Secret Scotland
The old seaplane slipway at Battery Park looking over to Loch Long.
Secret Scotland.
RAF GREENOCK began as a pre-war licensed seaplane base, and was officially established on October 10, 1940, when it became a Flying Boat Maintenance Base. The Greenock base worked together with the Largs Seaplane Base to the south, and concentrated on the fitting of British armaments and equipment to aircraft such as the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation twin engine PBY Catalina, manufactured in the company's San Diego plant, and flown to Scotland via the North Atlantic route. Further details are given on the Largs seaplane base page.
Records indicate that the Greenock maintenance base was formed when the outbreak of World War II made its original home in Calshot unsafe, being an easy target for Luftwaffe bombers attacking the south coast of England.
RAF aerial photography, and sketch maps of the time, show that RAF Greenock was concentrated on Battery Park, on the eastern shore of Gourock Bay. The base has been described as occupying the whole area of the park, with at least two large hangars, and a number of smaller, wooden buildings or huts. The RAF station occupied the south eastern corner of the site, next to the bay. The northern end of the site is known as Fort Matilda , and was occupied by the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory, and two barrage balloon mooring stations.
Although the pre-existing seaplane base meant there were service facilities to allow the work to be carried out, there appears to have been little accommodation available for station personnel, who were temporarily accommodated in the local ex-servicemen's club, and the Greenock Social Club, which inconvenienced the local population for a time. It was September 1942 before an accommodation camp was completed in nearby Darroch Park, now known as Gourock Park, and the personnel were finally accommodated in huts.
Operations at the base ended in July 1945, when it was reduced to care and maintenance in August 1945, and saw some civil use for commercial flying boats, which used the facility into the 1950s.
Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away - (AOL Sessions 2011) HD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSACpDZ__A
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Secret Scotland
The old seaplane slipway at Battery Park looking over to Loch Long.
Secret Scotland.
RAF GREENOCK began as a pre-war licensed seaplane base, and was officially established on October 10, 1940, when it became a Flying Boat Maintenance Base. The Greenock base worked together with the Largs Seaplane Base to the south, and concentrated on the fitting of British armaments and equipment to aircraft such as the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation twin engine PBY Catalina, manufactured in the company's San Diego plant, and flown to Scotland via the North Atlantic route. Further details are given on the Largs seaplane base page.
Records indicate that the Greenock maintenance base was formed when the outbreak of World War II made its original home in Calshot unsafe, being an easy target for Luftwaffe bombers attacking the south coast of England.
RAF aerial photography, and sketch maps of the time, show that RAF Greenock was concentrated on Battery Park, on the eastern shore of Gourock Bay. The base has been described as occupying the whole area of the park, with at least two large hangars, and a number of smaller, wooden buildings or huts. The RAF station occupied the south eastern corner of the site, next to the bay. The northern end of the site is known as Fort Matilda , and was occupied by the Royal Naval Torpedo Factory, and two barrage balloon mooring stations.
Although the pre-existing seaplane base meant there were service facilities to allow the work to be carried out, there appears to have been little accommodation available for station personnel, who were temporarily accommodated in the local ex-servicemen's club, and the Greenock Social Club, which inconvenienced the local population for a time. It was September 1942 before an accommodation camp was completed in nearby Darroch Park, now known as Gourock Park, and the personnel were finally accommodated in huts.
Operations at the base ended in July 1945, when it was reduced to care and maintenance in August 1945, and saw some civil use for commercial flying boats, which used the facility into the 1950s.
Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away - (AOL Sessions 2011) HD
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZSACpDZ__A
Please right click the link and open in a new tab. Thank you !
Rollingstone1's most interesting photos on Flickriver
© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal