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Cardington

Post your logs, movements and information for airports in central England - the Midlands and East Anglia.
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Terry
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Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2010 5:38 pm

Cardington

Post by Terry » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:46 pm

Just for something a little ( :???: ) different. Heres a pic of the (still extant) 2 airship hangars at Cardington.

Image

These were built for the R100 & ill fated R101. Read the author Neville Shute's autobiography for more fascinating information.
(His full name was Neville Shute Norway )

If you want to see them on Google maps, they are just south of Cardington village near Bedford. ( hard to miss :lol: )

Have fun
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

wezgulf3
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Re: Cardington

Post by wezgulf3 » Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:56 pm

And one of them has Gotham City inside!! which im sure wasnt planned when they was built!!

Wes..

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old_git
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Re: Cardington

Post by old_git » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:01 am

I hope these get saved from demolition.

i heard that one was in good nick, but the second was falling apart and may get demolished on safety grounds.

They are icons of the Airship era and really should get the grants they need to maintain them.

thanks for posting, i really should get over and have a look at them, do you need a passport for Gotham city. :whistle:

i've read Shute's book on the airships, and its a real eye opener, typical British cocking up a large project or 2, although he's a bit bitter that his airship was canned as a result of the Beauvais crash.

A bit in the book that really stands out to me was the description of the crews walking and sitting about on top of the airship whilst she was flying.
Regards G-EOFF

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beech19a
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Re: Cardington

Post by beech19a » Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:37 pm

That really is a nice photo. I like looking at the Cardington hangars. They are so historical and its amazing to see how big they are!
A few weeks ago I went formation flying with a friend of mine. On our way back to Cranfield we took it in turns flying the Beech 19a musketeer around a virgin balloon and took pics. I only take photos for fun (so quality isnt always good) but heres one I took with the Cardington hangars in the background :)

Image

EGVP
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Re: Cardington

Post by EGVP » Wed Jul 14, 2010 10:22 am

For future reference, does anyone know the possibility of being able to get up-close-and-personal with these hangars? I.e. Who owns them and what public access around/near them is like?

Terry
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Re: Cardington

Post by Terry » Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:09 pm

Hi Chris
I thought they were owned by one of the museums , Science or Imperial War, for storage, but Google says I am wrong.

http://googlesightseeing.com/2006/04/ca ... n-hangars/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.aht.ndirect.co.uk/sheds/Cardington.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have fun
Terry
I got a little black book with me poems in

EGVP
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Re: Cardington

Post by EGVP » Wed Jul 14, 2010 1:58 pm

Cheers Terry, will do some reasearch and then I may make some enquiries, I'd love to get some photos in the sheds!

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old_git
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Re: Cardington

Post by old_git » Wed Jul 14, 2010 4:52 pm

Its amazing the way these hangars came about really.

They were built originally at some naval dockyard then moved to Cardington for the R101 and R100 programmes.

And as you can see from the excellent photo's the ropey looking one had its roof raised by 30 odd feet.

I understand you can get access to the hangars depending on when you go and what is occurring. The one maintained in good nick is on lease to the film company for set use and you probably won't get in there.

The other is supposedly accessable with the right people in place on the day.

Geoff
Regards G-EOFF

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EGVP
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Re: Cardington

Post by EGVP » Wed Jul 14, 2010 8:04 pm

Will make inquiries, it's certainly not something I'll be doing immediately, but in the future :)

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