Aviation at Leuchars dates back to 1911 with a balloon squadron of the Royal Engineers setting up a training camp in Tentsmuir Forest.

The unit was formally named 'Royal Air Force Leuchars' on 16 March 1920, but nevertheless retained its strong naval links.

Many of the flights dedicated to Leuchars were detached to such vessels for months at a time, with light and dark blue uniforms apparently mixing happily together.

At St Andrews, the citizens were not unaware of the potential uses of aviation and attempts were made to use aircraft as a means of transport for golfing enthusiasts.

224 Squadron attacked a Dornier Do 18 over the North Sea with inconclusive results but became the first British aircraft to engage the enemy in the Second World War.

On 2 December 1943, a pigeon called Winkie became one of the first birds or animals to be awarded the Dickin Medal for helping rescue the crew of a ditched bomber from the station.

Noted for the carrying of ball-bearings from Sweden to the UK, the route also returned RAF aircrew who had diverted to or made crash-landings in Swedish airfields during operations over Europe.

Leuchars remained an active station to the end of the war, concentrating on anti-submarine and anti-shipping strikes.

With the contraction of the RAF in peacetime, life at Leuchars returned to a more gentle pace, hosting a school for general reconnaissance and the St Andrews University Air Squadron complete with de Havilland Tiger Moth.

In May 1950 Leuchars entered the jet age as it passed from Coastal to RAF Fighter Command and Gloster Meteors of No.

43 Squadron arrive at Leuchars from RAF Tangmere with their Meteors, the start of a long-lasting association between the base and the 'Fighting Cocks'.

As the Cold War reached its frostiest depths in the 1960s, the development of long-range aircraft allowed the Soviets regular incursion into British air space.

From 1972 to 1978 Leuchars also served as the home for 892 Naval Air Squadron's Phantom FG.1s when they were disembarked from their carrier HMS Ark Royal.

[citation needed] During May 1987, 228 OCU (Operational conversion unit) moved from RAF Coningsby to Leuchars.

For the majority of the Cold War period from 1954 to the early 1990s, RAF Search and Rescue (SARF) had an enduring presence at Leuchars in the form of a detached flight of helicopters from No.

The flight was initially equipped with the Bristol Sycamore until their replacement by the Whirlwind HAR.10 in 1955 which in turn were superseded in 1976 by the Westland Wessex HAR.2.

[7] Leuchars had a long history of defending sovereign UK airspace over many decades stretching back to Meteor aircraft and finally with the Typhoon.

111 Squadron operated the QRA which was set up primarily to combat threats from Soviet attacks during the Cold War.

RAF ownership of the site ceased on 31 March 2015 when it was handed over to the British Army, thus ending 95 years of service as a Royal Air Force station.

[8] On 15 August 1993 a KLM 737 Flight 110, from Tunis to Amsterdam, was hijacked by an Egyptian, 40 year old Khaled Abdel Mounien Gharib, and followed by a Tornado from Leuchars; the Egyptian had been deported from the Netherlands the previous year, for arson; the hijacker was discovered to be unarmed, and had no explosives, but the aircraft was stormed by the German GSG 9.

[18] On 18 July 2011, Defence Secretary Liam Fox announced that RAF Leuchars would close as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010, with the station being transferred to British Army control in 2015 and Leuchars's Typhoons moving to RAF Lossiemouth in Morayshire.

[19] In preparation for the closure, RAF Leuchars Mountain Rescue Team disbanded in Nov 2013 whilst No.

6 Squadron was the first Typhoon unit to depart Leuchars, heading for its new home at RAF Lossiemouth in June 2014.

1 Squadron followed on 8 September 2014, at which point responsibility for Quick Reaction Alert (North) was transferred from Leuchars to Lossiemouth.

In September 2018, it was announced that due to the refurbishment of RAF Lossiemouth's runway, QRA North responsibilities would be moved to Leuchars for up to six weeks in the summer of 2019.

[27] However, these works did not occur until 2020 with Typhoon FGR4s arriving back at Leuchars on 10 August 2020 where they remained for the next two months before returning to Lossiemouth.

[28][29] In late October 2020, it was confirmed by the Ministry of Defence that they were looking into increasing both civilian and military usage of the airfield at Leuchars with the reinstallation of F34 fuel facilities; however, there would be no aircraft based permanently.

[31] Approximately 45,000 people attended the 2010 show to see displays including the Red Arrows, Eurofighter Typhoon, and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.