Dounreay's air mishaps go online

Margaret Thatcher flew into Dounreay, shortly after she became prime minister

Incidents of air crew mishaps at a nuclear plant's airfield during the 1970s have been published online.

Health and safety reports held at Dounreay in Caithness include details of an aviation fuel fire and an aircraft clipping a wooden fence post.

The incidents feature in a history of 50 years of aviation at the aerodrome.

Built for military use, the aerodrome was later used by the nuclear site before it was closed in 1993 and the runway turned into a car park.

The aerodrome's history has been put up on Dounreay Site Restoration (DSRL) Limited's website. The company is leading the decommissioning of the defunct energy complex.

In January 1972, a light aircraft carrying UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) staff damaged a wing when it hit a fence post. Pilot error was blamed.

Cold War

Later the same year there was an aviation fuel fire in a hangar and an aircraft landed safely after the pilot reported an engine failure.

The following year saw a Vickers Shipbuilding Group aircraft leave the runway and end up in the grass strip bordering it.

A blown fuse also caused a complete blackout of the aerodrome and affected radio contact with the control tower.

In 1985, a chartered aircraft landed heavily and damaged the aircraft's propeller.

The airfield was operated by the Admiralty during World War II and in the Cold War years was marked out as a potential site for launching military aircraft in a feared war with the former USSR.

Among the dignitaries who landed at the aerodrome in the 1970s were the Duke of Edinburgh and Margaret Thatcher, shortly after she became prime minister in 1979.