Lord Airey's Battery is an

artillery battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to fac ...

in the

British Overseas Territory The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. It is located near the southern end of the

Upper Rock Nature Reserve The Gibraltar Nature Reserve (formerly the Upper Rock Nature Reserve) is a protected nature reserve in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar that covers over 40% of the country's land area. It was established as the Upper Rock Nature Rese ...

, just north of

O'Hara's Battery O'Hara's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located at the highest point of the Rock of Gibraltar, near the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, in close proximity to Lord Airey's B ...

. It was named after the

Governor of Gibraltar The governor of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The role of the governor is to act as the ...

, General Sir

Richard Airey General Richard Airey, 1st Baron Airey, (April 180314 September 1881), known as Sir Richard Airey between 1855 and 1876, was a senior British Army officer of the 19th century. Background Born at Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, Airey was ...

. Construction of the battery was completed in 1891. The first gun mounted on the battery was a 6-inch breech loading gun, which was replaced with a 9.2-inch Mark X BL gun by 1900. The gun at the battery was last fired in the 1970s. In 1997, it was discovered that Lord Airey's Shelter, adjacent to Lord Airey's Battery, was the site chosen for a covert

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

operation that entailed construction of a cave complex in the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

, to serve as an

observation post An observation post (commonly abbreviated OP), temporary or fixed, is a position from which soldiers can watch enemy movements, to warn of approaching soldiers (such as in trench warfare), or to direct fire. In strict military terminology, an ...

. The battery is listed with the

Gibraltar Heritage Trust The Gibraltar Heritage Trust is a non-profit charity established by statute on 1 May 1989 to preserve and promote the cultural natural heritage of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Funding and responsibilities The Trust collaborates wit ...

Early history

Lord Airey's Battery is in Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory at the southern end of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. The artillery battery is located near the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, in the Upper Battery area, which also includes O'Hara's Battery and Spur Battery, although the latter's gun was removed in Project Vitello. It is positioned on O'Hara's Road, just north of O'Hara's Battery. The gun is at an elevation of 418 metres. The battery was named after General Sir Richard Airey (1803 – 1881), who served as Governor of Gibraltar from 1865 to 1870. Earlier, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, he had served in the capacity of quartermaster-general to

FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan Field Marshal FitzRoy James Henry Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan, (30 September 1788 – 28 June 1855), known before 1852 as Lord FitzRoy Somerset, was a British Army officer. When a junior officer, he served in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo ...

. While Airey was regarded very favourably by his superiors, including Lord Raglan, public perception was that he was one of those responsible for the inadequate provisions during that war, as well as the disastrous

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to se ...

. Upon his return to England, he insisted that an investigation be conducted, and he was exonerated of all charges. Airey achieved the full rank of General in 1871 and led the Airey commission on army reform in 1879-1880. Construction of Lord Airey's Battery started on 25 July 1890 and was finished by 1 March 1891. The first gun on the battery was a 6-inch breech loading gun with a

Vavasseur mounting Vavasseur mountings were several mounting devices for artillery and machine guns. They were invented and patented by Josiah Vavasseur. The mountings were used in Barton's Point Battery in Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey, in Kent Kent is a ...

on a centre pivot. However, on 23 October 1897, the process of creating a position for a 9.2-inch Mark X BL gun on a Mark V mounting began. That was finished on 31 March 1900. Its sister battery, O'Hara's Battery, was also armed with a 9.2-inch gun.

Operation Tracer

The tunnel system of Lord Airey's Shelter, just north of Lord Airey's Battery, was the site chosen for World War II's Operation Tracer. The secret complex came to be known as Stay Behind Cave. The plan had involved sealing half a dozen men into a secret complex in the Rock of Gibraltar if Gibraltar was captured by the Germans. The men were expected to observe and report the activities of the German forces for about a year, sending radio messages. Two observation posts would allow the men to watch the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

and the

Bay of Gibraltar The Bay of Gibraltar ( es, Bahía de Algeciras), is a bay at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It is around long by wide, covering an area of some , with a depth of up to in the centre of the bay. It opens to the south into the Strait ...

. The facilities included a bicycle to generate electricity and a 10,000 gallon water tank. A section of the floor near the entrance had been prepared with layers of loose bricks to facilitate burial should any of the men die during their confinement. The long-sought-after site was discovered in December 1997 by the Gibraltar Caving Group close to Lord Airey's Battery. The secret chamber had been constructed in 1941, at which time it was known as Braithwaite's Cave, in honor of Major J. A. Braithwaite, the commanding officer who led the team that constructed the complex. In 1998, one of the men involved in the construction of Stay Behind Cave, Dennis Woods, came forward and confirmed its authenticity. In 2006, the only living member of the 6-man team that had been chosen for Operation Tracer was interviewed. He was 92-year-old Dr. Bruce Cooper, a retired Surgeon Lieutenant of the

Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

. His visit to Gibraltar two years later, in 2008, was covered in one of the documentaries ''(link to a documentary below)'' about Operation Tracer and included a trip to Stay Behind Cave. The 94-year-old Cooper confirmed that the chamber in question was the secret complex of Operation Tracer. The survival manual for Stay Behind Cave has not yet been retrieved.

Recent history

The 9.2-inch guns at Lord Airey's Battery and O'Hara's Battery were last fired on 7 April 1976 during a training exercise. For years, the site was classified as an excluded area, where entry was a criminal offence. However, in the summer of 2009, soldiers refurbished the guns at Lord Airey's Battery and O'Hara's Battery. Lord Airey's was opened to the public in May 2010, at the same time that O'Hara's Battery became accessible. The battery is under the supervision of the Gibraltar Tourist Board, but managed on a day-to-day basis by a private company. Lord Airey's Battery is one of three surviving 9.2 inch gun emplacements at the upper ridge of the Rock, the others being O'Hara's Battery and

Breakneck Battery Breakneck Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Ministry of Defence property at the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, north of Lord Airey's Battery. It is one of a dozen batteries in Gibraltar ...

, the latter on

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

property. Lord Airey's Battery is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.

Gallery

File:Lord Airey's Battery exterior.png, Exterior (A), Gun (B), Mounting (C), Underground complex (D), O'Hara's Battery (E) File:O'Hara's Battery Path.png, Path from

to Lord Airey's Battery
at top left File:Lord Airey's Battery gun 2003.png, Lord Airey's Battery: 9.2-inch breech-loading gun in 2003 File:Spare_gun_on_the_rock.jpg, Spare gun barrel between Lord Airey's and

File:Lord Airey's Battery underground complex.png, Underground Complex: Tools (A), Hoist (B and F), Hydraulic (C), Cartridges (D), Shells (E) File:Lord_Airey's_Battery,_Upper_Rock_Gibraltar.jpg, ... and it says "Lord_Airey's_Battery"

References

External links

Google map of Lord Airey's Battery

Documentary: ''Operation Tracer - Stay Behind Cave''

Spare gun barrel on the path between O'Hara's Battery and Lord Airey's Battery
{{Fortifications of Gibraltar Batteries in Gibraltar Coastal artillery