Welsh UFO sightings from 1907. For sightings from other years please click HERE.
PRESS
Sunday 1st December 1907
IFO: early airship over Wales...
La Patrie, as summed up by Wikipedia, "was a semi-rigid airship built for the French army in Moisson, France, by sugar producers Lebaudy Frères. Designed by Henri Julliot, Lebaudy's chief engineer, the Patrie was completed in November 1906 and handed over to the military the following month. The Patrie bears the distinction of being the first airship ordered for military service by the French army."
After various successful tests the ship was moved to her very own operational base in Verdun, near the German border. Due to a mechanical fault she was put in temporary moorings on November 29th - then a storm on the night of Sunday November 30th resulted in the ship breaking free and being carried away by the wine, despite the efforts of some 200 soldiers. By dawn of December 1st La Patrie was sighted over Wales.
The Cambrian of December 6th described one of the first sightings. "SWANSEA NIGHT WATCHMAN'S GLIMPSE. CIGAR-SHAPED OBJECT OVER BRYN-MILL. The balloon's course, it appears, took it over Swansea. Chas. Morgan, night watchman, in the employ of the Swansea Corporation, was on duty at Brynmill, where some pipe-laying is in progress, on Sunday morning. At about quarter past seven he was somewhat surprised to see a cigar shaped balloon, travelling in the direction of Llanelly. 'It, was a light morning,' said Morgan to one of our reporters, 'and I saw it from Park-place, Brynmill. It was going over the Singleton Grounds, and was travelling at a fair pace. It was a good distance up, and I watched it for about twenty minutes.' "Anybody in it!" 'I could not tell that, but the shape was like a big cigar, about the size of my watch- box - that is about six feet long. I called the attention of several people to it.'"
The Cardiff Times of December 7th reported on the ship's continued journey across Welsh skies. At "about 7 a.m. Mr William John, the under-manager of the Waunhir Colliery, Trimsaran, reported having seen a large airship flying over Trimsaran. The same was also witnessed by some two dozen repairers and labourers engaged at the colliery. Mr John describes the airship as a big balloon shaped like an old fashioned boiler with rounded ends, and having a large car hanging below it. It was not light enough to see the occupants of the car or the details of the propellers or steering gear. The ship was some half a mile distant from the point were Mr John stood, and it travelled in a north-westerly direction at the rate of about 8 miles an hour. The airship was subsequently seen passing to the east of Kidwelly and under the Wenallt in the direction of Carmarthen."
At about 7:30 it was over Llanelly. "It travelled at a high alititude. When right over the town, which of course is near the sea, the airship, which had been going at great speed, descended some scores of feet, and people were running in the direction of the place where it seemed likely to alight. It, however, came to a standstill in midair, and changed its course away from the sea towards Five Roads."
"Our Carmarthen correspondent says: At twenty minutes before eight o'clock on Sunday morning the residents of Carmarthen district were astonished to see an air-ship passing with great velocity over Carmarthen borough. The hour was naturally a quiet one, and consequently spectators were few. These mainly comprised policemen, postmen, boy vendors of newspapers, milk carriers, and early churchgoers. Although when seen by the naked eye the airship looked only like a big cigar, still, with a good marine glass, the heads of some three or four occupants, it was said, could be distinctly seen.
A county constable informed the representative that the airship came gliding along nicely, but swiftly, over Penbryn, the residence of the late Sir Lewis Morris, the poet, and when coming from the direction of Carmarthen Junction one of the manipulators of the ship released a carrier pigeon. The altitude was so great that the pigeon, which was a mere speck on the horizon, was soon lost to view. Several people say that two airships were seen. However that may be, one was seen passing with great rapidity over Penllwyn Park, apparently endeavouring to escape Carmarthen Bay. Others state that an airship at the same hour was seen going in the direction of the Travellers' Rest, an inn on the St. Clear's road, and near the racecourse. It was then generally conjectured that the airship was taking a course hither from Pembroke Dock or Fishguard, and that it was either from France or our war balloon, Investigator or Surveyor."
A Boncath correspondent says: "At about 8 o'clock a large air-ship passed over Boncath, from the direction of Carmarthen. It was at the time I saw it about 300 yards from the earth, and I could see the frame, and the machinery in motion. I watched its progress for at least 30 miles. It seemed at times as if it were going to make a descent, and it seemed that when St. George's Channel came to view the air-ship became stationary, and was manoeuvred. The vessel afterwards rose to a considerable height, and left the Cardigan coast for the open sea. The vessel was of khaki colour, and was sailing with the wind."
By 8:15 a.m. the balloon was over Cardigan. "Our Cardigan correspondent says:—A large airship passed over the town of Cardigan about 8.15 on Sunday morning, almost in, the direction south to north. It was of a light-brown colour, and, being at a moderate altitude, the car was plainly visible. There was very little wind going, and the balloon passed slowly towards Cardigan Bay." A wire from Beulah, Cardiganshire, says:— "Airship passed over here, going north-west towards sea, 8.30 a-m."
The ship was afterwards sighted over Ireland, passing over Belfast and then Killyleigh, County Down, at 13:30. The Patrie continued northwards, where the last sighting was reported by Captain Buchanan of the steamship Olivine at latitude 58°N near the Hebrides, after which she was lost without a trace. The discrepancies in sightings - one or two balloons, occupants or no occupants - prove that investigators of strange things in the sky have never had a straightforward time of it!
Here is a picture of Patrie leaving her hangar for the last time on November 29th 1907:
Back in October, Baden-Powell gave a lecture at Cory Hall to the Cardiff Young Men's Christian Association on ballooning and flying machines. He illustrated it with numerous slides of La Patrie, the Zeppelin, and the British military balloon. The Evening Express of October 22nd reported that "the lecturer said be was very anxious to see the British public take an interest in the important subject of aerial navigation, so that at least England might be on equal terms with other nations who were showing great enterprise in that direction. There was not the slightest doubt that aerial navigation was to be a factor of vast importance in Imperial defence."
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