Hoprig Mains Landing Ground
Military Airfield (First World War)
Site Name Hoprig Mains Landing Ground
Classification Military Airfield (First World War)
Canmore ID 331334
Site Number NT47SW 183
NGR NT 446 736
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/331334
- Council East Lothian
- Parish Gladsmuir
- Former Region Lothian
- Former District East Lothian
- Former County East Lothian
Hoprig Mains was a landing ground of No. 77 Home Defence Squadron, the role of which was to defend the Firth of Forth area against bombing raids by German Zeppelin airships, and to liaise with coastal gun batteries in the event of an attack by sea. The squadron’s emergency landing grounds were created in case engine failure or bad weather prevented an aeroplane from returning to one of its more permanent bases; when the squadron was flying the farmer on whose land the strip lay would be warned by telephone to clear animals from the landing area.
Hoprig Mains was not listed in the RAF survey of air stations in 1918 and, according to the Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust, was only in use from October 1916 to July 1917, thus predating Penston aerodrome, which lay around 2km to the south. The precise location and extent of the landing ground is not known but it seems to have lain within the boundary of what would later become Macmerry aerodrome.
Information from HS/RCAHMS World War One Audit Project (GJB) 11 June 2013.
Project (March 2013 - September 2013)
A project to characterise the quantity and quality of the Scottish resource of known surviving remains of the First World War. Carried out in partnership between Historic Scotland and RCAHMS.