Thursday 27 April 2017

The mystery of the missing control car

Part of the project is to record any associated memorials or commemorative features associated with the two Royal Naval airship station in Wales.

The Llangefni airship station is detailed in T.B.Williams excellent resource, his personal recollections of British airships and his posting to Anglesey in 'Airship Pilot No28' during and after the Great War.

In the Postscript, page 197 - 198, Williams described the formation of the RNAS Anglesey Old Boy's Association, which met annually from 1920 until 17th April 1970.

He also recalls the meeting at Llangefni on December 6th, 1969 to unveil a plaque that had been installed in the entrance to Shire hall in the town.

Having contacted Anglesey County Council to inquire of the whereabouts of the plaque we were pleased to receive a few photos of it, still in-situ, from Gethin Jones, who manages the Anglesey County Council Facebook page.

(Image credit: Gethin Jones Ynys Mon C.C.2017)

Gethin kindly snapped the plaque with his camera phone to ensure we were discussing the correct plaque and show its condition.(above)

It was only a few days later after we had been sent a number of high definition images that we could see that the relief of SSZ34 was far from complete.

(Image credit: Gethin Jones Ynys Mon C.C.2017)

The control car is missing, however, you can still see the points where it had been fixed to the envelope and there is a faint ghost image on the board behind in a lighter shade!

In an attempt to solve the mystery we can ask:
  • Any chance it has been saved and put away elsewhere?
  • Has it been removed previously as a souvenir?
  • Was its loss ever noted and reported in the local press?
  • Would it be good to replace/restore the missing part for the centenary?