An underground bunker was constructed and the station was used to coordinate the operations of RAF Coastal Command and the Royal Navy during the Second World War.

[1] Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the Works Department of the Air Ministry was looking for a site to accommodate the headquarters of newly reformed No.

[1] The building, which was in a dilapidated state, was considered suitable due to the room available for expansion in its large grounds and its close proximity to the Royal Navy base at Rosyth.

[3][4] In order to protect the important headquarters from potential aerial attack should war break out, work began on an subterranean bunker within the grounds, located to the south-west of the main building.

The Navy's Commander-in-Chief, Rosyth was responsible for naval operations north of Flamborough Head to Wick in Caithness.

The huts were believed to have dated from the First World War and had been relocated from RAF Donibristle, approximately 2.7 km (1.68 mi) away at Dalgety Bay.

18 Group had responsibility for more than twenty squadrons and controlled aircraft predominately involved in anti-shipping and anti-submarine warfare in the seas around Scotland.

Had war broken out with the Soviet Union, the station would have taken command and control of NATO vessels and MPA in its allocated areas.

In these circumstances Pitreavie would take on a wider area of responsibility, have increased contact with politicians, co-ordinate submarines, and after 1970, control Polaris, the UK's strategic nuclear deterrent.

A limited number of married quarters were provided at Pitreavie, however most personnel were accommodated at Rosyth Dockyard (HMS Cochrane) or RAF Turnhouse near Edinburgh.

[4] During the early 1990s, RAF Pitreavie Castle's future looked secure with plans announced in July 1993 to locate a combined national Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) at the site.

[12] The creation of the national RCC at Pitreavie was cancelled, with a new home for it proposed at RAF Leuchars, also in Fife.

[12] In the event, the national RCC was established in 1997 at RAF Kinloss in Moray and became known as the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC).