Caldale Airship Station; Caldale Vehicle And Balloon Maintenance Depot

Caldale was, during the First World War, one of four stations established for military airships to patrol the sea lanes off Scotland, to search for enemy submarine and to escort convoys. It was established in July 1916 in a hollow west of Kirkwall, sheltered to some extent from all but easterly winds. The first airship shed, for anti-submarine scouting airships and measuring 45m by 13m, seems to have been built in 1916. A second much larger shed for coastal patrol type airships, measuring 67m by 21m, was completed by September 1917. The areas in front of the massive doors of the sheds were protected by six high ‘wind-screens’ to prevent the balloons being blown about when they were pulled from their sheds.

The high winds of Orkney made flying balloons very difficult and at times dangerous – two of the three airships operating from Caldale were lost, with all six crewmen, in November and December 1917. Caldale was closed as an airship station soon after, in January 1918, operating thereafter as a base for kite-balloons, which were towed behind warships to observe and to direct the gunfire of the fleet.

At the time of the RAF aerodrome survey of 1918 Caldale was described as “Marine Operational (Balloon) Station, No. 20 Balloon Base” the function of which was “A Balloon Base for Convoy duties carried out in co-operation with the Navy. There are 12 working balloons.” The RAF description of the base memorably describes it as being in ‘England’ and NE of Kirkwall – it is in fact west of the town. The base occupied an area of 59 hectares; the two balloon sheds were in the southern half of the area, while the accommodation for the 268 men and most of the other buildings were concentrated near the northern boundary.

The station was closed after the First World War but re-used in the Second World War as a radar maintenance depot, barrage balloon storage and repair depot, and a vehicle repair yard. Only fragmentary remains of the concrete bases of the ‘wind-screens’ seem to survive of the First World War structures.

Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 31 May 2013

HY41SW 52 41531 10010

Part of the site falls on map sheet HY40NW

Caldale airship station was established in 1915-16 as an element of the strategic network protecting the British coastline; it was equipped with three or four 'Sea Scout' non-rigid craft as well as a number of kite balloons which were intended to be towed behind ships. The two sheds that were intended to house these smaller craft at Caldale measured 220ft (67.06m) in length by 109ft (33.22m) in width and 50 ft (15.24m) high, and 160ft (48.77m) in length by 70ft (21.34m) in width and 46ft (14.02m) high respectively, and were of timber skeleton construction with a cladding of painted corrugated iron.

G D Hay and G P Stell 1986.

During World War II the site was used as a radar maintainance depot, barrage balloon storage and repair depot and a vehicle repair yard.

Information from RCAHMS (DE), March 2001

The site of the World War I Airship Station and World War II vehicle and barrage balloon maintenance depot is situated between the Old Finstown Road and a farmsteading annotated 'Longhouse' on the OS digital 1:2500 map.

All that can be seen today is an expanse of concrete parkways, large concrete shed bases and the remains of concrete vehicle service bays.

The site formerly extended from HY 4158 1043 to HY 4149 0985, with the main area being at the S end.

Of the First World war airship sheds nothing could be seen. However a series of concrete blocks, which once supported the large temporary 'baffle' walls providing a wind break for the airships, survive on the N side of the main area. The equivalent series on the S side must have been removed relatively recently, as they appear on postwar RAF vertical air photographs (CPE/Scot/UK 188, 4171-4172, flown 10 October 1946). The blocks can also be seen on a series of photographs taken around 1916 (T Kent Collection, Kirkwall Library).

Most of what can be seen at this site is of WW II origin including what was the electricity generating building at HY 41593 10399 and includes most if not all of the concrete hut bases on the E side of the minor road running S from the Old Finstown Road.

The site is visible on wartime aerial photographs (NLA 16, 902-904, flown 22 June 1941) which shows that the layout of this depot must have changed during the 1941-45 period, as the 1946 series of air photographs (ibid) show that larger sheds and huts had been installed by the later date.

Visited by RCAHMS (DE, GS) August 1999