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RAF Jurby
Royal Air Force Station Jurby or more simply RAF Jurby was a former Royal Air Force station built in the north west of the Isle of Man. It was opened in 1939 on 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land acquired by the Air Ministry in 1937, under the control of No. 29 Group, RAF. During World War II the station was used for training as No 5 Armament Training Station, No 5 Air Observer School, No 5 Bombing & Gunnery School, and the Air Navigation & Bombing School, in addition to a variety of operational squadrons.
Jurby was originally a grass airfield but was later equipped with hard runways. Operationally it helped protect Belfast and Liverpool from German air raids. RAF Jurby closed in 1963.
The main East/West runway is bisected by a road, from when the runway was extended after the end of World War II to be able to accept Viscount turboprop airliners. As the existing road was in the way, the runway was extended over it. To facilitate its use, barriers were placed across the road and the road was closed whilst the runway was in use.
Jurby
Jurby (Manx: Jourbee) is a parish in Michael Sheading in the Isle of Man and has 659 residents, according to the 2006 census, (2001 census 677). The parish is one of three divisions of the sheading of Michael. The other two are Ballaugh and Michael.
It is largely an agricultural district on the north-north-western coast of the island but also has an industrial park on the old RAF Jurby Airfield.
Subdivision
Jurby is subdivided into five treens:
Landmarks
Airfield
Jurby Airfield was originally used as a Royal Air Force training base in World War II. During the 1950s it was used as a training camp for Officer cadets on short term commissions in the RAF. The course lasted 3 months. Part is now used as an industrial and retail estate. The old runways and taxiways now form the Jurby motorcycle race track.
The grassland surrounding the airfield harbours a fine range of wildflowers, as the land has never been ploughed. Skylarks can be heard in summer when there are no races on.
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