Wartime remains to the north of the railway line within the industrial estate that has been built on the old North Shotwick airfield include First World War hangars and a 1940s guard room. The concrete runway now forms part of the public road. The southern airfield, formerly Queensferry, is still part of RAF Sealand. The war time Belfast, C- and L-type hangars have been retained, although the 18 Blister hangers around the perimeter have been removed.

Event and Historical Information:
During the First World War, Sealand consisted of two airfields: Shotwick to the north and Queensferry to the south divided by a railway line. Queensferry was planned as an acceptance park for American aircraft but was never finished to accommodate this use during wartime. Shotwick was devised as a training station and was utilised by 90, 95 and 96 squadrons with Sopwith Pups and Camels, and Avro 504s in late 1917. These squadrons were moved on to France and replaced with 61 squadron in April 1918, which was equipped with Camels. At the end of the war training squadrons 55 and 67 were combined to form 51 Training Depot Station in July 1918 utilising Sopwith aircraft and Avro 504s. The station was renamed Sealand in 1924 to avoid confusion with RAF Scopwich in Lincolnshire. The RAF Packing Depot moved from Ascot to Sealand in 1929 crating planes to be shipped overseas. The RAF Expansion Scheme in the mid 1930s changed the emphasis of training at Sealand to intermediate and advanced fighter training with 65 Hart, Audax and Fury aircraft. 3 Aircraft Storage Unit were formed in December 1935 and based on the south side of the airfields with a three story barrack. The existing nine Belfast hangars in the southern airfield were added to with two C and two L types. A third C type hangar was added to the northern airfield. During the Second World War, 18 blisters were added around the perimeter. 30 Maintenance Unit (MU) was formed at Sealand in July 1939. The work of the unit included fitting A1 radar to Bristol Beaufighters and converting 70 Douglas Havocs into Turnbinlites which used floodlights to illuminate enemy aircraft. The packing depot became 36 MU and then 47 MU. A single concrete runway was built to ease the wear and tear on the grass airstrips. Post war, Sealand was loaned to the United States Air Force and the hangars were used for storage until 1957. 30 MU reformed in February 1959, and 631 Gliding School arrived in March 1963. In 2016 the site was chosen as an F-35 Program Office to be a global repair hub providing maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for F-35 avionic and aircraft components.

Sources include:

Defence of Britain Project
Jones, I, 2008, Airfields and Landing Grounds of Wales: North, pp.118-33
Phillips, Alan, 2006, Military Airfields Wales, pp.213-22
Smith, David J, 1982, Action Stations 3: Military Airfields of Wales and the North West, pp.157-61
'UK chosen as a global F-35 repair hub', gov.uk

RCAHMW, May 2008.