The British phantom airship scares, 1909-1913
You are currently browsing the archive for the Cardiff category.
Just before 9pm, crowds of people in Cardiff (including, once again, the Chief Constable of Glamorganshire, Captain Lionel Lindsay), watched an aeroplane or airship with a brilliant light travel from the north-west to the south-east. It appeared to be travelling at 60 to 70 mph at a considerable height, and disappeared over the Bristol Channel.
The Times, 9 April 1913, p. 10.
See 1913-20.
The Times, 6 February 1913, p. 12; Manchester Guardian, 6 February 1913, p. 9; Standard, 6 February 1913, p. 8.
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.
At 1.15am, an airship was seen by a couple of dozen ‘highly respectable and intelligent dock officials and coal trimmers’ working at the Queen Alexandria Dock. In the words of signalman Charles (or Robert) Westlake, the object appeared to be have a ‘cigar shape, making a whizzing noise. It was lit by two lights, which could be plainly seen. It was travelling at a great rate, and was elevated at a distance of half a mile, making from the eastward’ where it disappeared over the Bristol Channel. It was only visible for two or three minutes; the night was clear, with no moon. Other witnesses included pointsman W. Morrison, traffic foreman C. Harwood, boxman W. John, coal tippers C. Hayman, J. Rogers and C. Bray, and F. Smith, acting mate of the Arndale.
Globe, 19 May 1909, p. 4; Manchester Guardian, 20 May 1909, p. 7; Standard, 20 May 1909, p. 10.