British Airships - 1918 And A Few Australians
Author
F S Wright
Subject or historical figure
Sir Lionel Hooke
(Australian, 1895 - 1974)
Date1974
Object number00056176
NamePublication
MediumPaper
DimensionsOverall (including folder): 274 × 205 mm
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineAustralian National Maritime Museum Collection Gift from Maria Teresa Savio Hooke OAM
DescriptionEssay titled 'British Airships - 1918 And A few Australians' by FS Wright, consisting of 15 pages featuring three photos of Sea Scout Zero airships, Coastal Patrol airships in flight and at RNAS bases and a cross section of a coastal patrol airship.
F.S. Wright was one of 23 Australians from the Australian Flying Corps that transferred to the RNAS during World War One. Wright served as a ranker and mechanic working on the ground to support RNAS airships and in this essay relates his experiences of serving at air bases Mullion and mentions Lionel Hooke as Commanding Officer at Bude.
HistoryF.S. Wright was one of twenty three Australians from the Australian Flying Corps that transferred to the RNAS during World War One. Wright served as a ranker and mechanic working on the ground to support RN airships, and in this essay relates his experiences of serving at air bases Mullion. Wright mentions Lionel Hooke on page three of the essay:
“While I am writing of Bude, I did not know that the CO was an Australian. It was only in the 1960s having made the acquaintance of the late Sir Lionel Hooke of Sydney that a casual remark about airships led to the discovery that he was CO whilst I was there. At a subsequent meeting Sir Lionel produced some of his airship photos, and one was of a wreck of two SS airships in a storm at Bude. As I remember that photo the ship were impaled on and entangled in the nearby trees. Re Sir Lionel, I learnt that he had, before War 1, been in the Antarctic with Shackleton as balloon expert.”
SignificanceF.S Wright’s essay provides an interesting comparison to Hooke’s photographic documents, Wright a land based mechanic and Hooke an airship pilot. The essay also has important detail on the history of the RNAS and the technical components of both the Sea Scout Zero and Coastal Class airships. Wright’s cross section drawing of a Coastal Class airship is particularly significant. 
