19774: RAF Aird Uig

On the windswept, 60-metre high, cliffs at Gallan Head, Aird Uig, a watcher’s hut was built for shelter, during the Second World War. Local men, in the Auxiliary Coastguard Service, kept a watch on the North Western Approaches for enemy ships. The watch was maintained 24 hours a day and the men were uniformed and armed.

A radar station, type R10, eventually replaced the watcher’s hut around 1954, as the main surveillance building and a domestic camp, where the servicemen lived, was built around the same time. Virtually every able man in the district was employed in its construction and teams were also bussed in from other parts of the Island.

The radar station was in operation until 1964, when it was replaced by a radio communications surveillance system. The domestic camp was adjacent to the village of Aird Uig and a few hundred metres south of the radar station; it too was closed in 1964. The buildings remained unused for many years until the site was sold in 1977; it has been resold several times subsequently. Individuals now own the buildings and have transformed them into homes, restaurants and guesthouses. The Headquarters and NAAFI shop building is now the Bonaventure Restaurant.

Local civilian workforce

Thirteen (perhaps as many as 20) local people were working at the camp as civilians, managers, cleaners, cooks, drivers, handy men and shop assisants in the NAAFI shop.

Donald Matheson, Ardroil – General duties in the Sergeant’s Mess
Malcolm John Macaulay – Refuse collection
Calum Iain Macaulay – Handy man
Calum Macneill , Carishader – Handy man
Calum Beag Macneill, Carishader – General duties in the Officers Mess
Angus Smith, Carishader – Kitchen staff in the Airmen’s Mess; also construction
John Murdo Maclean, Brenish – Water man (water supply to the camp); also camp construction.
Calum Iain Buchanan, Brenish – Storeman
Peigi Matheson, Aird Uig – NAAFI shop
Murdanie Maclean Aird Uig – General duties in the Airmens’ Mess
Nora Macdonald – NAAFI Manageress
John Angus Maclennan, Aird Uig – Bus driver
Joan Maclennan – General duties in the Officers Mess (wife of John Angus)

Finlay Maciver, Carishader – Involved with camp contruction, c1954.

Donald Matheson from Ardroil who was in military service in Germany from 1955 to 1957, worked at the camp, as a civilian, from June, 1958 until October, 1964. He was employed in the Sergeant’s Mess, preparing food, cooking and general cleaning from 8am till 5pm every day. When the camp closed he went to Stornoway RAF base, where he worked as an M.T. Driver, driving officers and important visitors to various locations, until he retired in June1995. (See interview below.)

Angus H. Smith from Carishader, who was involved in the construction of the domestic camp, along with John Murdo Maclean, Brenish and Finlay Maciver, Geshader, was approached by the first commanding officer of the base, Squadron Leader Parker and asked if he wanted to become part of the full-time civilian staff at the camp. Angus agreed and went to work in the cookhouse, helping with the preparation of food for the servicemen. He worked in the camp from 11th April 1955 until it closed, he was then asked to continue working at the main radar facility, R10, at Aird Uig, which was a restricted area, here he was involved in the general cleaning of the building.

John Murdo Maclean, Brenish, was involved in the building of the camp in the early 1950s, he continued working there for 5 years, involved in various construction work but finally worked on the camp water supply, which was fed from a local loch (possibly Loch Bheannaich), the pump building is still standing (2005), up the hill from the loch.

About 150 servicemen were stationed at Aird Uig camp, Radar operators, radar technicians, mechanics, electricians, cooks, storemen, police and firemen.

Buildings at the camp include: (see map of camp)

Sick Quarters
C.O.s Quarters
Sergeant’s Quarters
Airmen’s Quarters
Officer’s Mess
Sergeant’s Mess
Airmen’s Mess
Fire Station
NAAFI
H.Q. / NAAFI shop (Bonaventure)
M.T. Workshop (Garage)
General stores
Guardroom
Fire Station
Air Ministry – Public Building Works
There was a flammable substance store near the M.T. Office.

There were 2 buses (driven by John Angus Maclennan and Angus Unknown – from Harris), 3 trucks and 2 Land Rovers; plus officer’s cars. The men often went, by bus, to dances and events in various villages and to Stornoway.

Discipline was uniformly strict during the tenure of all commanding officers.

Commanding Officers include:

– Squadron Leader Parker
– Flight Lieutenant Fletcher
– Squadron Leader Nascutin
– Squadron Leader Christopher
– Squadron Leader Evens

Sergeants include:

– Sergeant Macavoy
– Sregeant Fitzgerald
– Sergeant Sharp
– Sergeant MacKnight, was the skipper of the 5m fishing boat that belonged to the RAF. This was often used to supply the cooks with fresh fish, the excess fish was given to local villagers.

There were two incidents recalled by Angus H Smith (cook in the Airmen’s Mess), one in which a civilian Englishman call Mr. Lee was bird watching on the cliffs to the north of the domestic camp when the rocks suddenly gave way, he fell to his death on the rocks below. Angus was in the boat that recovered his body from the sea; a very sad occasion for all concerned.
On another occasion a corporal used the NAAFI shop keys to unlawfully enter the shop, taking some whisky from the storeroom. He was found out and disciplined by the commanding officer. Local men from Uig gave the NAAFI shop some money to pay for the missing drink, which shows there was a friendly relationship between servicemen and local civilians.

There were other bases in Uig during the war, a second R.A.F. base in Brenish and a Naval base by the sea at Mangersta.