Air-raid shelter, view from North West.
SC 645246
Description Air-raid shelter, view from North West.
Date 24/5/1996
Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu
Catalogue Number SC 645246
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of C 73137 CN
Scope and Content Air raid shelter, World War II airfield, Twatt, Mainland, Orkney Islands In World War II there were four main military airfields in Orkney, two of which were originally operated by the Royal Navy (Twatt and Hatston) and two by the Royal Air Force (Skeabrae and Grimsetter), Grimsetter, now Kirkwall Airport, being transferred to the Royal Navy from 1943 to 1945. The most complete surviving wartime airfield remains are at the Royal Naval Air Station at Twatt which was commissioned as HMS Tern on 1 April 1941. At first a satellite of Hatston, Twatt became an independent command on 31 March 1942. This long, earth-covered structure, externally reminiscent of a prehistoric chambered cairn, is one of a number of semi-sunken air-raid shelters which still survive on the western perimeter of the former naval airfield at Twatt. It has a single side entrance, lined with concrete panels, and a small emergency exit-cum-ventilator can be seen protruding, chimney-like, through the left-hand end of the mound. 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.
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