Airship over Coventry, 1929

I have noticed in the guest book that a Bernard Smith made a comment about a memory he had when younger. He wrote "went to Briton Rd Infants' school (my earliest memory was of the German Airship sailing majestically over our school). We were all sent out to see it." This had me thinking if anyone else remembers this, and what was it doing flying over our city? Sorry but he did not have a date for this. I cannot find any reference to it anywhere. Any takers? Looking on the web, The Hindenberg was spotted a number of times in the Yorkshire area, this being part of the flight path to Nova Scotia. In fact a person wrote on another site that whilst over Yorkshire, it dropped a wreath to be laid at Morton cemetery for the German military who were buried there. A local boy scout took the wreath and laid it at the cemetery for them.

It wasn't Germany's Hindenberg, it was Britain's R101... The day the R101 zeppelin flew over our school.

That would have been a sight for any eyes to see. The R101 over Coventry. Thanks for the link Dutchman. Just found out that it flew over Barkers Butts School as well.

Thank you Dutchman, so the date was 1929 and it was a BRITISH airship that I saw. I've never forgotten this sight, it's one of my treasured memories.

Had to add this just posted by Steve Quinn on FB - Apparently it was taken by a Gentleman called Harry Buller in 1937 -

Actually the R101 crashed in 1930 so this must have been the 1929 visit referenced earlier.

This was the biggest airship ever built, and this must have been its maiden flight late in the autumn. It crashed on a hillside in France just 12 months later during a storm, it hit the hillside and exploded. Only 6 escaped out of a total 54 aboard. It was enormous.

Yes Neil, this log shows that 1929 was the only time it passed over Coventry.

If anyone is interested in the British history of Airships, Nevil Shute's autobiographical book 'Slide Rule' gives a good account. He worked at Cardington, Bedfordshire on the design & manufacture of the R100 & R101 from 1924-1930.

Between 1915 and 1918 Zeppelin airships carried out a number of bombing raids over England and Scotland. The majority of the air raids were over London and the east coast, however there was a significant raid over the Midlands on 31st January 1916. Most of the damage occurred in Staffordshire with 59 killed and 101 injured. The raid was carried out by 6 or 7 airships and around 300 bombs were dropped in all. "In the Midlands towns various precautions were taken. At one Midland's town Zeppelins were sighted shortly after seven o'clock but they passed over without giving any further evidence of there visit to the neighbourhood. Their consideration was but short-lived, however for at midnight they returned and dropped at least twenty projectiles within a small area doing some damage." The use of "A Midlands Town" to describe Coventry is quite common, however it appears this may have been further north as they appear to have been targeting the railway line to the North of England. The Germans claimed that they had attacked Liverpool and Manchester but this was clearly not the case. The air raid prompted Coventry and Birmingham to beef up their air defences and introduce stricter lighting restriction orders in March 1916. The only record of Coventry actually being attacked during World War I was in April 1918. Reportedly Whitley Abbey and a sewage works near Baginton were hit by a lone Zeppelin.