In 1942, during the
Second World War, the
Ministry of Defence built an
aerodrome in Tealing which also found use in wartime as a Prisoner of War camp. No.56 Officer Training Unit opened in March 1942, equipped with
Hurricane,
Master and
Lysander aircraft. The number of pilots training at the unit varied from about 35 to 40 in 1942, reaching a peak of 150 in 1943. It was at the aerodrome that Tealing's most famous visitor arrived. On 20 May 1942, a strange four-engined aircraft appeared in the circuit at Tealing, piloted by
Endel Puusepp. It was one of the first
Russian TB7s to visit Britain and it brought
Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian Foreign Minister and Deputy Chairman of the State Committee of Defence, on a military mission to meet Sir
Winston Churchill at
Chequers. Tealing airfield was probably chosen to attract as little attention as possible and, for security reasons, there was a local news blackout at the time. Molotov was given the choice of two aircraft in which to continue his journey to
England. The one he did not select, as later revealed by
Sir Archibald Philip Hope, 17th Baronet, Senior Controller of Fighter Command in Scotland in 1942, crashed in the
Vale of York, killing various members of Molotov's staff and senior
RAF personnel. Molotov arrived safely in
London for the signing of the
Anglo-Soviet Treaty on 26 May 1942. ==Sir William Stewart Duke-Elder==