IT'S small wonder that the airship which passed over St Helens during the 1930s leaves an enduring memory still for those old-timers who witnessed it.

For according to one correspondent, joining in on an airborne theme that has drifted through this column for the past few weeks, it was almost the length of two rugby pitches.

Responding to earlier views on the blimpish subject, Kevin Heneghan of North Road, St Helens, writes: "I also saw the huge silver airship, flying over Blackbrook Canal. The year was 1930 and that airship was the R100 - the sister ship, though different in design, of the ill-fated R101".

Amazing

Kevin believes it was built at Cardington in 1929 by the Airship Guarantee Company, whose chief calculator was later to achieve fame as the novelist Nevil Shute. He crossed the Atlantic to Montreal twice in her.

Now come some amazing statistics.

"The R100 was 707ft long, while R101 was 724ft, so each was nearly twice the length of the Saints' pitch. Both held five million cubic feet of gas and had dining, sleeping and recreational space for 100 passengers".

R101 was powered by five 650 horse power diesel engines, and its sister ship similarly.

The R101 crashed and exploded into a fireball on a hillside at Beauvais, France, on October 5, 1930, during a flight to India during heavy rain. Forty-four passengers and crew were killed, including Air Secretary Lord Thomson.

Only eight people survived, and after the tragedy the R100 was dismantled, with further airship development abandoned.

Reader A. J. Coburn from Cedar Close, Whiston, also confirms that the mighty airship over St Helens was the R100. He was about eight at the time.

"It flew right over my head while I was sitting on the backyard midden at 48 Claughton Street.

A. J. watched its graceful flight over Greenall's brewery, over the old mining school (now site of the law courts) and the Capitol Cinema, heading for Moss Bank.

"I believe its destination was Blackpool and it was a fantastic experience for me at the time".

Others who vividly remember the airship sighting include two St Helens ladies.

M. Gaffney spotted it passing over Fingerpost, and Elsie Corns, a girl at the time, saw it drift over St Thomas's school.

H THANKS to all who responded to this sky-high topic.