Lights were seen and an engine heard.
Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9.
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At about 5am, town employee John Hobbs saw an aircraft carrying a light (which, it was thought, made it more likely to be an airship than an aeroplane), coming in from over the sea. It was moving very fast in a north-easterly direction, with strong winds coming from the west. He first heard the throb of its engines, which was also heard by police constable Pierce and a tradesman named Langley.
The Times, 6 January 1913, p. 6; Standard, 21 January 1913, p. 9, 22 January 1913, p. 9.
A light was seen, no further details.
Standard, 31 January 1913, p. 7.
At 6.50pm an ‘unknown aircraft’ was heard by many people over this naval port town, including Lieutenant Fitzmaurice RN, Miss Walker, Mr H. R. Hounsell and Albert Wells. Some also saw a bright light, possibly red, as well a long dark shape. The light was seen westwards out to sea, but seemed to be travelling east ‘fairly fast’.
PRO AIR 1/2456; The Times, 19 November 1912, p. 12; The Times, 22 November 1912, p. 8; The Times, 28 November 1912, p. 10; Manchester Guardian, 19 November 1912, p. 6.
The engine sounds heard in 1912-03 were also heard at the naval airfield at Eastchurch, where they were assumed by some to be from an airship. Flares were lit assist it in landing, but it did not do so.
PRO AIR 1/2456.
No details.
Standard, 21 May 1909, p. 21. The date is from David Clarke, “Scareships over Britain: The airship wave of 1909,” Fortean Studies 6 (1999): 51.