The story starts not with the village but with the Shorts Brothers Engineering Company. Having won a contract for the construction of an airship in 1916, the original design team had set up offices in a private house in Hampstead, London. In September of 1916 they decided to move to Bedford, choosing this market town for its sufficiency of high grade light engineering works and its population of about 35,000. Outside the town, at Putnoe, was a stretch of farmland being used as an aerodrome for the Royal Flying Corps as part of the United Kingdom's defence network against the Zeppelins. Within sight of Putnoe was, and still is, the village of Cardington.
The man who headed up the enterprise for the Shorts Company was a young man by the name of Claude Lipscomb. At 29, Claude had already served his apprenticeship at Woolwich Arsenal but had joined Shorts at the outbreak of the war in 1914 attracted by the prospect of technological advancement in the new aviation world. Claude set up his first drawing office in a loft of the coach repair shop in Bedford. Having been attacked by Zeppelin Raiders that September and with the threat of the new Super Zeppelins, agreement was reached to develop our own ships. With its gentle prevailing wind, the site of farmland south west of Bedford and the site of Cardington was chosen.
Internal Dimensions:
Length: 812 ft
Width: 180 ft
Height: 157 ft
Total weight of steel: 4,000 tons
some pictures from me
some idea of the scale my missus is in the middle of this pic
small by M D Allen, on Flickr
huge by M D Allen, on Flickr
not really rubbish as i like their tyres
goodyear by M D Allen, on Flickr
Mahoosive doors
doors2 by M D Allen, on Flickr
i climbed these
stairs by M D Allen, on Flickr
to get this shot
doors by M D Allen, on Flickr
before playing this
me by M D Allen, on Flickr
then using warp speed to leave
Warpspeed by M D Allen, on Flickr
if your in the area you should visit, its hard to show the scale and size of this building...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattdonut/sets/72157626841675678/
The man who headed up the enterprise for the Shorts Company was a young man by the name of Claude Lipscomb. At 29, Claude had already served his apprenticeship at Woolwich Arsenal but had joined Shorts at the outbreak of the war in 1914 attracted by the prospect of technological advancement in the new aviation world. Claude set up his first drawing office in a loft of the coach repair shop in Bedford. Having been attacked by Zeppelin Raiders that September and with the threat of the new Super Zeppelins, agreement was reached to develop our own ships. With its gentle prevailing wind, the site of farmland south west of Bedford and the site of Cardington was chosen.
Internal Dimensions:
Length: 812 ft
Width: 180 ft
Height: 157 ft
Total weight of steel: 4,000 tons
some pictures from me
some idea of the scale my missus is in the middle of this pic
small by M D Allen, on Flickr
huge by M D Allen, on Flickr
not really rubbish as i like their tyres
goodyear by M D Allen, on Flickr
Mahoosive doors
doors2 by M D Allen, on Flickr
i climbed these
stairs by M D Allen, on Flickr
to get this shot
doors by M D Allen, on Flickr
before playing this
me by M D Allen, on Flickr
then using warp speed to leave
Warpspeed by M D Allen, on Flickr
if your in the area you should visit, its hard to show the scale and size of this building...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattdonut/sets/72157626841675678/
