The area has subsequently been considerably modified: the area of the base has been built over and the piers have been absorbed into reclaimed land. The five piers to the NE, and two others (which must have been built between 19) were adapted for use in an extensive fishing station shown on the 1930 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map. The station was abandoned after the First World War. The RAF survey map of 1918 shows part of the foreshore to the south as marked off as part of the base, but its purpose is not known. The base had its own hydrogen gas plant and storage tank and a range of workshops and stores.
At that time most of the buildings of the station had been completed, apart from some of the accommodation for personnel. The establishment of the base at the time of the RAF air station survey in October 1918 was 264 officers and men. This pier, and two of those to the NE used by the base, were shown on the 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map dated 1900. A further pier formed the southern boundary of the base. The station extended further along the coast to the NE, where there were five piers, to allow the balloons to be attached to their ships. The sheds were laid out in two east-west lines, perpendicular to the shore. The site accommodated 12 balloon sheds, each measuring 30m by 11m. Kite balloons were towed behind warships at a height of about 1000m to provide a raised platform for observation, and those at Lerwick were part of the Grand Fleet’s equipment. The Lerwick kite balloon station occupied an area of about 6 hectares in extent at Gremista, on the west side of Bressay Sound between Lerwick town and what was then called Point of Scotland (now Scattland).
0 kommentar(er)
