North Queensferry Barrage Balloons – 10

September 1941 – Flight HQ moves to Donibristle

 
On 13th September 1941, the occupation of Sycamore Bank as ‘B’ Flight HQ came to an end when ‘B’ and ‘C’ Flights merged with control now centred in the north-west wing of Donibristle House.

Flight cookhouse and dining hall were sited in the stables a few hundred yards away in the direction of St Bridget’s Church.

The billet and sleeping quarters for HQ airmen below NCO ranks was the upper floor of a drab stone building midway between the house and the stables. Twenty three iron bedsteads lined the front rear and north walls. There were no toilet or washing facilities. The floor was gnarled timber laid-on boards (i.e. not tongue and groove jointed) which let through the sounds and smells of the horses which occupied the lower floor.

It carried graffiti from being used in WWI when it was named as “Pneumonia Hall.”