The third leading article in today’s Economist is entitled ‘Airship fiascos and preliminary puffs’ (p. 868). It begins by casting back to ‘A FEW weeks ago, just before and after the Army and Navy Estimates were introduced’, when ‘a section of the Press was filled with lurid accounts of the danger in which Great Britain […]
A prominent headline on the front page of the Daily Express today rather startlingly refers to the ‘BOMBARDMENT OF LONDON’, a ‘NIGHT VISIT FROM A DIRIGIBLE’, and a ‘WAR LESSON’ (p. 1). It turns out that the capital has not been destroyed by a sudden Zeppelin raid; rather, Londoners are promised that tomorrow night an
[Cross-posted at Society for Military History Blog.] I learned something new from an article in the March 2013 issue of History Today: Exactly half a century ago, in the spring of 1963, Israel was suddenly gripped by a curious mass panic. Sensational newspaper reports and radio announcements claimed that the country was threatened by enemy
It’s been a while, but after three previous visits the mystery airship has returned to Cardiff. From the Manchester Guardian (p. 9; above): Our Cardiff correspondent sends a report that again last night [8 April 1913] an aircraft was seen at Cardiff, where one was reported to have been seen frequently at the beginning of
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
Having updated my list of online early 20th century British newspapers, I have mostly good news to report. The most exciting development comes from Wales. I have previously lamented the total lack of digitised Welsh newspapers from the period 1901-1950, and it appears that in large part the reason for this is that the National
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
