AIRSHIP SHEDS - Walney Island
An artists impression of the proposed Walney airship shed
Commencement of work on the Walney Airship Sheds at
'Airship Shed Road' off Mill Lane was in late
1913 and initially built to erect two of the largest air-ships that could
be built side by side, from parts made
elsewhere. Some of the airships being built at the time were portable and could
be taken apart and loaded into ships or road transport for dispatch to other
airship bases. Airships constructed within these
sheds consisted of, amongst others
R9, R23, R26 and R34.
The Walney shed had an arched roof and sloping sides that were specially
designed to withstand the strongest
At the side of the huge shed was a series of huts which were provided to
accommodate up to 200 men who were required for numerous jobs but mainly for
handling the huge ships in and out of the shed and thus avoiding a repetition
the fate of HMA No 1 at the Cavendish Dock shed a few year earlier.
Adjacent to the construction shed was another extensive factory building which
was used for the production of hydrogen gas. In 1917, in order to meet contractual obligations to build the R37, a ship too large to be built in the Walney sheds, Vickers decided to build larger sheds at Flookborough near Cark. Work on the sheds began but in 1917 the work was halted due to a nationwide shortage of steel. The work on the site was then abandoned and Vickers was unable to honour their contract which was transferred to another company. Work continued at Walney and apart
from a small There was a possibility that the
huge redundant shed on This picture (above left) shows one of the 'exposed' foundation stones to the Airship Shed/s upright support member as it remains visible to this day. When viewed from above (above right) West shore estates' layout clearly defines where the buildings used to once frequent. during the construction of West Shore Estate the foundation to each of the two buildings were simply covered with turf as the cost of removing the concrete was perceived to be to great. The pictures below show the same site at the launch of the airship R80. See also: Airshipsonline
These pictures below were donated by and are in memory of the late Robert Benson of North Scale:
The Picture above is of HMA No. 9 and was a rigid airship designed and built by Vickers Ltd at Walney Island and took to the air for the first time on 27 November 1916, she was the first successful British 'rigid' design, and went on to provided many hours of valuable training and experimental data for British airship crews and designers.
? Copyright Walney Webs. All rights reserved.
|