Polegate Airship Crash 22nd December 1917

[flash]

Funny how you find things out - I was invigilating an exam in a library today when a book caught my eye - Disasters in Sussex - I sneaked a peak and found that one of them was an airship crash in Polegate just down the road from me on 22nd December 1917. I didn't even know there was an RNAS Airship Station there !
The following exerpt is from a narrative entitled 'RNAS AIRSHIP MEMORIES - INITIATIVE AND GALLANTRY IN ANTI SUBMARINE OPERATIONS OF THE 1914-18 WAR' By M. J. Golightly appeared in 'Flight', 10 June 1960. from this site: http://sussexhistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=186.0

...."The wonderful flying year of 1917 was drawing to a close when it was marred by a fatality and chapter of accidents on the night of December 22. Five ships had left during the forenoon for patrol of the English Channel. The weather was sunny but hazy. Suddenly, at about 3 p.m. the perfect winter afternoon was obscured by a dense black fog which came down from the northeast with less than five minutes' warning. All ships were recalled to base, but although they could be heard above the dark pall which enveloped the station, not one of them could be seen. The pilots therefore decided, in accordance with previous orders, to head for the open country. S.S. Z6 landed safely in a field north of Hailsham; Z10 and Z9 put down near Jevington; Z7 and Z19 landed near the coast guard station at Beachy Head. By this time the ground was thick with snow. About 8 p.m. a fresh wind sprang up from the east, the fog lifted from the air station, and it was decided that in view of the possibility of the wind reaching gale force, and of the impossibility of holding the ships out in the open, they should fly back to base. Z7 and Z19 were the first to leave. It was thought that the pilots must have mistaken for the Polegate base the Aldis lamps used to illuminate the ships on the ground at Jevington. The lifting mist, coupled with the snow and silvery moonlight, evidently deceived the pilot of S.S. Z7 (Lt R. Swallow, RN) for he attempted to land and struck Z10, ripping her envelope. It is thought that seeing his mistake he then opened his throttle and tried to climb quickly, but the flames from his exhaust ignited the escaping hydrogen from Z10, causing both ships to burst into flame. Z7 rose to about 400ft and then came down alight from end to end. The pilot was killed instantly, and the other two of the crew-members were found severely injured. With the utmost gallantry, the crew of Z10, finding it impossible to move the injured men, detached the now almost red-hot high-explosive bombs from the burning ship and carried them away to safety, knowing full well that they might explode at any moment. On the recommendation of the C-in-C Portsmouth, both were awarded the Albert Medal in Gold. Meanwhile the senior flying officer, thinking that the crew of S.S. Z10 were still in the burning wreckage, dashed to the spot to rescue them. On reaching the car he found the crew had escaped, but before he could get clear of the ship both bombs exploded, blowing off his right arm. For his gallant action he was awarded the Albert Medal in Bronze. The whole of the personnel of the station were shocked and stunned by these losses, but a magnificent example was set by the commanding officer, Wg Cdr Ivor Fraser, who decided to take one of the remaining ships left intact on the station for a fly round. This act appeared to break the spell of depression."

This is a slightly different account from the one I found but you get the gist of what occurred.



This is a composite shot of how an airship would look at one of the tether points in the lee of the Downs from this blog:
http://momodem1.blogspot.co.uk/2012/...1914-1919.html