In late 1938, the Air Ministry instructed a group of officials to go to Ouston to evaluate the possibility of building an airfield there.

However, the intent at the time was for an airfield at the Ouston 12 mi (19 km) west of Newcastle and north of the Stanegate Roman road to Carlisle, Cumbria.

[2] Construction work was slow to begin with because the area was quite remote from communication lines and there was some opposition from the local farming community, despite the land being of quite low quality.

Equipped with Hawker Hurricanes, the recently formed Polish unit claimed its first kill on 2 June when a Junkers Ju 88 was sent into the North Sea.

131 Squadron RAF (131 Sqn), reformed at Ouston on 20 June 1941 with a large proportion of Belgian pilots but soon moved to Catterick too.

Its Spitfires returned to RAF Turnhouse five weeks later, although a further month was spent at Ouston during the early Summer of the same year.

243 Sqn became operational within a fortnight and flew coastal patrols and scrambles in defence of the North East until moving to RAF Turnhouse at the beginning of September.

281 Squadron RAF (281 Sqn) had been formed at Ouston on 29 March 1942, equipped initially with Boulton Paul Defiants.

[11] In February 1943, Supermarine Walrus amphibians were added and by June, when the squadron moved to RAF Woolsington, the Defiants replaced by Avro Ansons.

410 Squadron RCAF (410 Sqn) was detached to Ouston for night-fighter patrol using Boulton-Paul Defiants initially, re-equipping with Bristol Beaufighters, despite some reluctance on the part of the crews.

Other unusual lodgers were the Hurricanes of 804 Naval Air Squadron from RAF Machrihanish who arrived in early June 1943 and left for RNAS Twatt on 4 February the following year.

657 Squadron RAF formed at Ouston,[13] flying many Army exercises at Otterburn until leaving for North Africa in August.

62 Operational Training Unit began to move in from RAF Usworth, which had been found increasingly unsuitable for its work.

607 Squadron RAF reformed with Spitfires on 10 May 1946,[19] converted to de Havilland Vampires in 1951 and operated them up to March 1957 when it disbanded.

Jackie Stewart was a competitor at the 1963 meeting driving a Jaguar E-Type; he won the race and this is believed to have been his first victory.

[citation needed] Jim Clark attended the meeting in 1964 and was driven round the circuit in an open-topped Jaguar E-Type and then presented the prizes.

[32] In 1965, Motor Cycle magazine commented, when reporting on a motorcycle race meeting organised by the Newcastle Club held on Sunday 20 June, that there were 20,000 spectators present.