Boaz Island, Bermuda

The hangar at the former HMS Malabar, the Fleet Air Arm's Royal Naval Air Station on Boaz Island

Boaz Island, formerly known as Gate's Island or Yates Island, is one of the six main islands of Bermuda. It is part of a chain of islands in the west of the country that make up Sandys Parish, lying between the larger Ireland Island and Somerset Island, and is connected to both by bridges. Its east coast forms part of the edge of the Great Sound. Boaz Island was part of the Royal Naval base, which included the HM Dockyard on Ireland Island. From 1939, Boaz Island was used as a Royal Naval Air Station. Its primary role was the servicing, repair and replacement of spotter floatplanes and flying boats belonging to naval vessels. Early in the Second World War, with no other units to fill the role, aeroplanes from Boaz Island were used to maintain anti-submarine air patrols, using whatever aircrew were on hand, including pilots from the Bermuda Flying School on Darrell's Island. All that remains of the Fleet Air Arm facility today is a hangar on runway road, and two slips.

See also

Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm. RNAS, Boaz Island

Coordinates: 32°18′22″N 64°51′23″W / 32.30611°N 64.85639°W / 32.30611; -64.85639

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