Rnas Howden

Ruins

What is recorded here

RNAS Howden was built in 1916 as an airship base protecting east-coast shipping from German submarines. It later hosted the fatal R38 trials and the private R100 programme, where Barnes Wallis and Nevil Shute worked before the R101 disaster ended Britain's commercial airship plans.

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What this place is

The remains mark a naval and later air-force station with immense hangars, workshops and flying ground near Howden. It opened in March 1916 and sent non-rigid airships on patrol over shipping routes and the North Sea.

People and events

Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force crews served here, though Howden airships never directly engaged a submarine. In 1921 the American-bound R38 broke apart after taking off from Howden, killing 45 of 49 aboard; later Barnes Wallis and Nevil Shute worked on R100.

How it was used

Patrol airships watched for submarines and then supported post-war mine clearance. Vickers' Airship Guarantee Company used the station to design, build and test R100, whose first flight left Howden in December 1929.

What survives

The station closed after the R101 disaster destroyed support for commercial airships in 1930. The great sheds have gone, but the airfield's surviving structures and ground plan mark a site once containing one of the world's largest covered spaces.

Why it mattered

Howden joins wartime maritime protection, international airship trials, engineering ambition and two fatal limits of the technology. Decisions made after R38 and R101 helped end Britain's attempt to create a long-distance civil airship fleet.