RNAS Lenabo, Aberdeenshire

There's not much info on the 'net about this place. It was a virtual village built in 195, slap bang in the middle of a peat bog near the village of Longside in Aberdeenshire. There was a branch line laid to service the site, and local haulier Mr James Sutherland (more about him in an upcoming post - once I get some pics taken) made quite a few bob out of it. It was the base for airship operations, meant to detect U-boat activity and protect the fleet at Scapa Flow, although some of these beasts had a range of 1000 miles, so were quite cabable of ranging out much further than that.

The place was sold off in 1920, and woodland and forestry planted and the buildings were demolished, airships being replaced in the military mind by the new fangled aircraft that were appearing. Now all that remains are a few lumps of concrete and the odd piece of iron, most of those being in the trees and off the track.

Apologies for the pic quality. Again taken on my phone.

An airship station hey ??? Thats a bit differen!!!!!! looks a bit bleak up there don't it.........great photos...cheers

Nceone, did you get into that little tunnel?
I like that fireplace

very interesting wel worth an explore.
great pics.

Cool find, thanks for the photo's

Some really interesting remains there. It makes me wonder what the various things were used for. Nice piece of history too. excellent find.

great report of an unknown place.well done!

The little tunnel led off to the first filled in pit that you see. There was a similar tunnel off to the one filled with stagnant water and other crap. When I saw the second pit, I thought I'd found the old swimming pool. But then noticed the similar boxlike shapes in both pits. The tunnels and culverts to them were brick lined.

It IS possible that these pits were used as water tanks, and being uphill from where I imaginge the main camp was, supplied drinking water. Perhaps the water from them was filtered after that point? But almost certainly, since the place is a peat bog, they helped drain the whole area, whatever else the water was used for.. I've seem signs of places that look like they might be filed in pits, so it's feasible these things were all along a ridge line.

What you need to bear in mind when looking at these pics is, there were no trees in the area whatsoever. If the trees had not been planted and the forest maintained since 1920, the site would once again be a giant natural sponge, and all trace of the place would now be sitting under several feet of peat and water. So whilst it is a shame that nature has virtually destroyed what little was left, at least there is still something left to see and wonder about.

There was a book published about the station. I think it's now out of print, but if I can get hold of a copy, I'll publish more info.

It's more likely that they're water tanks for putting out fires should they occur, what with all the hydrogen around and all. You quite often find them at ww2 airfields too.

Drinking water would have used a proper ww2 era iron water tank

Its obviously very far gone now, as a lot of sites tend to be, but I love the fact the Community Council have put a plaque up. It's a nice touch that isn't perhaps seen often enough.

krela said:

It's more likely that they're water tanks for putting out fires should they occur, what with all the hydrogen around and all. You quite often find them at ww2 airfields too.

Drinking water would have used a proper ww2 era iron water tank

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Going to feel really old now... but does anybody remember the kids TV programme Catweazle? A wizard or some such went forward in time to the early 70's, and lived in a water tower? There is one very similar (I'll get a photo when I get home next month) on nearby Longside airfield, that was in quite a reasonable state in the mid 70's that I used to play in, and got the idea that it was a safe thing to do because it was on the telly.

Ah, the innocence of youth.

Oh, and I guess this place would have used a proper WW1 era iron water tank. Or rather, several, since it was bigger than the nearby village in terms of population. Must have been quite a good posting to get, I'd have thought. No nasty trench warfare, and minimal chance of getting bombed in those days.

What I think I'll also do is see if I can borrow some GPS gear from work and plot out a map of the place as best I can with the structures I have found, and see if I can tie that in to any future info I might find. Might be a tad difficult in some areas, since I wont be able to see any satellites for the trees though. I hate to say it, but this place has really got me hooked now. Airship station anorak? Nah, not me.

Seahorse said:

Oh, and I guess this place would have used a proper WW1 era iron water tank. Or rather, several, since it was bigger than the nearby village in terms of population. Must have been quite a good posting to get, I'd have thought. No nasty trench warfare, and minimal chance of getting bombed in those days.

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Duh I should have read the info properly, ww1 era water tank yes

Seahorse said:

Going to feel really old now... but does anybody remember the kids TV programme Catweazle? A wizard or some such went forward in time to the early 70's, and lived in a water tower? There is one very similar (I'll get a photo when I get home next month) on nearby Longside airfield, that was in quite a reasonable state in the mid 70's that I used to play in, and got the idea that it was a safe thing to do because it was on the telly.

