An impossible question about WWII airfields in Orkney.

[Gorby]

Although I know the question I'm about to ask is impossible to answer conclusively, I would be grateful for and educated or informed 'best guess'.

 

One of my granddads was stationed somewhere near Scapa Flow for most of WWII (when he talked about his wartime experience, my dad used to say, “Harold, the war was in the other direction”). As we are about to visit Orkney, I thought I might go to see where he was stationed. As it's a small island, I assumed that there were only one or two airfields, but last night I had a look and found this lot:

 

RAF Grimsetter (now Kirkwall airport),

RAF Skeabrae,

RAF Netherbutton (radar station),

HMS Sparrowhawk/ RNAS Hatston

HMS Tern / RNAS Twatt (Sorry Mike, but that really was its name).

 

As he was in the RAF military police, I assume the last two can be discounted.

 

Would he be stationed at a particular site and if so, which is the more likely, or is it more probable that he would have moved around to all the RAF bases on Orkney, so looking for a particular site would be pointless?

 

Thanks for taking the time to look in.

 

Gorby

Edited June 23, 2018 by Gorby
addition

[Aeronut]

I 'did' Orkney last year. There are another couple of airfield / seaplane sites not on your list but they are mostly WW1.

There are several buildings from HMS Tern still standing and readily accessible, as is the road sign to the village which is 'a must' to stand by and have your photo taken. 😉 

If you can, take the opportunity to island hop from Kirkwall - it's the only airliner I've been on where the pilot knew the names of his passengers! That and the trip from Papa Westray to Westray is in the record books as the Worlds shortest route , it took 96 seconds from wheels off to wheels on and that was longer than average.

[Gorby]

Thanks @Aeronut  .

Although I'm an aircraft nut as well, I'm only really interested in seeing where my granddad was stationed, so that's why I missed out the WWI sites. As we are doing our world tour of Scotland, we only have two full days on Orkney, if our stay was longer there would almost certainly be doing some island hopping. I'm also interest in ancient history, so one day for doing that and Mrs. Gorby wants to do the jewellery trail on the other day . If we have time I may have a look at HMS Tern, so thanks for the suggestion.

 

Since posting this question I've been doing a bit of a Google street view tour and come to the conclusion that there is no trace of the wartime buildings at Kirkwell airport (RAF Grimsetter) and the RAF Netherbutton site. There still seems to be one building remaining at RAF Skeabrae but I'm not sure it's accessible to the general public. Apparently most of the other buildings were demolished in the 1990's. Unfortunately this makes my original question a bit redundant.   

 

I think I may have a pretty good idea what is on the road sign you are referring to – naughty boy! 

[PhoenixII]

Gorby, just remember,

"Don't be a (HMS) Tern! Remember to pack plenty of skin so soft"

Won't stop the midges biting, but they'll smell wonderful!  

Paul

[Graham Boak]

One day isn't enough to see all the prehistoric sites, but you should be able to fit in one or more on the jewellery trail.  Or vice versa.  Fluke jewelry is near the Broch of Birsay, to get there from Maes Howe you have to pass Skaebrae and Tern, but this is effectively visible from the road - Skara Brae isn't too far to the side.

 

 

[Kev The Modeller]

What you need do is either research your fathers unit/s and thus you should be able to get where he was stationed, or try contacting the Lyness Museum.  Although primarily a Naval depot it had both army and RAF, the staff there are extremely helpful and if they don;t know there's every possibility they'll know someone who does. 

 

Here's the link you need the contact details are near the bottom  http://www.orkney.gov.uk/Service-Directory/S/scapa-flow-visitor-centre-and-museum_2.htm    

 

I'm what you call a regular Scapa visitor 2 - 4 time a year for the last 10 years or so, not aircraft but diving the German Fleet.  

[Dave Fleming]

If you are in Kirkwall, the Orkney Museum has a small display on the War. A visit to the Orcadian bookshop in the High Street may also reveal copies of the Skies Above Scapa book, which details WW2 Air operations from the Islands, or one of the Orkney Airfields books from Airfields in Focus.

 

Hatston is now an industrial estate. There are still one or two period items at the airport, Around the periphery, but the location hasn’t changed much

[Dave Fleming]

PS Might find some info here:

https://www.airfieldresearchgroup.org.uk/forum/orkney

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

The Skies Above Scapa book is quite good to have as it happens, and contains lots of interesting photos not commonly seen including USS Wasp's TBD Devastators disembarked ashore to allow Wasp to carry RAF aircraft for Op Pedestal.

[Gorby]

Thanks everyone for your replies, unfortunately I'm going to be quite busy before we go, but if I get time I'll try and do a bit of research. I really should have started earlier.

 

9 minutes ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Skies Above Scapa book

That does look interesting, I may add that to my basket, so thanks.