The British phantom airship scares, 1909-1913
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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.
At 8pm, the crew, including Captain J. H. Parker and the chief engineer, of the trawler Othello out of Hull saw an airship with a powerful searchlight. Initially it was distant, but within five minutes it was close enough to circle their trawler twice; in fact Captain Parker was afraid that it would crash into the mast. As it left to the west he saluted it with his siren and was answered by a flash from the searchlight. It had two lights aft. The Moon and stars were not visible.
The Times, 5 March 1913, p. 7; Manchester Guardian, 5 March 1913, p. 7; Standard, 5 March 1913, p, 8; Globe, 5 March 1913, p. 10.
At 2am, a policeman saw an airship with ‘a powerful searchlight’ travelling from the direction of Nottingham towards Mansfield; it was seen also by a number of colliers.
The Times, 28 February 1913, p. 5; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9.
Witnesses saw a moving light for about 5 minutes.
The Times, 28 February 1913. p. 5.
An airship was seen by a postman, a government official, and a nurse; all the usual elements were present — the brilliant searchlight, the whirring propeller and the ‘clear outline’ of the airship itself. The lights sometimes went out.
The Times, 28 February 1913, p. 5; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9.
What initially looked like ‘an exceptionally bright star’ at a great height was soon revealed to possess the shape of an airship; ‘the throbbing of a motor and the whirring of a propeller’ was heard. This was observed by residents to circle overhead between 8.15pm and 9pm and disappeared in the direction of Seaforth to the north.
The Times, 27 February 1913, p. 6; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9.
At about 8.30pm, three bright lights were observed to rapidly approach the town from the east by a postman and numerous residents. They were visible for half an hour over the town, were sometimes stationary, and moved off to the north-west. No shape was discernible.
The Times, 27 February 1913, p. 6; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Globe, 26 February 1913, p. 2.
‘[C]rowds of excited people’ in the centre of the city watched an airship, which came from the east, for over an hour from about 8.30pm before it disappeared to the west; it had bright lights with an occasional ‘patch of red’.
The Times, 26 February 1913, p. 8; Manchester Guardian, 26 February 1913, p. 6, 27 February 1913, p. 7, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 26 February 1913, p. 7; Globe, 26 February 1913, p. 2.
An airship with a bright light was seen to the west for about an hour after 8pm by coastguards, who observed it with binoculars. A resident claimed it came in from over the North Sea, changing course frequently, and departed westwards at speed; another resident Falconer Jameson was able to discern a discern a cone-shaped airship through binoculars; a patch of red was visible.
The Times, 26 February 1913, p. 8; Manchester Guardian, 26 February 1913, p. 6, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 26 February 1913, p. 7; Globe, 26 February 1913, p. 2.
An airship was seen from the steamer Orcadia at 5pm.
The Times, 28 February 1913, p. 5; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9.
An airship with a bright searchlight was seen at 9.30pm moving in ‘a methodical manner’ to the west by several people, including Edgar Moore; it flew off to the south-west at a high speed. It was too high for its shape to be seen (this is contradicted by one report, which also says that the engine was heard).
The Times, 26 February 1913, p. 8; Manchester Guardian, 26 February 1913, p. 6, 27 February 1913, p. 7, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 26 February 1913, p. 7.
At 8pm (or possibly 9.30pm) an airship carrying a bright light was seen by two police constables, Jenkins and Boyers, and a Royal Marine sergeant, among others. It was observed to hover above the Marine barracks, and arrived from and returned to the north or north-east. The airship’s shape was dimly perceived by the Marine to be a ‘dirigible of considerable size’.
The Times, 26 February 1913, p. 8; Manchester Guardian, 26 February 1913, p. 6, 27 February 1913, p. 7, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Daily Herald, 26 February 1913, p. 3; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 26 February 1913, p. 7, 27 February 1913, p. 9.
An airship without lights was seen overhead ‘with perfect distinctness, including wing attachments’ heading west-south-west towards Grimsby, by Captain Lundie and Second Officer Williams of the steamer City of Leeds out of Grimsby, bound for Hamburg. The Moon was shining brightly and the airship was seen for a full two minutes. It was observed with binoculars.
The Times, 3 March 1913, p. 7, 5 March 1913, p. 7; Manchester Guardian, 3 March 1913, p. 9, 5 March 1913, p. 7; Standard, 3 March 1913, p. 9; Globe, 3 March 1913, p. 7.
Rapidly moving lights seen at night, no further details.
The Times, 27 February 1913, p. 6; Manchester Guardian, 1 March 1913, p. 9; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Globe, 26 February 1913, p. 2.
The airship or aeroplane, at a considerable height, was seen for about five minutes on a clear moonlit night at about 9.45pm by a number of witnesses ‘of irreproachable character’ including policemen and colliers, in Exhall and Longford. It appeared to be carrying two headlights and a rear light, came from the direction of Leicester and headed west towards Birmingham very quickly.
The Times, 24 February 1913, p. 6; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 24 February 1913, p. 9.
See 1913-33.
The Times, 24 February 1913, p. 6; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Standard, 24 February 1913, p. 9, 25 February 1913, p. 9.
Lights seen at night and engine sounds heard at about 8.30pm, no further details.
The Times, 27 February 1913, p. 6; Norfolk News, 1 March 1913, p. 12; Globe, 26 February 1913, p. 2.
On a bright night with little wind, an airship was seen shortly after 8pm for ‘a considerable time’. The thousands of witnesses included a police sergeant; some claimed to clearly see the outlines of the airship, which carried a bright light, over the Bristol Channel. It passed out of sight to the northwest.
The Times, 6 February 1913, p. 12; Manchester Guardian, 6 February 1913, p. 9; Standard, 6 February 1913, p. 8.
See 1913-21.
The Times, 6 February 1913, p. 12; Manchester Guardian, 6 February 1913, p. 9; Standard, 6 February 1913, p. 8.
See 1913-20.
The Times, 6 February 1913, p. 12; Manchester Guardian, 6 February 1913, p. 9; Standard, 6 February 1913, p. 8.
Police constable Church observed an airship heading west over Swansea Bay and the Mumbles at 7.30pm for an hour, and several other people also witnessed ‘the outline of an airship carrying a light’.
Globe, 3 February 1913, p. 12; The Times, 4 February 1913, p. 4; Manchester Guardian, 4 February 1913, p. 5.
Colonel Henry Lewis’s servants, including a stud groom, saw an airship with a light at the rear coming from Cardiff and heading west at 10.45pm. Although Neath was telephoned nobody saw it there and so it was assumed to have crossed the Bristol Channel to Exmoor. The night was clear.
The Times, 4 February 1913, p. 4; Globe, 3 February 1913, p. 12; Standard, 3 February 1913, p. 9; Manchester Guardian, 4 February 1913, p. 5. The precise location is from Nigel Watson, Granville Oldroyd, and David Clarke, The 1912-1913 British Phantom Airship Scare (South Humberside: Self published, 1987), 198.
Between 7pm and 8.30pm, an unidentified aircraft (described by some as an aeroplane) was watched by five people over this Liverpool suburb for some time. It carried a brilliant light and travelled at an estimated speed of 25 mph.
The Times, 28 January 1913, p. 13; Manchester Guardian, 28 January 1913, p. 6; Standard, 28 January 1913, p. 9.
An aircraft was seen by inhabitants of this village, south of Aberystwyth, at 8.25pm. It was heading for Cardigan Bay but ‘its searchlight, which swept the hills, evidently revealed the nearness of the sea, and it turned south’.
The Times, 30 January 1913, p. 12; Standard, 31 January 1913, p. 7.
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 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.
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.
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.