Editing History of Scotland (section)

===Second World War (1939–1945)===
{{See also|Home front during World War II#Britain}}
[[File:Royal Scots with flag 01-1945.jpg|thumb|[[Royal Scots]] with captured Japanese flag, Burma, January 1945]]
As in World War I, [[Scapa Flow]] in Orkney served as an important [[Royal Navy]] base. Attacks on Scapa Flow and [[Rosyth]] gave RAF fighters their first successes downing bombers in the [[Firth of Forth]] and [[East Lothian]].<ref>P. Wykeham, ''Fighter Command'' (Manchester: Ayer, 1979), p. 87.</ref> The shipyards and heavy engineering factories in [[Glasgow]] and Clydeside played a key part in the war effort, and suffered attacks from the [[Luftwaffe]], enduring great destruction and loss of life.<ref name="Buchanan2003p51">J. Buchanan, ''Scotland'' (Langenscheidt, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 51.</ref> As transatlantic voyages involved negotiating north-west Britain, Scotland played a key part in the battle of the North Atlantic.<ref>J. Creswell, ''Sea Warfare 1939–1945'' (Berkeley, University of California Press, 2nd edn., 1967), p. 52.</ref> [[Shetland]]'s relative proximity to occupied [[Norway]] resulted in the [[Shetland Bus]] by which fishing boats helped Norwegians flee the [[Nazis]], and expeditions across the [[North Sea]] to assist resistance.<ref>D. Howarth, ''The Shetland Bus: A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival, and Adventure'' (Guilford, DE: Lyons Press, 2008)</ref> Significant individual contributions to the war effort by Scots included the invention of radar by [[Robert Watson-Watt]], which was invaluable in the [[Battle of Britain]], as was the leadership at [[RAF Fighter Command]] of Air Chief Marshal [[Hugh Dowding]].<ref>{{Harvp|Finlay|2004|pages=162–197}}.</ref>

Scotland's airfields provided "a complex network of training and operational needs", with each airfield said to have had an "essential role" in war efforts.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |last1=Jarvie |first1=Frances, Gordon |title=Flight in Scotland |date=2009 |publisher=NMS Enterprises Limited - Publishing |location=Edinburgh |isbn=978-1-905267-24-8 |pages=18–19 |edition=1st}}</ref> A number of [[Squadron (aviation)|squadrons]] located on the [[Ayrshire]] and [[Fife]] coasts were mainly used for anti-shipping patrols.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Fighter squadrons on Scotland's east coat – [[Wick, Caithness|Wick]], [[Dyce]], [[Peterhead]], [[Montrose, Angus|Montrose]], [[Leuchars]], [[Drem]], [[East Fortune]], [[RAF Kinloss|Kinloss]] and [[Grangemouth]] – were [[RAF Coastal Command|Coastal Command]] bases,{{clarify|date=February 2024}}<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and used mainly to protect and defend the fleet of aircraft and equipment at both Rosyth Dockyard and Scapa Flow.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> East Fortune also served as a diversion airfield for [[Handley Page Halifax]] and [[Avro Lancaster]] bombers returning from bombing operations over [[Nazi Germany]]. A total of 94 military airfields were in operation across Scotland during World War II.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In World War II, despite extensive bombing by the Luftwaffe, Scottish industry came out of the depression slump by a dramatic expansion of its industrial activity, absorbing unemployed men and many women as well. The shipyards were the centre of more activity, but many smaller industries produced the machinery needed by the British bombers, tanks and warships.<ref name=Buchanan2003p51/> Agriculture prospered, as did all sectors except for coal mining, which was operating mines near exhaustion. Real wages, adjusted for inflation, rose 25 per cent, and unemployment temporarily vanished. Increased income, and the more equal distribution of food, obtained through a tight rationing system, dramatically improved the health and nutrition; the average height of 13-year-olds in Glasgow increased by {{Convert|2|in|mm}}.<ref>{{Harvp|Devine|1999|pp=549–550}}.</ref>