Pulham St Mary is a small unassuming South Norfolk village. Just the place to put a top-secret military site!

Don’t worry, you’re not compromising national defence, the critical secrets of Pulham St Mary are all in the past. Although the airship on the village sign hints at its historical importance. Cutting edge technology was developed on this site and it became instrumental in setting up air traffic control protocol in the UK, using Marconi radio beacon equipment.

In 1912 a Royal Navy air station was established just south of Pulham St Mary. Small non-rigid airships flew from the here, providing air patrols over the sea, on the look out for German U-boats and especially the much-feared Zeppelins. They patrolled the coast from Margate to Dunkirk in the south and Mablethorpe to Holland in the north. These early airships has a yellowish-buff colour and were given the name ‘Pulham Pigs’ after local people commented they looked like flying pigs.

The country’s first permanent airship mooring mast was built at Pulham, the base of which can still be seen today. The tower was 120ft high with a ladder on the outside for access to the ship. Pulham was also the location for the covert pioneering investigations into parachuting. Later, the R33 and R34 rigid airships were based here and even captured Zeppelins arrived for inspection. RNAS Pulham remained the chief airship research establishment until a move to Cardington in Bedfordshire. The historic base finally closed in 1958.