North Sea Base for airships in 1915 to patrol the North Sea

North Sea base for airships to patrol

Longside military airship station was established in 1915 as a base for airships to patrol the North Sea

Back to 1915. Hidden inside an Aberdeenshire, Longside forest are the remains of a WW1 Airship Station, once a bustling community with its own branch line, hospital, church, theatre etc, the ruins provide a fascinating glimpse into the past.

Longside military airship station, also known as Lenabo after the nearby farm, was established in 1915 as a base for airships to patrol the North Sea, where German submarines posed a threat to Allied convoys.

The base North Sea station, at over 400 hectares (measuring 3 km by 2.13 km), was the second-largest in Scotland. The station was built by the Aberdeen contractor, Tawse.

The establishment of the station in the later part of 1918 was 864, of whom 82 were women.

The accommodation for the station was grouped at the northern edge of the site, next to the public road that bounded it.

There were three airship sheds a short distance to the SE: the largest was a Rigid Airship Shed measuring 216 m by 45 m and 32 m high.

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The two smaller coastal airship sheds measured 98 m by 34 m and 24 m high.

The coastal sheds cost £60,000 (£5.1M at 2013 prices) and were ready for use in November 1916, while the rigid shed was finished in March 1917.

The technical buildings included a gas plant and workshops and lay on the northern boundary of the site, east of the accommodation.

A railway branch line was built from the main line to serve the air station.

The airship station closed in 1920 and most of the buildings were demolished.

The ground plans of the three airship sheds show as unplanned clearings in the modern forestry plantation, and fragments of concrete are visible in the area.