It opened in 1940 as a satellite airfield of RAF Lossiemouth and was used throughout the Second World War, predominantly by bomber aircraft of No.

Construction work was undertaken by the Royal Engineers and the site opened in early June 1940.

[2] The airfield was located approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) south west of Elgin in Moray.

[4] Twenty concrete hard-standings for the parking of aircraft were created around the northern and western boundaries.

[3] The airfield was unusual in that it had its own water works, consisting of dam across a stream and an underground pumping station.

[4] Due to the threat of invasion by Nazi Germany, when completed the airfield was obstructed by the Royal Engineers to prevent enemy landings.

The Hurricanes carried out air defence duties until April 1941, when they moved to RAF Montrose without having encountered any enemy aircraft.

20 OTU, equipped with the Vickers Wellington medium-bomber, began using RAF Elgin for training on 18 April.

Flying continued throughout 1941 and 1942, with the airfield predominantly used by the unit's Wellington and Avro Anson training aircraft.

[8] 1944 saw the peak of activity, with 1,087 RAF personnel and 234 members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force based at the airfield.

However, the combination of ground conditions and the high frequency of flying led to drainage problems.

The unit was tasked with the storage of Avro Lancaster bombers and North American Harvard trainer aircraft.

Wellington aircraft used this airfield for training and also as a departure point for the thousand bomber raids summer 1942.

[9] Two brick and concrete buildings thought to be used for motor transport and engineering repairs exist on the east side of the B9010 road, with a third being demolished in 2016 to allow construction of an agricultural shed.