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Is it this one...





Second one is bigger and at the North side of the Airfield beside the area that is still in use...I have a report on Longside/RAF Peterhead on the site.. Although I've not updated it, I went back again with Bryag so there are more pictures for me to stick up...

http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=4531&highlight=peterhead

Andy

It'll be the one on the north side near the heliport. It's just beside the road, yeah?

I was going to take a few more of Longside the other day. There's a few more buidings nearer to Peterhead, and a couple on the other side of the Longside road. I'll pop on over and take some when I get back, if they turn out interesting enough.

Longside was a great place as a kid. Loads of places to play. And my first helicopter ride was to there. Somebody had a hard standing at Peterhead harbour, with a portacabin, and flew a wee MBB Bo 105 out of there. Might even have been the guy that started up Bond helicopters. Anyway, me and my mate were watching this thing firing up, and the pilot asked if we fancied a trip out to Longside to park it in the old WW2 shed. Then gave us a run back home in his mini after we'd helped push it into the shed and shut the doors. Did our parents believe us? Not a bit of it. Did we care? Did we feck.

Just a quick update with some pics from the past. Photos courtesy of the Airfield Focus series of magazines, and in particular the author of issue 61, Jim Hughes.

Info on RNAS Longside

Just a few clarifications on RNAS Longside / RAF Peterhead.
RAF Peterhead was a WW2 fighter airfield and is now known as Longside airfield and is situated on the main road between Longside and Peterhead. RNAS Longside was a WW1 Airship Station and is now known as Lenabo forest walk and is situated two miles south of Longside.They are not connected.

I “discovered” the old Airship station after reading Airfield Focus No61 by Jim Hughes a few years ago and have been researching it ever since. Another good book is a Steep turn to the stars,covering airfields of the Moray Firth, also by Jim.

The “filled pits” Seahorse found were the remains of the two boiler houses which provided steam heating for the three large airship sheds. The tunnel was the culvert through which the steam pipes ran to the sheds. The large concrete slabs stacked at the ends of the Airship sheds are the remains of the counter weights for the massive doors. The rings set in concrete run in two parallel rows the length of the large shed and were used to tie down the airships. The swimming pool is a local myth probably due to the misidentification of water filled ruins. Large amounts of water were required in one of the two methods of hydrogen manufacture used at the station. There are however underground water management tunnels which still drain the site. Be careful if you go wondering through the trees as at least one cover is open and its a long drop.

Loooking at those photos of airships its really almost inconcievable nowdays that within living memory people actually thought an airship was a sensible and reasonable way to go to war.........
Scene I:
A handle bar moustacioed officer type is leaning against the bar in a cigar smoke filled polo club lounge around the time of the first world war.......
"Here Chaps ! I've had a spiffing idea!!! I know what we'll do!
We'll hang a basket under a great bally big ballon filled with this really explosive gas and then we'll sit in the basket and drift about above the enemy until they spot us and shoot at us and (quite probably ) kill us!
Second Officer type replies :
I say! What an absolutely splendid idea Jimbo! .....count me in !"

Private Smiffy eavesdropping whilst waiting on knobby officers.....mutters summat along the lines of....
"Bollocks to that!"

Heeheehee...smiffy, spot on!
I do reckon that 'sod that for a game of soldiers' would be another appropriate response.

Surprisingly enough, there was only one loss of airship, and that only suspected of being due to enemy action. The prop was recovered from the sea, and now resides in the church at Longside. I've been trying to get in there for a pic, but have never managed to be there at the same time as the doors are open. Since I'm usually at my own church of a sunday morning, I'll need to see if I can find out times of other activities that might take place through the week.

Next time I'm home though... off back to sea on Tuesday.

I've managed to find some old notes from way back that are quite interesting. Unfortunately, they are old and typewritten, and OCR makes a right bollocks of trying to decipher them, so I'll have to sit down and do it by hand. I think I'll have enough time on my hands over the next month.

This will pretty much finish off this thread. This is the propeller recovered from the sea from the only airship lost from Lenabo on active service. It now serves as a memorial to those lost, and is in the Church in Longside.