The Donibee Sculpture

Introduction

The photograph on this page of The Donibee Sculpture by Simon Johnston as part of the Geograph project.

The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk

The Donibee Sculpture

Image: © Simon Johnston Taken: 18 Aug 2005

In recognition of all civil and military personnel (the Donibees or sometimes misspelled Donnybees) who served at nearby Donibristle airfield and aircraft repair yard 1917-1959. Millennium Award. Sited at Dalgety Bay railway station. The immediately recognisable Spitfire wingtip shape is not coincidental. The signal in the background is situated at the west end of Platform 2, Dalgety Bay station on the Scottish East Coast Main Line Railway. The airfield at Donibristle was opened in 1917 as a base for the Royal Naval Air Service (Fleet Air Arm). During World War II as HMS Merlin it was used as a Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard. After the war it was renamed HMS Cochrane, and decommissioned in 1959. http://web.archive.org/web/20060925203908/http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/radioactivity/dalgety_risk_assessment_report.pdf : see page 9 for an interesting aerial shot of Donibristle area during the time of MOD occupation. More on Donibristle Image Historic photos of Donibristle http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/results.php?&search_term=Donibristle Fleet Air Arm's 805 Squadron of Blackburn Rocs was formed at Donibristle in early May 1940 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174146/http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/blackburn_roc.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Roc Fleet Air Arm's 100 Squadron of Vickers Vildebeests was formed at Donibristle in Oct 1932. Fleet Air Arm's 820 Squadron of Fairey Swordfish http://archive.is/20130502062635/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/aircraft/Swordfish.htm and later Barracudas was disbanded at Donibristle in November 1943 after it had helped see off the mighty Bismarck in May 1941 http://web.archive.org/web/20051229094041/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Squadrons/820.html Some Donibee stories: http://archive.is/20120719074004/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/66/a3834966.shtml http://web.archive.org/web/20081117192019/http://mcglynnfamily.co.uk/page15.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20070314012218/http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/66/a4098666.shtml Eric Melrose Brown http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/editors-choice/2008/06/25/record-breaking-scots-pilot-honoured-as-one-of-world-s-greatest-aviator-86908-20619932/

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