Rigid Airship R.31 damaged in the air, further damaged while stored at Howden.

I would direct anyone with an interest in airships in the UK to the website "www.airshipsonline.com" which has a vast amount of information on this and every British airship including the R.31. The R.31 was constructed at Cardington earlier in 1918 and some issues that appeared during tested prevented it being commissioned until November 1918. It was a rigid airship with the rigid girder parts made from plywood and glue. The basic details of this incident are that on 6th November 1918 the R.31 was due to be flown from Cardington to East Fortune which was to be its operational base. During the flight north it flew into a storm. The airship had access within the balloon itself and it was noticed that the wooden girders were beginning to show signs of failure. As a precaution, the captain decided to head to Howden and it moored there. The crew later headed to East Fortune, probably by train. The R.31 was taken into what were still damaged sheds at Howden.

(Possible) Captain - "S/Ldr W C Hincks".

Rest of crew - Names unknown.

The sheds were damaged in a huge fire in August 1916 that saw the destruction of several other airships and the repairs to the sheds were not complete by November 1918. Days later the armistice came and the whole airship programme was shelved that saw the R.31 being left in the sheds and anyone connected with it being posted elsewhere. By the time someone remembered it was there the leaking roof combined with the winter weather had seen significant water ingress to the airship's wood and caused the glue on the joints to fail. It was then assessed and deleted from stock. The wood appears to have been sold off as fire wood to a coal merchant but as it had been treated with a fireproofing chemical it didn't burn very well.