Z4 had only a brief stay in Lunéville. It has already flown back to Metz, though not before being searched by the authorities for any evidence that the Zeppelin had been photographing French defences. They didn’t find any, but did impose a £300 customs duty anyway (which will be refunded). Except in the frontier provinces, […]
There’s some sensational airship-related news today. Many newspapers report that yesterday an airship was forced down at Lunéville after first getting lost and then had mechanical problems. The reason why this is sensational is because Lunéville is in France and because the airship is German: the very latest Zeppelin, Z4, which has been undertaking proving
An unusual phantom airship reference today. The Dundee Courier reports on the ‘successful debut’ of ‘Mr William J. Wallace’s talented company of entertainers’, who ‘made their bow before Dundee [sic] public on Saturday night’ at St Mary Magdalene’s Hall (p. 4). One ‘descriptive sketch’ in particular, entitled ‘Coach Ride from Newport to Balmurnie via Pickletullem
The Dublin Sunday Independent has the following brief account of the phantom airship or aeroplane seen at Galway last week: AIRSHIP OVER GALWAY Several persons in Galway state that they saw an aeroplane over that city on Wednesday night [26 March 1913] at about 8.15. A man named M’Avoy, coachman to Mr. B. Parkes, said
After an absence of more than a week, a mystery airship has been seen again, this time in Galway, Ireland. The Connacht Tribune‘s report gives a sense of the debates surrounding the ‘nocturnal apparition’ (p. 4): Was it an aeroplane or a kite? That is the question that is troubling the minds of the people
Judging from the report in the Western Gazette, Captain Faber, Conservative MP for Andover, evidently is not convinced by the letter he received from the Prime Minister downplaying the mystery airship visits, for in a speech to his constituents at Weyhill in Hampshire he invoked them as a counterargument to the War Minister’s downplaying of
Here’s a rarity these days: an actual phantom airship report, from the Aberdeen Daily Journal (p. 5): About a quarter past nine o’clock on Thursday night [20 March 1913] a ‘phantom airship’ was seen hovering above Glasgow. To a eye-witness, it appeared at first to be a star of unusual magnitude and brilliance. After watching
Debate on the Army Estimates continued in the House of Commons yesterday. The Conservatives recovered their composure after Seely’s unsettling openness, and set about undermining his reassurances that Britain’s aerial defences are in safe hands. Taking the lead was Arthur Lee, a former Army officer and later Civil Lord of the Admiralty. The Times reports
Seely’s statement of the Army estimates will have done little to assuage the doubts of Bonar Law and Massy regarding the Government’s unsoundness on aviation, since he announced no new expenditure beyond that already announced. However, in its fullness and its frankness it appears to have disarmed the Opposition, at least for now. The part
Only one or maybe two references to phantom airships appear in today’s papers, both more or less in passing. The Manchester Guardian reports on a speech made by Andrew Bonar Law, the leader of the Conservatives, at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall last night, and in so doing made the following sardonic comment (p. 7): It
