North Queensferry Barrage Balloons – 4

Crew accommodation

 
The balloon crews were accommodated wherever was available – church hall, loft, barn or stable – until purpose-built timber buildings arrived after several months.

Sites 9 and 10 were accommodated in outbuildings at Spencerfield farm.
The site 11 crew had an outhouse and tent in Preston Crescent, Inverkeithing.

Winter 1939/40 at Spencerfield.  Tented accommodation to right. 

Site 12 at Tilbury Quarry were originally squeezed into an outbuilding – possibly the explosives shed until they were allocated a section of the office building.

Site 13 were housed in the Golf Club House.

Site 14 used an Admiralty shed until they moved to the dredging office at Welldean

Site 15 were billeted in the old church hall at the foot of The Brae.

Site 16 first occupied a loft in The Hope then soon moved to more comfortable quarters in an outhouse at Ferrycraig by Ferrybarns.

Site 8 was originally near St David’s but the site proved to be unsuitable – possibly because it was in the line of take-off from RNAS Donibristle. The site was relocated to Seggburn off Castlandhill Road. This explains why it is out of sequence with the other sites which were numbered by location!

The overall command structure ran from Balloon Command – responsible for overall strategy – to Balloon Centres. In this case Balloon Centre No 19, which was responsible for hydrogen gas supplies, equipment replacement and command of two squadrons – 929 and 948 each with their own commanding officer.

948 squadron HQ was at Park Road School, Rosyth, and control then passed through Flight HQ to the individual site crews.

Each site crew bore responsibility for the functional efficiency of its balloon, winch and the winch-bearing vehicle.