Looking south over this field it is hard to imagine the activity and noise of many aeroplanes taking off and landing here over 80 years ago until 1946.  Like many places in southern and eastern Britain  there is still some evidence of a former wartime airfield although here near North Berwick it is only two hangers and a few buildings.  The grass runways at the Royal Air Force Station at Drem airfield in East Lothian have been ploughed over and now are mainly arable fields and the majority of the few surviving buildings are occupied by small businesses as part of Fenton Barns Retail village.
An airfield existed on the site from 1916 when it was called West Fenton Aerodrome and then during WW2 the Royal Air Force Station Drem was one of the most active fighter stations in Scotland.  Being near the mouth of the Forth estuary it provided some defence for Edinburgh, the Forth Bridge and the important naval base at Rosyth and it was also in the path of German bombers heading for Glasgow and the major industrial areas of Scotland.  The first two enemy planes shot down in the war were by aircraft from Turnhouse and Drem.  Its main claim to fame was the development of a special lighting system which allowed aircraft to land successfully at night and this subsequently became standard at all RAF stations.
The extra shows a small field beside the bulldings which is a great contrast to the vast fields that are now cut by huge combines.  Perhaps it was cut by a small combine such as that seen in the 50s.