Ghostly Folklore – The Haunting of RAF Montrose

Scary goings on at the now abandoned Airbase.

RAF Montrose (also known as Royal Airforce Base Montrose.) Was one of the country’s most haunted military airfield bases; located in Angus, Scotland, it was the first operational military airbase in Britain, being set up on 26th February 1913, and was one of twelve air force bases planned at the time for the United Kingdom, its was intended to allow the then Royal Flying Corp to provide protection to nearby naval bases.

There are a great many ghosts to be found at this now unused airbase (it closed permanently on 4th June 1952.) From reports of damaged radios, playing old wartime broadcasts, as well as phantom planes being seen overhead, only to mysteriously vanish before the viewer’s eyes, to spectral pilots, wandering about the base at night.  Indeed such was its reputation that newcomers to the airbase were given a printed document to help familiarise themselves with the site, a part of which warned about the expected paranormal sightings.

The most famous of Montrose’s phantom inhabitants, and possibly one of the first aviation hauntings, is that of Irishman Desmond Arthur (Picture above), who fell to his death on May 27, 1913, when his plane broke up. His story is recounted below.

On 23rd of May, 1913, at around 7.00am in the morning Arthur took his BE2 biplane for a training flight, after flying for about forty minutes, The right wing broke off the aircraft and Arthur’s seatbelt failed, throwing him out of the plane as it went into a death spin.

One report at the time claimed that the luckless pilot had jumped from the plane of his own free willing, instead of choosing to crash with the machine.  The accident was witnessed by an individual on a nearby farm, who provided the authorities with the following macabre details.  He heard the plane overhead, and then a strange sound. Looking skywards he saw something plummeting to the ground. Horrified he realised that it was a man, falling in perfect silence.  The body of the doomed aviator, was perfectly straight, with its arms held directly above its head. When medics arrived at the scene, Arthur was found dead, nearly every bone in the poor man’s body had been broken.

An Enquiry held after the event blamed the incident on poor manufacturing.

There have been many sightings of Arthur’s ghost over the years, he has been seen walking to the mess hall, vanishing before he reaches its entrance. One pilot spoke of awaking in the middle of the night and feeling terribly cold, looking around he saw a uniformed man sitting in a chair. When he tried to speak to him, the individual slowly faded away.  

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Until next time, stay spooky.