Barlow
BARLOW: Military/civil Airship Construction Station (also known as SELBY)
Military users: RFC/RAF & RNAS
(Royal Flying Corps, Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Service)
Note: But was any use, by them, made of this site for fixed wing aeroplanes?
Manufacturing: 1916 to 1920: Armstrong Whitworth – final assembly and test flying? Airships only?
Location: Roughly 2.5nm SE of Selby town centre
Period of operation: 1916 (some say 1915) to 1920
Site area: 880 acres 3438 x 2066
A MICHAEL T HOLDER GALLERY
We have Mike Holder, a great friend of this 'Guide', to thank for unearthing the pictures, maps and the newspaper report.
Photo One shows the airship shed under construction in 1916. Photo Two shows the R33 emerging. Both pictures from the Airship Heritage Trust.
This article, in three parts, was published in the Yorkshire Evening Post on the 3rd February 1919.
Photo Three shows the airship R.25. Photo Four shows the R.33 in its shed in March 1919. Both pictures also from the Airship Heritage Trust.
The Barlow village halls appear to be all that remains of the Royal Ordnance Depot located just south of the Airship Shed. The area view is from my Google Earth © derived database.
NOTES: The RFC/RAF & RNAS site was leased to Armstrong Whitworth who built the R25, R29 and R33 airships here.
From some sources it is claimed that before TOWN MOOR (TYNE & WEAR), aerodrome was in operation Armstrong-Whitworth had a “flying ground” at SELBY for final assembly and test flying of their fixed wing aircraft. But, was this on the airship site? It appears it was once mooted that manufacturing could have been transferred from Gosforth to Selby but this didn’t happen.
It does appear that BARLOW remained a site dedicated to airships and the aircraft department remained at GOSFORTH in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. If anybody can kindly offer advice on this, it will be much appreciated.
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