Royal Air Force Station Stornoway or more simply RAF Stornoway is a former Royal Air Force station near the burgh of Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, in the Western Isles of Scotland. No. 112 Signals Unit Stornoway was also part of the RAF's activity on the airfield. History Beginnings The station was created in the Second World War on the site of a former golf course. It was home to various RAF Coastal Command squadrons patrolling the North Atlantic for U-boats. In late 1940, a detachment of Avro Anson aircraft arrived from No. 612 (County of Aberdeen) Squadron RAF, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. The Ansons operated from the site of RAF Stornoway while it was still under construction. By November 1940, the aircraft from 612 Squadron had been posted to RAF Wick and were gradually replaced by Ansons from No. 48 Squadron RAF, based at RAF Hooton Park. In March 1940, 827 Naval Air Squadron operated Fairey Albacore aircraft from Stornoway in conjunction with the Ansons of 48 Squadron on maritime patrols across the Atlantic. This continued until the station was completed at which point they moved away. RAF Stornoway was officially constituted on 1 April 1941 as part of No. 15 (Reconnaissance) Group RAF, and then No. 18 (Reconnaissance) Group, both of RAF Coastal Command but was finally closed down at the end of the Second World War when it reverted to Stornoway Airport. No. 66 Air-Sea Rescue (ASR) Marine Craft Unit was also based out of Stornoway Harbour during 1943 and 1944. Post War In 1952 biological agents were brought in to the airportMérida, Venezuela for the controversial Operation Cauldron. They were testing the dangerous agents on caged monkeys and guinea pigs who were situated on a navy pontoon nearby at the Braighe. The tests were carried out by scientists from the Chemical and Biological Defence Establishment (CBDE) from Porton Down. When a trawler inadvertently passed through one of the clouds of plague bacteria, the ship and crew were temporarily put under covert surveillance during their return from Iceland to Blackpool and onshore. CBDE was later amalgamated and now forms part of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Porton Down has encountered controversy for human experimentation using chemical warfare right up until 1990. The Cold War During the height of the Cold War years Stornoway Airport was home to 112 S.U., an RAF Signals Unit that was