2025MNRAS.543.1158A

We use Gaia DR3 astrometric data and radial velocities from the literature to identify runaway stars from a sample of 90 Galactic late-type WN (WNL) stars. Runaways must either have peculiar velocities greater than 30 km s$^{-1}$ or be located at a vertical distance greater than the scale height for OB stars from the Galactic mid-plane. We find that 40 out of 90 stars meet either or both of these criteria, of which 6 are confirmed spectroscopic binary systems. Four sources have peculiar velocities above 100 km s$^{-1}$ and two of these are binary systems. The majority of the runaway WNL stars can be traced back to spiral arms in the thin disc within a typical massive star lifetime. For other sources, inferred kinematic ages in excess of 7 Myr suggest that binary evolution, including mass transfer, has played an important role in their lives. We find that the WN8 sub-type has a higher proportion of high-velocity runaways than the WN7 sub-type, indicating that these sub-types do not form an evolutionary sequence. Detailed examination of the Cygnus region suggests that at least some runaways could be a consequence of the formation process of young clusters from a parent turbulent molecular cloud, in addition to the more widely studied binary supernova and dynamical ejection scenarios (BSS and DES).