Airship Stories

British Pathe newsreels featuring the RAF station at Pulham St Mary.

'Soon To Be But A Memory.' (1928.) This 1928 film shows the dismantling of the No 2 shed that housed the R34 and the R33 at Pulham St. Mary. There are shots of the iron structure against a dark skyline. It falls and the film shows men dismantling the structure. (39 secs.) 'Our New Airship.' (20th August, 1924.) This Pathe Gazette news reel item shows the R80 coming out of a hanger at Pulham St. Mary. There are shots of it touching down, on the ground, not at the mooring mast often used. There are shots of the undercarriage and of people milling around. (23 secs.) 'Rome To Pulham Non-Stop!' (11th April, 1926.) This Pathe Super Gazette news reel item shows shots of the Norwegian Airship Norge 1 in flight. These shots are taken from a DH9 aircraft. There are views of the fields and also shots taken from below the airship. The R80 comes in to land. People on the ground hold onto ropes to secure the landing. The final shots are of the Commander and Crew of the Airship with Prince Olaf of Norway. The camera pans along the line and there are several poses for the camera. (2 mins 43 secs.) c. 1926. The final shots are of the R33 secured to the mooring mast at Pulham St. Mary. The film shows the crew alight from the airship and climb down the inside of the mooring mast to the ground. (42 secs.)

Featured Buildings

Airship Stories.

Featured Events

First flight of the R80. The Airship Norge 1 lands at Pulham St. Mary

Keywords

Airfields; airships; RAF stations

Intertitles

'Soon To Be But A Memory. ' Last sections of the great hanger which once housed the R34 weighing 230 tons, felled. 'Our New Airship. ' R80 behaves splendidly on maiden flight. 'Rome To Pulham Non-Stop!' Amundsen's Airship - 'Norge 1' - in which he will attempt flight across arctic wastes, completes 1,400 miles journey in 30 hours. Piloted by Capt. C. D. Barnard in a DH9, our cameraman accompanied Airship for English Coast and secured wonderful and exclusive pictures. (Title very faded and barely legible. ) Over the aerodrome (?) to adverse weather (?) took 2 1/2 hours (to) complete landing operations. Prince Olaf with the Commander and Crew.

Other Places

Pulham St. Mary

Background Information

The RAF Station At Pulham. In 1912 Thomas William Gaze and Sons of Diss were asked by the Board of Admiralty to begin buying farmland in the Pulham area. No-one was to know the identity of the purchaser. In 1914 work began on the airship base and from 1916 it was a home to airships. In 1917 two men were killed when the hydrogen-producing silicol plant on the eastern side of the airbase exploded. The same week , one of the non-rigid airships was shot down by a German fighter plane. This was followed by two further losses, leading to the suspension of coastal airship patrols around East Anglia. In 1920, the base hosted two Zeppelins, handed over by the German government in lieu of reparations. In 1930, the same year as the loss of the R101, Pulham began testing a prototype biplane. During World War II the base was the home of the 53rd Maintenance Unit. The base also played a minor part in the development of radar. The last of the large hangers was demolished in 1948. In 1958, the 53rd MU was disbanded and the base closed. In 1960 the land was sold for auction at Diss. Soon To Be But A Memory. Construction of the R34 began in 1917, although it was not completed until after World War I. Her maiden flight occurred on 14th March, 1919, a short four hour flight to Edinburgh. A longer flight across the Baltic was undertaken in preparation for its transatlantic flight. One of these preparatory flights, the R34 hit a gale and was blown backwards for eight hours. The R34 completed a transatlantic crossing to Mineola, Long Island, USA in 1919 before making a return flight to Pulham under the command of Captain G. H. Scott. She landed on 13th July 1919, having flown from East Fortune to Mineola, Long Island and then back to Pulham. This covered a distance 0f 3,130 miles in 108 hours 12 minutes, using 4,900 gallons of fuel. The R34 was moved to Cardington where she was destroyed in an accident on 29th January, 1921. This hanger being dismantled in 1928 was Pulham's No. 2 shed that the R34 shared with her sister ship, the R33. Our New Airship. The R80 was designed by Barnes Wallis at Vickers. She was used as a training ship for the crew of the R38. She arrived at Pulham on 20th August 1924. Although efficient, the R80 was too small to fit in with the proposed commercial airship programme. She was dismantled in 1925. Rome To Pulham Non-Stop! Working with Italian airman Umberto Nobile, Roald Amundsen planned an airship crossing of the Arctic. The Norge left Ciampino airfield near Rome for Pulham on 10th April, 1926 and arrived on 11th April. Amundsen was not aboard this flight, having returned to Scandinavia by aeroplane. There were difficulties in landing the airship. This was embarrassing as the landing was watched by Sir Samuel Hoare, British Secretary of State for Air as well as Prince Olaf. The Norge went onto Oslo but Amundsen was beaten on his quest to become the first person to fly over the Arctic when tow American airmen achieved this on 9th May, 1926. Amundsen and Nobile didn't reach the Arctic until 12th May. R33 at Pulham. The 120 foot mooring mast at Pulham was erected in 1919. Unlike the mast at Cardington that was accessed by a lift, (See Cardington, Bedfordshire, 1930, R101 Story. ) the mooring mast at Pulham was accessed by an exposed ladder. This can be seen in the film. The R33 was placed into long term storage at Pulham in November, 1926. (See: Pulham Pigs by Gordon Kinsey. Published by Terence Dalton of Lavenham, Suffolk. 1988. )