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Report - - Benbecula Battle Headquarters, Outer Hebrides, Scotland | Military Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Benbecula Battle Headquarters, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

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747_kirki

Death Valley is Mine
28DL Full Member
Benbecula Battle Headquarters, Outer Hebrides, Scotland (27 April 2011)

Don’t think this has featured on 28DL before, so here goes. Am over in the Outer Hebrides (far west Scottish islands) – on the island of Benbecula is an airport, which is primarily a civil airfield for flights from Glasgow and other islands – plus still has a military base next to it.

The airfield was originally commissioned with three runways which had an unusual construction comprising of bitumen laid directly on to sand. The airfield was originally operational between 1941 and 1947, and became an important base for North Atlantic patrols flown against German U-Boats.

Surveillance photographs taken by the Luftwaffe show the airfield under construction in 1942, when many of the buildings and the runways were only partly completed. Aerial photographs taken by the RAF in 1946 show the completed airfield with runways, hangars, bomb store, and accommodation camps in place, together with the usual surface shelters.

However, just up on a slight hill away from the airfield is a Battle HQ, which would have been used by the defenders to deny use of the airfield to an enemy in the event of an invasion.

The remains of the Battle HQ lie in a field, easily accessible over a barbed wire fence. It is sited in a position which gave it a commanding view of the airfield, allowing defenders to cover the area with gunfire and deny an attacker or invader from having free access to its facilities.

It’s in a pretty ropey state, and all that remains are some empty rooms (no contents), accessible via a concrete staircase going underground. Wasn’t planning to doing an exploring, so wasn’t equipped with a flash light (doh!) – so pics are from camera flash only. Sorry the internals are poor.

All you can see of the Battle HQ above ground:
CIMG6665.jpg


CIMG6645.jpg


Looking out from the steps, the airport (small) lies directly ahead - the water tower you can see is on the military part of the base (runway to the right):
CIMG6664.jpg


Looking back up the steps:
CIMG6663.jpg


Undergound:
CIMG6661.jpg


Not in a good state down here:
CIMG6647.jpg


Just several rooms all looking like this (again, sorry these aren't the greatest pics):
CIMG6649.jpg
 
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