I wonder if I might correct some of the information about the Cardington airship station given by Steve Slater in his September Hangar Talk? It is not in fact the two sheds that celebrate their centenary this year but the Cardington site, which was initially identified by Short Brothers in 1916 as a suitable location for an airship factory when the company won an Admiralty contract for two rigid airships. What is now shed 1, in which R101 was constructed, was completed in 1917, together with other parts of the works including the impressive administration block (now known as the Shorts Building). The Short Brothers undertaking was nationalised in April 1920 and subsequently became the Royal Airship Works (RAW). Although shed 1 was used for construction, the main workshops of the RAW were located behind the administration block.
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