Holy Island
HOLY ISLAND: Seaplane Alighting Area
Location: Just off the east coast of Northumberland roughly 10nm SE of Berwick-upon-Tweed
NOTES: Listed on Admiralty chart No.111 in the 1930s.
It appears that during WW1 this site had a chequered history. Originally it seems, it was intended to be a Seaplane School in May 1917 to relieve pressure at CALSHOT (HAMPSHIRE). A typical military knee-jerk type decision perhaps which seems to make no sense at all. Eventually it seems, nearby LEE-on-SOLENT took the strain.
Also in 1917 it was seen as a potential Flying-boat Station to replace or augment SEATON CAREW.
It then appears that the RAF established flying-boat moorings here in 1918 for aircraft en route to and from Scotland and, in November 1918 actually became a Temporary Marine Operation Station in anticipation of the German High Seas Fleet breaking out into the North Sea.
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