Lowthorpe was a mooring-out station for anti-submarine patrol non-rigid airships from Howden. This airfield was sited to the north-west of the village and saw significant activity in the final months of World War One, peacetime bringing swift closure as with all other similar supportive airfields engaged in this role. A concrete mooring block, complete with metal ring, was discovered in the 1970s and now exists at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington.