Site Event/Activity record ECH6084 - Historic Building Record of the former Blister Hangar, Ledsham Road, Little Sutton, Cheshire

TEP was commissioned to undertake a programme of historic building recording (level 2) at the former RAF Blister Hangar, Ledsham Road, Little Sutton, prior to its demolition and the development of the site for residential purposes. The hangar is located on the former Second World War RAF airfield of Little Sutton. A site visit and building recording were undertaken on 28th July 2015. The hangar, constructed in 1941, was possibly the sole hangar serving RAF Little Sutton. The airfield comprised a grass strip 1700 by 700 yards and was used as a satellite airfield for RAF Sealand. It was assigned to 43 Group Maintenance Command and mainly served to train pilots. The aircraft used were DH82A De Havilland Tiger Moths. The hangar is a Miskins type blister hangar and was manufactured by William Bain and Co ltd at the Lochrin Iron Works in Coatbridge, Scotland. The NMR information lists the base as having 3 hangars but air photographs from 1945 show only one, so it is thought likely that the surveyed hangar was the only one on site but was partitioned into three. It had not been extensively altered from its original appearance, the external steel cladding was in moderate condition with some replacement panels and superficial surface corrosion and some original camouflage paint in parts. The steel frame was also corroded and partly damaged by impact collision, the worst damage was to the gable end posts that had been replaced by timber props. Internally any partitioning had been removed and the electric lighting no longer worked. Blister hangars are a well-represented class of monument and the Little Sutton example was neither a rare or well-preserved example of its kind.