Leaky air traffic control tower at Dumfries museum to be repaired

RAF Dumfries opened in 1940 and was the biggest airfield in south-west Scotland.

It was home to maintenance units and also used as a training base.

After the war it was used for scrapping aircraft and became a training centre for National Service recruits before closing in 1957.

It started a new life in the 1970s following the formation of the Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Group which excavated aircraft wreckage in the area.

Looking for a permanent home to put its artefacts on display it moved onto the Heathhall airfield – initially in the former pilots’ flight hut and then in the larger control tower which opened to the public in 1979.

It has grown since then – one of the “jewels in its collection” is a Spitfire which was recovered from Loch Doon in Ayrshire, before being painstakingly put back together.