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Linley

In the scramble for underground storage space, Linley had already been rejected by the War Office and the Air Ministry because of its instability and tendency to flood. But in spite of this the RAF took possession in May 1941.

The original cost for converting the caves to an ammunition depot was £250,000, but this did not take account of the poor state of the roof or the ten-degree slope of the floor which meant that level concrete terraces had to be built. During construction the roof kept caving in and by August the costs were in excess of a million pounds.

Linley was never completed and was an embarrassment to the RAF. It was downgraded and opened in October 1942 as a surface depot and used only to store obsolete bombs and empty bomb cases.