RAF Kaldadarnes

Royal Air Force Kaldadarnes or more simply RAF Kaldadarnes is a former Royal Air Force station at Kaldaðarnes, near the town of Selfoss, Iceland.

Beginnings
The station was built in 1940 by the British Army and used by the Royal Air Force from March 1941 and throughout the remainder of the Second World War.

On 2 September 1942 the war artist Eric Ravilious was lost after he flew from Kaldadarnes.

Royal Navy
During 1943 lodger facilities for an RN Air Section were granted from RAF Coastal Command to provide and maintain, in storage, Fairey Swordfish biplane torpedo bomber aircraft for escort carriers on North Atlantic convoy duties and for MAC-Ships.

The Air Section opened on 1 May 1943 with its accounts 'on books of HMS Baldur II' It was commanded by Lieutenant Commander(A)(P) A.G. Mayhew, RNVR, under the administrative control of Admiral Commanding Iceland. RAF Coastal Command maintained the airbase and it could accommodate around 100 ratings and six officers.

The Fairey Swordfish for storage were flown in from the Long Island-class escort carrier HMS Archer (D78) on 5 May and its embarked squadrons 819 and 892 spent the night at the airbase.

RAF Coastal Command intended to reduce RAF station to Care & Maintenance status offering the Admiralty control of the site, but as little use had been made of the airbase this was rejected and the Air Section was withdrawn on 2 November.

Squadrons
After the cessation of hostilities of the Second World War the British Government handed the airfield over to the Icelandic Civil Aviation Authority and it was used for a short while until it was closed. It is now in ruins with the decaying runways, perimeter track, dispersals and site of some of the buildings still visible on satellite images in 2018.

There is a memorial to No. 269 Squadron RAF at the closest public access point, situated in the modern airfield of Selfoss.