[2] Sumburgh Links was surveyed and the grass strips laid out by Captain E. E. Fresson in 1936, and the airport was opened on 3 June of that year with the inaugural flight from Aberdeen (Kintore) by de Havilland Dragon Rapide G-ACPN piloted by Captain Fresson himself.

It was also one of the first airfields to have RDF facilities, due to the frequency of low cloud and fog and the proximity of Sumburgh Head.

The building of runways was at the instigation of Capt Fresson, who had proved to the Royal Navy at Hatston (Orkney) that it was essential to maintain all-round landing facilities over the winter months.

404 Squadron operated Bristol Beaufighter Mark VI and X aircraft from this station on coastal raids against Axis shipping off the coast of Norway and in the North Sea.

404 Squadron pioneered the use of unguided rocket projectiles against enemy merchant shipping sailing off the Norwegian coast by launching joint strike attacks with No.