A remote old military base in the northernmost and windiest location in the United Kingdom

@ElentirENG ES 10·15·2023 · 23:22 0

The British Isles are a very large archipelago made up of more than 6,000 islands. Its northernmost group of islands is Shetland.

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These islands are part of Scotland. There are about 100 islands in the Shetland archipelago, but only 15 are inhabited. Of all the Shetland Islands, the northernmost island (and the northernmost in the United Kingdom) is called Unst, which has an area of 120 square kilometers and only 639 inhabitants. Unst is also the northernmost island in the North Sea and has held the record for the highest wind speed in the United Kingdom since 1992: 317 km/h, although the actual speed was possibly higher, since the device measurement flew at that point.

That measurement was made at the RAF Saxa Vord military base, in the north of Unst. A radar station had already been installed in this place during the Second World War. In 1955 a new radar station began to be installed, but the wind blew it away a year later, reaching a speed of 285 km/h. Finally, a new, more resistant radar was built, which was inaugurated on September 27, 1957, receiving a visit from Queen Elizabeth II three years later.

The radar station was called Signals Unit No. 91, renamed RAF Saxa Vord in 1984. Over the years, the facility became obsolete and was closed in April 2006, although it was maintained the military perimeter in the area. Part of the base, the one located west of the radar station, was sold to private hands in 2012, but it was never used and today it is abandoned. Currently the old radar station at the top of the hill is being renovated, in order to reactivate it. A few months ago, the channel Frontline Ulster published an interesting video showing the abandoned part of the base:

Here we can see some screenshots from the video. These are the base buildings located on the western slope of Saxa Vord. At the top of the hill we see the radar station, which is operational again.

The interior of the Admiralty building, with the visible signs of the passage of time and years of abandonment in a place with strong inclement weather.

The interior of operations bunker R101. It was the old heart of this pass and had bomb-proof hatches.

The tunnel that connected the radar station and the buildings on the western side of the hill. The path and stairs between both sites were covered with a metal tunnel to protect the base personnel from the strong wind of this place.