My Mother - a WAAF

[AJ100]

My late mother was LACW 1 stationed in Orkney in WW2. She became what was called Ops B, which meant manning the phone that looked down on the map board.
There was, apparently, an RAF post just outside the town called 'The Black building.' She never mentioned her place of work by this name and I wondered if there was another station on the island.
She left the WAAF in 1944 when she found out she was expecting me and returned to the mainland across the Pentland Firth in a flat-bottomed boat. It was a horrendous crossing as the sea was rough.
Any details of the station on Orkney would be grteatly appreciated.
AJ

[Andy J2022]

There were two RAF stations on Orkney: RAF Grimsettter, later handed over to the Fleet Air Arm and which after the war became Kirkwall airport, and RAF Skaebrae in the northwest of the main island. Both were operational air stations.There was also a radar station named Netherbutton about 2 miles south of RAF Grimsetter. This is possibly what was referred to as the black building. As far as I am aware there was no Y station on Orkney

[AJ100]

Thank you Andy. As far as I know, my mother wasn't on a radar station, she was plotting air traffic. There was a regular high-level German plane that flew over that they nicknamed 'Weather Willie' as he was monitoring the weather conditions. She also tracked what turned out to be Hess' plane as it approached and landed on Hamilton's estate.
So that leaves Skaebrae and Grimsetter but I don't know which she was stationed at.
I'm very grateful for the information.
regards
AJ

[bbart]

https://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/KirkwallSectorOperationsRoom

The above link talks about the "black building",  not sure if the description helps locate it, in terms of where your mother worked, though.

Edit:  a much more informative link, with pictures:  http://crashsiteorkney.com/the-black-building.html

[AJ100]

Thank you bbart, that's a terrific help. If my mother was in the Black Building, then one of your pictures shows where she would have sat. Shame the place was so vandalised prior to demolition. Shows the mentality of the people our parents fought a war for.
Thank you so much again, it means a lot to me.
Kind Regards
AJ