Comments on: The mystery car of Maldon http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/ Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:41:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/comment-page-1/#comment-128273 Brett Holman Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:13:06 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2848#comment-128273 ellie: Sorry, I don't have any more information, other than what's in the post above. You might try your local historical society, which looks to be: http://www.mahg.org.uk/ Also, the local library might have some pointers. 1915 issues of newspapers serving the Maldon area would be a good place to look, as they may well have more information than a national newspaper like <em>The Times</em>. Good luck, if you find anything else do report back! ellie:

Sorry, I don’t have any more information, other than what’s in the post above. You might try your local historical society, which looks to be:

http://www.mahg.org.uk/

Also, the local library might have some pointers. 1915 issues of newspapers serving the Maldon area would be a good place to look, as they may well have more information than a national newspaper like The Times. Good luck, if you find anything else do report back!

]]> By: ellie http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/comment-page-1/#comment-128232 ellie Sat, 23 Jan 2010 13:55:18 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2848#comment-128232 is there anymore information about this because i would really like to learn more about as i do live in maldon so if any one has anymore informatin knows any website with more information then please post a link below many thanks ellie is there anymore information about this because i would really like to learn more about as i do live in maldon so if any one has anymore informatin knows any website with more information then please post a link below many thanks ellie

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/comment-page-1/#comment-119799 Brett Holman Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:12:33 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2848#comment-119799 It's not just the flying characteristics of the Zeppelins which were appalling, they had an abysmal navigational record as well. London they could usually manage to find, blackout or no (the Thames helped). But there are many examples of them utterly failing to find their intended target. For example, the target for the 15 April 1915 raid was the Humber estuary, over 200 km to the north. Not only did the German commanders not reach their target, they apparently didn't know where they actually were. So they just bumbled around looking for something, anything, which looked bombworthy. That improved somewhat during the war, perhaps: the town bombed in the course of the 16 June 1917 raid I also mentioned (giving the wrong date!) was Ramsgate; the Zeppelin captain claimed he had bombed Dover, so he was only about 20 km out. So simply on a probability basis, for there to have been any German spies available to signal to these wayward airships, there would have to have been a vast espionage network, ready to spring into action whenever one appeared nearby. Very le Queux, but it never existed. It’s not just the flying characteristics of the Zeppelins which were appalling, they had an abysmal navigational record as well. London they could usually manage to find, blackout or no (the Thames helped). But there are many examples of them utterly failing to find their intended target. For example, the target for the 15 April 1915 raid was the Humber estuary, over 200 km to the north. Not only did the German commanders not reach their target, they apparently didn’t know where they actually were. So they just bumbled around looking for something, anything, which looked bombworthy. That improved somewhat during the war, perhaps: the town bombed in the course of the 16 June 1917 raid I also mentioned (giving the wrong date!) was Ramsgate; the Zeppelin captain claimed he had bombed Dover, so he was only about 20 km out. So simply on a probability basis, for there to have been any German spies available to signal to these wayward airships, there would have to have been a vast espionage network, ready to spring into action whenever one appeared nearby. Very le Queux, but it never existed.

]]> By: Snoopy http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/comment-page-1/#comment-119749 Snoopy Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:19:49 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2848#comment-119749 Quote;-'We know now that there were no German spies motoring about East Anglia at night giving directions to incoming Zeppelins. It’s an operationally pretty absurd idea, for one thing; it was hardly possible to accurately navigate a Zeppelin to a given area of coastline for a night-time rendezvous.';- Yes, it all sounds rather silly, but, history is a funny thing, 'Knowing' and believing are not the same. That said, wars were, and are, full of pretty improbable stories. A few years ago, some cottages near an airfield I used to use a lot in the UK were being renovated. In the lofts an old but complex and carefully-hidden system of aerials was discovered. It was all 1940's vintage. The airfield, being way out west was not exactly in the front-line and only used for training '39-'45. They were obviously clandestine aerials, but there was no local knowledge of any master-spies being unearthed there. One more little mystery, but certainly nothing in the public domain, inless there is some obscure reference at the PRO. The Jerries shelled and bombed some other pretty unimportant targets in the UK in both wars. Certainly even small torches were used to signal for SOE drops in the Second World War. Actually, it’s amazing what CAN bee seen at night. As for navigation, well apart from airships presumably having the flying characteristics of a proverbial s**thouse-door, there is no logical reason why an airship couldn't be flown and navigated at night. How else did they find their way home...? On a night with any degree of moon, coastlines, rivers, even streams and ponds are crystal-clear and perfectly usable to navigate by, so even with a black-out, it might be easier to fly VFR than a dodgy day. Still, 'the phantom cars' sounds like a scenario for Herr von Toad....! Quote;-’We know now that there were no German spies motoring about East Anglia at night giving directions to incoming Zeppelins. It’s an operationally pretty absurd idea, for one thing; it was hardly possible to accurately navigate a Zeppelin to a given area of coastline for a night-time rendezvous.’;-
Yes, it all sounds rather silly, but, history is a funny thing, ‘Knowing’ and believing are not the same. That said, wars were, and are, full of pretty improbable stories. A few years ago, some cottages near an airfield I used to use a lot in the UK were being renovated. In the lofts an old but complex and carefully-hidden system of aerials was discovered. It was all 1940’s vintage. The airfield, being way out west was not exactly in the front-line and only used for training ‘39-’45. They were obviously clandestine aerials, but there was no local knowledge of any master-spies being unearthed there. One more little mystery, but certainly nothing in the public domain, inless there is some obscure reference at the PRO.
The Jerries shelled and bombed some other pretty unimportant targets in the UK in both wars. Certainly even small torches were used to signal for SOE drops in the Second World War. Actually, it’s amazing what CAN bee seen at night.
As for navigation, well apart from airships presumably having the flying characteristics of a proverbial s**thouse-door, there is no logical reason why an airship couldn’t be flown and navigated at night. How else did they find their way home…? On a night with any degree of moon, coastlines, rivers, even streams and ponds are crystal-clear and perfectly usable to navigate by, so even with a black-out, it might be easier to fly VFR than a dodgy day.
Still, ‘the phantom cars’ sounds like a scenario for Herr von Toad….!

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/11/07/the-mystery-car-of-maldon/comment-page-1/#comment-118985 Erik Lund Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:57:24 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2848#comment-118985 Clearly the German zeppelin fleet landed cars to run around illuminating key targets like village churches for them. But their main job was abducting folk for espionage-related probing. Repressed Edwardians that they were, the victims never sought counselling, only stood with a foot in a bucket yelling incomprehensibly into the camera. Or was that Monty Python? Clearly the German zeppelin fleet landed cars to run around illuminating key targets like village churches for them.
But their main job was abducting folk for espionage-related probing. Repressed Edwardians that they were, the victims never sought counselling, only stood with a foot in a bucket yelling incomprehensibly into the camera.
Or was that Monty Python?

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