The Observer has ignored the phantom airship scare almost completely, although it was in fact one of the first newspapers to report the Dover incident nearly two months ago (5 January 1913, p. 9). It has broken its silence today because, thanks to the mystery airships, the time seems right for an agitation for a […]
The Illustrated London News is not really a campaigning newspaper, but it has followed up last week’s striking graphical depictions of the airship menace with this fantastic double-page drawing by Norman Wilkinson, RI, of a German aerial fleet on its way to bomb Britain (pp. IV-V; above). The title asks WILL IT EVER BE SO
On the one hand, there are more mystery airships reports (many old but some new) in today’s papers than ever before, mostly in the provincial press. On the other, some editors seem to have grown weary of the subject: for example, whereas both the Daily Express and the Standard have carried multiple articles on the
The Daily Mail carries a bare list of the last few days’ phantom airship sightings with few details, some of which are discussed more fully elsewhere in today’s (or yesterday’s) papers, but some are not: Avonmouth, Bristol, yesterday evening [26 February 1913]. Hull and Grimsby, Tuesday night [25 February 1913]. Dover, Tuesday, 9.20 p.m. Castle
There’s a slew of new phantom airship reports today. From Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire (Daily Express, p. 1; above): The coastguards at Hornsea first saw a bright light about eight o’clock [on 25 February 1913]. It appeared to be travelling in a westerly direction. They kept it under observation through their glasses,
The phantom airship scare has clearly entered a new phase since the sightings last Friday in Yorkshire and Warwickshire. Several major London dailies — all politically conservative — devote substantial amounts of column space to the mystery; half the main news page, in the case of the Standard. Only it’s not regarded as a mystery
Last week was a relatively quiet one for the phantom airships, but today they receive the most press coverage yet. The main reason for this is a cluster of sightings reported from Yorkshire on Friday, along with another sighting from Warwickshire about 100 miles inland. In fact, there are so many reports that no one
TO ILLUSTRATE THE SO-CALLED ‘BLACK SHADOW OF THE AIR-SHIP’, A MAP OF JOURNEYS POSSIBLE TO AEROPLANES AND DIRIGIBLES. This week’s issue of the Illustrated London News devotes three whole pages — mostly taken up with illustrations, of course — to an examination of what a headline calls ‘A MENACE THEORY’: ‘IS IT “THE SEA TO
The Liverpool Echo provides some additional information about the Scarborough airship reported yesterday (p. 4; above). It turns out that it was actually seen ‘either once or twice in the early part of the present month’ [February 1913], so why it has only come to light now is unclear. According to the Echo, Miss Hollings
Although phantom airships have often been in the news lately, none have actually been reported for more than a week. The Dundee Evening Telegraph and Post breaks the drought today with a sighting from Scarborough, on the coast of the North Riding of Yorkshire (p. 4; above). No date is given, unfortunately. At least two
