Cramlington Airship Station
(Author: Mick Davis)

Location :6 miles North of Newcastle
OS Ref :NZ 254 782

Map showing where the Airship station was located

During World War I the deployment of Submarine Scout (SSZ) airships to mooring-out stations at Chathill and Kirkleatham was a short-term solution to the problem of providing sufficient aerial cover for convoys using the North East War Channel. Those temporary sites, with trees sheltering moored airships and tented accommodation for their men, were satisfactory in the milder and drier weather conditions of summer 1918 but would have been less suitable for operations in forthcoming winter.

A further permanent airship station, approximately equidistant from those at Howden and East Fortune, was the obvious long-term solution. To that end, land was requisitioned at Cramlington, north east of the existing aerodrome and on the opposite side of the main railway. The land was cleared to provide a landing ground of approximately triangular shape and work began on the construction of a technical site in its south east corner. A branch railway line was laid from the North British Railway line at Cramlington station to the site, to allow delivery of building materials. It was intended to be a Class D airship station, for the operation of SSZ craft by 18 (Operations) Group. The RAF’s autumn 1918 Quarterly Survey of Stations stated that the site occupied 57 acres. That area is patently too small for the site shown in its accompanying plan so may have referred to the technical site only.

The station was not completed by the time of the Armistice but work continued on the construction of the planned airship shed, which measured some 300 x 100 x 70 feet on a NE-SW axis that aligned with the prevailing wind.


The Airship shed at Cramlington , 1929            (Northumberland Communities Archive)

RAF monthly listings of units and stations made references, between January and April 1919, to a Newcastle  airship station. These can only relate to the Cramlington site. Those lists state that the station had control of the Kirkleatham mooring-out site during that period and operated two flights of SS Twin airships from February to April. It seems probable that the airships were drawn from those delivered to Howden; Airships SST3 & 4, SST9 & 10 and SST12 were available during that period.

Between the World Wars the Airship Development Co, a private company built a small airship based on the SS design with a 75hp Rolls-Royce "Hawk" engine. It was designated the "AD.1" and registered G-FAAX. Its primary role was for advertising and aerial photography and made its first flight on 13th September 1929 followed by an appearance at the Newcastle Air Pageant held at the Cramlington Aerodrome on 5th October. During 1930, the work continued including flights over London. Unfortunately on 5th October 1930 while flying in Belgium advertising a cigarette company the airship was destroyed in a storm. The salvaged remains were later sold at auction the following year on 18th June. The two envelopes which had cost £1,000 each sold for £22 10s, the engine for £13 10s (the new owner planning to use in a motor boat) and the Gondola with all instruments fetching £2.


Airship AD.1 in the Cramlington Airship Shed in 1929                                                        (Flight)

The airship shed survived until the 1960s, when it was demolished to make way for part of the planned Cramlington new town.


The Airship shed at Cramlington , 1920's                          (Northumberland Communities Archive)