 1942 with the Vickers Wellington IC.
  A detachment of No. 120 Squadron RAF between 21 July 1942 and 24 March 1944 with the Liberator III.
  No. 220 Squadron RAF with Boeing Fortress II between 14 February 1943 and 30 March 1943.
  No. 86 Squadron RAF between 18 March 1943 and 6 September 1943 using the Liberator IIIA & V versions.
  No. 59 Squadron RAF between 11 May 1943 and 15 September 1943 with the Consolidated Liberator V's.
  A detachment of No. 547 Squadron RAF between 25 October 1943 and 13 June 1944 with Wellington XI and XIII's and Liberator V's.
caption: A picture taken of Rockall by an RAF crew based at Aldergrove on 11 March 1943
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