R101 Airship

[dunsbyowl1867]

Who would this have been - Wards?

"The wreck of the R101 lay where it had fallen until well into 1931, becoming a haunt for air accident investigators and day trippers who wanted to see the near perfect skeleton of the largest airship in the world. Scrap contractors from Sheffield who were specialists in stainless steel were employed to salvage what they could. It was noted in the records of the Zeppelin company that they purchased 5,000kgs of duraluminium from the wreckage for their own use. Whether this was for testing and analysis or to re-cast and use in the "Hindenburg", is open to further research and speculation."

[HughW]

Wards yes, but maybe not in Sheffield?!...

Britain's first modern recycling industry - shipbreaking - is examined in an exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Muck & Brass focuses on Thomas W Ward Ltd's scrap metal business activities at yards in Preston, Barrow and Morecambe when everything from battleships to cruise liners fell under the sledgehammer

...

But the firm did not just scrap old ships. Other assignments included disposing of the remains of the ill-fated airship R101, the gutted shell of London's Crystal Palace and recovering technically important material from the scuttled German pocket battleship Graf Spee. There are also several objects on display including mementoes of scrapped vessels and a piece of fabric from the R101

Merseyside Maritime Museum

Hugh