RAF Long Kesh - Definition and Overview

RAF Long Kesh was a Royal Air Force station near Lisburn, Northern Ireland from 1941, until 1971.

Various aircraft operated from the base during World War II including the Supermarine Seafire and Spitfire. Long Kesh was a target in Operation Grün (Ireland), a second front to Operation Sealion which was the planned Nazi invasion of Britain. Long Kesh was to be destroyed by German paratroopers while Aldergrove, Nutts Corner and Langford Lodge were to be captured.

From 1971 the then disused base became the Long Kesh Detention Centre. It was here that republican and nationalists were interned following raids on August 9 1971 when security forces launched dawn raid to arrest 452 known or suspected members of the IRA. From 1976 this makeshift structures were abandoned in favour of the newly built H-Blocks in what became the Maze Prison.

See also

• List of RAF stations

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