scareships » Day http://airminded.org/scareships The British phantom airship scares, 1909-1913 Mon, 19 Jan 2009 13:49:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Cardiff, Cardiff http://airminded.org/scareships/1913/01/17/cardiff-cardiff-2/ http://airminded.org/scareships/1913/01/17/cardiff-cardiff-2/#comments Fri, 17 Jan 1913 07:06:30 +0000 Brett Holman http://airminded.org/scareships/?p=78 Captain Lionel Lindsay, Chief Constable of Glamorganshire, and a bystander saw an object overhead through the fog at about 4.45pm, heading towards Swansea and leaving behind a dense trail of smoke. It was judged to be both larger and faster than the Willows airship, although its shape was indistinct. At 6pm, Stephen Morgan also saw ’something resembling an airship’ with a light heading west, and trailing smoke. Further witnesses emerged to verify the story, adding that after leaving Cardiff it altered course from west to north-west, and that it travelled quickly and carried a light – in fact it was so fast that by the time ‘one observer ran to a telephone the airship had almost disappeared’. Another report noted that the sounds of its propellers had been heard in several districts of South Wales at night. One man, E. Morgan, thought it was oval-shaped.

The Times, 21 January 1913, p. 10, 22 January 1913, p. 19; Standard, 21 January 1913, p. 9, 22 January 1913, p. 9; Globe, 21 January 1913, p. 6, 22 January 1913, p. 5; Norfolk News, 25 January 1913, p. 10; Daily Herald, 22 January 1913, p. 7; Manchester Guardian, 23 January 1913, p. 12.

]]> http://airminded.org/scareships/1913/01/17/cardiff-cardiff-2/feed/ 0 Portsmouth, Hampshire http://airminded.org/scareships/1912/12/03/portsmouth-hampshire/ http://airminded.org/scareships/1912/12/03/portsmouth-hampshire/#comments Mon, 02 Dec 1912 15:28:21 +0000 Brett Holman http://airminded.org/scareships/?p=71 An unknown airship was seen to hover over this naval port town in the afternoon for fifteen minutes. Since it was observed to fly the White Ensign and flew from and to the direction of Aldershot to the north, where the army’s airships were based, it was presumed that the navy had borrowed one for testing purposes, or that it was a previously unknown naval airship. Flight confirmed that it was in fact the army’s Beta II.

The Times, 4 December 1912, p. 6; Manchester Guardian, 4 December 1912, p. 16; Flight, 7 December 1912, p. 1143.

]]> http://airminded.org/scareships/1912/12/03/portsmouth-hampshire/feed/ 0 Southend-on-Sea, Essex http://airminded.org/scareships/1909/05/19/southend-on-sea-essex-2/ http://airminded.org/scareships/1909/05/19/southend-on-sea-essex-2/#comments Tue, 18 May 1909 14:56:47 +0000 Brett Holman http://airminded.org/scareships/?p=61 An airship was seen manoeuvring high up at dusk; it disappeared with nightfall.

Globe, 20 May 1909, p. 7; Norfolk News, 22 May 1909, p. 13.

]]> http://airminded.org/scareships/1909/05/19/southend-on-sea-essex-2/feed/ 0