Detail of painted notice on first floor landing.

Description Detail of painted notice on first floor landing.

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 642956

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 21648 CN

Scope and Content Painted notice, World War II Fighter Sector Headquarters, Inganess Road, Kirkwall, Mainland, Orkney Islands The hub of Orkney's intelligence gathering and wartime defences was the Fighter Sector Headquarters or Operations Block in Kirkwall which, in early 1944, was transferred to a purpose-built structure at the head of Inganess Road. Plotting and controlling aircraft movements, it was staffed mainly by Royal Air Force personnel but included facilities for all three services, including the Army's own gun operations room for the co-ordination of anti-aircraft defence throughout Orkney. At the upper level of one of the two wide stairs which led to the gallery from the operations room on the ground floor is this broken fragment of walling which still preserves part of a painted direction notice to the principal offices and to the dais, the controller's observation platform overlooking the plotting table below. At the heart of the Orkney archipelago, Scapa Flow was the main fleet anchorage for the Royal Navy during both World Wars. Its vital importance led to the creation of one of the most concentrated defence networks in Britain. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/642956

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap