Primary Sources
Private papers of Wing Commander Neville F. Usborne (Kilbracken Family Archive).
Files in the AIR, ADM, Cab and CID series held at the National Archive Kew.
ADM/196/47
ADM 1/8621 (7.6.14)
ADM 1/8378 (1.7.14)
ADM 167/55 (26.10.1918)
AIR 1/275 (26.3.1918)
AIR 1/796/204/4/924
AIR 1/627/17/100
AIR 1/669/17/122/792
AIR 1/168/15/226/5
AIR 1/240/15/226/69
AIR 1/2564
AIR 1/2626
AIR 1/2633
AIR 1/2639
AIR 3/1
AIR 3/3
AIR 3/6
AIR 3/7
Cab 38/22/32 (30.7.12)
Cab 38/22/42 (6.12.12)
Cab 38/23/9 (6.2.13)
Cab 38/15/3 (23.10.08)
Cab 37/119/47 (20.3.14)
Cab 37/121/125 (16.10.14)
Cab 37/123 (1.1.15)
CID 179B Cab.38/24/21 (7.6.13)
CID 190B Cab.38/27/22 (9.5.14)
CID 172B Cab. 38/23/11 (Feb 1912)
CID 106B (28.1.09)
Appendix 3 to CID 137B Cab 38/19/60 (11 July 1911)
Files held at the RAF Museum Hendon, particularly Airship Experimental Report 1915, the Royal Aero Club Collection and, Price, Gilbert Holland, The Innocent Erk – RNAS and RAF Memoirs – unpublished manuscript held in the RAF Museum archives.
RNAS Pilot’s Flying Logbook – Lieutenant A.H. Crump, RAF
RNAS Pilot’s Flying Logbook – Flight Sub-Lieutenant B.W. Hemsley, RN
Airship Logbook SS20
Handbook of SS Type Airships. Compiled by the Instructional Staff at the Airship Deport, Wormwood Scrubs, 1917
Journals and Newspapers
Arden-Close, Colonel Sir Charles, The Use of Balloons in War 1784–1902 (The Royal Engineers Journal, March 1942)
Beaumont, Captain F., On Balloon Reconnaissances – as practised by the American Army (Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol xii, New Series, 1862)
Bruce, J.M., The Birth of Military Aviation Part 1, the RFC before World War 1 (Air Pictorial, May 1987)
Chilton, Edward, Rear Admiral Sir Murray Sueter, CB (Cross & Cockade Vol 15, No 2, 1984)
Cross, Captain J.R., British Military Ballooning (The Army Air Corps Journal, 1980)
Dunn, Michael J., James Templer and the Birth of British Military Aviation (RAFHS Journal 55, 2013)
Edge, Brian, HMA No 1 (Dirigible No 52, Autumn 2007)
Elmhirst, Air Marshal Sir Thomas, First Across the Irish Sea (Aerostat Vol.8, No.1, 1977)
Fletcher, Lieutenant J.N., Detailed report on a trip from Larkhill to Farnborough 12.8.12. (via Nigel Caley)
Geoghegan, John J. III, Watery Grave of the Sparrowhawks: An inside look at the Navy’s first parasitic fighter (Flight Journal, August 2008)
Goddard, Air Marshal Sir Victor, The Black Ship (Cross & Cockade Vol 12, No 4, 1981)
Goodall, M., The RNAS Order of Battle, August 2, 1914 (Cross & Cockade Vol 3, No 4, 1972)
Grossnick, Roy A., Kite Balloons to Airships: the Navy’s Lighter-than-Air Experience (Washington, DC, no date)
Grover, Lieutenant G.E., On the Uses of Balloons in Military Operations (Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol xii, New Series, 1862)
Grover, Lieutenant G.E., On Reconnoitring Balloons (Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers Vol xii, New Series, 1862)
Guttman, John, First Military Aviator (Aviation History, November 2012)
Jackson, Robert, Airships in the war against the U-boats (The Rolls-Royce Magazine, September 1992)
Jarrett, Philip, At the drop of a Camel (Cross & Cockade Vol 7, No 3, 1977)
Jarrett, Philip, Camel Droppings (Aeroplane, May 2011)
Keillor, Lynn, Hitch Hikers Ten Aircraft that owed it all to their motherships (Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2012)
Knight, Charles, War Ballooning (Strand Magazine 1895)
Layman, R.D., Dirigibles, Airships, Zeppelins and Blimps (Relevance – The Quarterly Journal of The Great War Society, Winter 1996)
Masterman, Air Commodore, E.A.D., Airship Pioneers (The Airship No 3, 1934)
Montgomery, Bob, Flight Lines (Flying in Ireland, June 2009)
Morrow, John H. jr, Expectation and Reality: The Great War in the Air (Airpower Journal, Winter 1996)
Mottram, Graham, The Early Days of the RNAS (Cross & Cockade Vol 10, No 3, 1979)
Mottram, Graham, The Royal Naval Air Service (Cross & Cockade Vol 31, No 3, 2000)
Mowthorpe, Ces (greatly assisted by Cooke, D.), Howden Airship Station 1916–1930 (Cross & Cockade Vol 10, No 4, 1979)
Nugent, Edward E., The Forgotten Blimps of World War II (The Naval Aviation Museum Foundation Magazine, Spring 1995)
O’Grady, Kent, Britain’s Rigid Airships (Aerostation Vol 27, No 1, Spring 2004)
Rumerman, Judy, Lighter-than-air Airships in WWII (US Government Centennial of Flight Essay, 2003)
Sanger, Ray, Clive Maitland Waterlow (Cross & Cockade Vol 34, No 4, 2003)
Sharples, Wing Commander Simeon, Leadership: Followership (Spirit of the Air, Vol 3, Nos 5 & 6, 2008)
Skelton, Marvin L., Edward M. Maitland (Cross & Cockade Vol 10, No 1, 1979)
Slocombe, K., Blimps – Notes on the British Non-rigid Airships (Cross & Cockade Vol 4, No 1, 1973)
Smith, Richard K., Trapeze Artists: The US Navy’s ZRS4 & 5 HTA Unit (Air Pictorial, December 1963)
Thetford, Owen, 50 Years of British Naval Aviation (Flight Deck, Autumn 1958)
Turpin, Brian J., Coastal Patrol Airships 1915–18 (Cross & Cockade Vol 10, No 3, 1979)
Watson, Colonel C.M., Military Ballooning in the British Army (Royal Engineers Institute, Occasional Papers, Vol XXVIII, 1902)
Wright, Peter, The RNAS Airship Service and the Air Construction Corps Parts I, II & III (Cross & Cockade Vol 32, No 4, 2001; Vol 33, No 1, 2002; Vol 33, No 2, 2002)
Belfast Evening Telegraph: 22 July 1899, 12 August 1899, 2 December 1907, 3 December 1907
Cork Examiner: 9 July 1925
Daily Chronicle: 20 October 1913
Flight Magazine: 26 June 1909, 15 January 1910, 25 June 1910, 16 July 1910, 30 July 1910, 17 September 1910, 24 September 1910, 1 October 1910, 22 October 1910, 5 November 1910, 12 November 1910, 21 January 1911, 28 January 1911, 4 February 1911, 18 March 1911, 25 March 1911, 13 May 1911, 27 May 1911, 1 July 1911, 5 August 1911, 12 August 1911, 16 September 1911, 23 September 1911, 30 September 1911, 7 November 1911, 25 November 1911, 3 February 1912, 9 March 1912, 27 April 1912, 1 June 1912, 8 June 1912, 25 June 1912, 12 August 1912, 24 August 1912, 12 October 1912, 19 October 1912, 23 November 1912, 7 December 1912, 14 December 1912, 25 January 1913, 1 February 1913, 8 February 1913, 1 March 1913, 8 March 1913, 15 March 1913, 29 March 1913, 5 April 1913, 17 May 1913, 6 June 1913, 5 July 1913, 26 July 1913, 23 August 1913, 30 August 1913, 13 September 1913, 20 September 1913, 27 September 1913, 11 October 1913, 1 November 1913, 13 December 1913, 28 February 1914, 11 April 1914, 24 July 1914, 25 September 1914, 25 December 1914, 30 April 1915, 24 February 1916, 15 September 1921, 22 July 1920, 14 December 1956.
Irish Times: 29 June 1859, 5 July 1859, 7 August 1861, 7 December 1861, 16 June 1862, 1 October 1870, 6 October 1870, 17 December 1881, 6 September 1884, 16 September 1884, 20 September 1884, 30 September 1884, 20 November 1884, 12 March 1885, 26 March 1885, 4 April 1885, 11 September 1907, 4 October 1907, 7 October 1907, 9 October 1907, 28 July 1908, 4 August 1908, 13 March 1909, 2 April 1909, 5 April 1909, 21 April 1909, 22 July 1909, 3 August 1909, 14 February 1910, 16 March 1910, 4 May 1910, 11 June 1910, 13 July 1910, 14 July 1910, 26 September 1910, 5 October 1910, 5 May 1911, 18 October 1911, 27 May 1913, 13 June 1913, 18 June 1913, 27 June 1913, 24 July 1913, 9 July 1925, 18 July 1925, 23 April 1928.
Larne Times: 5 September 1986.
The Lifeboat: May 1920.
Morning Post: 26 August 1909.
New York Times: 21 August 1913.
Northern Whig: 21 July 1899, 24 July 1899, 26 July 1899, 3 May 1919.
The Observer: 12 February 1911.
The Times: 24 August 1878, 1 November 1880, 13 December 1881, 13 October 1897, 26 December 1908, 22 February 1909, 22 March 1909, 7 April 1910, 19 October 1910, 27 February 1913, 20 August 1913, 4 October 1913, 9 October 1913, 10 October 1913, 24 October 1913, 31 December 1913, 10 January 1914, 24 February 1914, 23 February 1916, 5 November 1920, 31 August 1921, 8 July 1925, 6 March 1928, 20 May 1931, 10 October 1931, 1 February 1951, 28 August 1957, 17 March 1958.
Wigtown Free Press: articles by Donnie Nelson: 26 June 1986, 18 September 1986, 25 January 1996.
Books
Abbott, Patrick, Airships (Princes Risborough 1991)
Abbott, Patrick, The British Airship at War 1914–1918 (Lavenham 1989)
Abbott, Patrick and Walmsley, Nick, British Airships in Pictures (Trowbridge 1998)
Allen, Hugh, The Story of the Airship (Non-Rigid) (Chicago 1942)
Andrews, C.F. and Morgan, E.B., Vickers Aircraft since 1908 (London 1988)
Barker, Ralph, A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps in World War One (London 2002)
Barry, Michael, Great Aviation Stories Vol 1 (Fermoy 1993)
Bartlett, C.J., Great Britain and Sea Power 1815–1853 (Oxford 1963)
Beauchamp, K.G., History of Telegraphy (London 2001)
Bell Davies, Vice Admiral Richard, VC, Sailor in the Air (Barnsley 2008)
Bilbé, Tina, Kingsnorth Airship Station (Stroud 2013)
Blundell, W.D.G., Royal Navy Battleships 1895–1946 (New Malden 1973)
Botting, Douglas, Dr Eckener’s Dream Machine (London 2002)
Brett, Dallas, R., History of British Aviation 1908–14 (London 1933)
Broke-Smith, Brigadier P.W.L., The History of Early British Military Aeronautics (London 1952)
Bruce, J.M., Britain’s First Warplanes (Poole 1987)
Bruce, J.M., Short 184 (Berkhamsted 2001)
Burge, Squadron Leader C.G., The Complete Book of Aviation (London 1935)
Campbell, Christy, Band of Brigands (London 2008)
Campbell, Christopher, Aces and Aircraft of World War One (Blandford 1981)
Castle, Ian, British Airships 1905–30 (Oxford 2009)
Castle, Ian, London 1914–17: The Zeppelin Menace (Oxford 2008)
Churchill, Winston S., The Great War (London 1933)
Connon, Peter, An Aeronautical History of the Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway Region (Part II) (Penrith 1984)
Connon, Peter, In the Shadow of the Eagle’s Wings – Aviation in Cumbria 1825–1914 (Penrith, 1982)
Cooper, Peter J., Farnborough: 100 Years of British Aviation (Hinckley 2006)
Cork & Orrery, Admiral of the Fleet The Earl of, My Naval Life 1886–1941 (London 1942)
Cunningham of Hyndhope, Admiral of the Fleet Viscount, A Sailor’s Odyssey (London 1951)
Davy, M.J.B., Lighter-Than-Air-Craft (London 1934)
Dennehy, Rev. Henry Edward, The History of Great Island (Cork 1990)
De Syon, Guillaume, Zeppelin! Germany and the Airship, 1900–1939 (Baltimore 2002)
Dixon, Conrad, Ships of the Victorian Navy (Southampton 1987)
Elmhirst, Air Marshal Sir Thomas, Recollections of, (London 1991)
Farrar-Hockley, General Sir Anthony, The Army in the Air (Stroud 1994)
Finnis, Bill, The History of the Fleet Air Arm From Kites to Carriers (Shrewsbury 2000)
Gambier Parry, Major E., Suakin 1885: Being a Sketch of the Campaign of this year (London 1886)
Gibson, Mary, Warneford VC (Yeovilton 1979)
Gleeson, Joe, Irish Aviators of World War 1: Volume 1 (North Charleston 2012)
Gollin, Alfred, The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government, 1909–14 (Stanford 1989)
Grant, R.G., Flight: 100 Years of Aviation (London 2004)
Gray, Edwin, A Damned Un-English Weapon (London 1973)
Green, Rod, The Illustrated History of the Army Air Corps (Middle Wallop 2008)
Grey, C.G., Sea-Flyers (London 1942)
Hall, Malcolm, From Balloon to Boxkite (Stroud 2010)
Hampshire, Cecil, A., A Short History of the Royal Navy (London 1971)
Harper, Harry, My Fifty Years in Flying (London 1956)
Hartcup, Gary, The Achievement of the Airship (Newton Abbot 1974)
Harvey, Robert, Cochrane: the Life and Exploits of a Fighting Captain (London 2002)
Haslam, E.B., The History of Royal Air Force Cranwell (London 1982)
Hayes, K.E., A History of the RAF and USNAS in Ireland 1913–1923 (Dublin 1988)
Hayward, Roger, The Fleet Air Arm in Camera 1912–1996 (Stroud 1998)
Herrmann, David G., The Arming of Europe and the Making of the First World War (Princeton 1997)
Higham, R., The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931 (London 1961)
Hildebrandt, A., Airships Past & Present (London 1908)
Hodgson, J.E., The History of Aeronautics in Great Britain (Oxford 1924)
Huntford, Roland, Shackleton (London 1996)
Huntford, Roland, The Last Place on Earth (London 1985)
Jackson, A.J., De Havilland Aircraft since 1909 (London 1987)
Jackson, Robert, Army Wings: A History of Army Air Observation Flying 1914–1960 (Barnsley 2006)
Jefford, Wing Commander C.G., RAF Squadrons (Shrewsbury 1994)
Johnston, E.A., Airship Navigator (Stroud 1994)
Kent, Barrie H., Signal! A History of Signalling in the Royal Navy (London 2004)
Kilbracken, John, Bring back my Stringbag (Barnsley 1996)
Killen, John, A History of Marine Aviation (London 1969)
Lambert, Andrew, Admirals (London 2008)
Layman, R.D., Before the Aircraft Carrier (London 1989)
Leland, Mary, That Endless Adventure: A History of the Cork Harbour Commissioners (Cork 2001)
Longmore, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur, From Sea to Sky (London 1946)
Mackworth-Praed, Ben, Aviation: the Pioneer Years (London 1990)
Macmillan, Norman, Sefton Brancker (London 1925)
Magnello, Eileen, A Century of Measurement (Bath 2000)
Marder, A.J., From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume 1 (Oxford 1961)
Mason, Francis K., The British Fighter since 1912 (London 1992)
Massie, Robert K., Dreadnought (London 2004)
McKinty, Alec, The Father of British Airships: A Biography of E.T. Willows (London 1972)
Mead, Gary, The Good Soldier: The Biography of Douglas Haig (London 2008)
Mead, Peter, The Eye in the Air (London 1983)
Mowthorpe, Ces, Battlebags: British Airships of the First World War (Stroud 1998)
O’Riordan, Patrick, Portraiture of Cork Harbour Commissioners (Profiles of Cork Harbour Commissioners 1814-1997) (Cork 2014)
Oughton, Frederick, The Aces (London 1961)
Pack, Captain S.W.C., Britannia at Dartmouth (London 1966)
Palmer, A.W., A Dictionary of Modern History (Harmondsworth 1971)
Palmer, Alan, The Penguin Dictionary of Twentieth Century History 1900–1978 (Harmondsworth 1979)
Penrose, Harald, British Aviation: the Pioneer Years (London 1967)
Poolman, Kenneth, Zeppelins over England (London 1960)
Probert, Air Commodore Henry, High Commanders of the Royal Air Force (London 1991)
Raleigh, W. and Jones, A.H., The War in the Air (London 1922)
Reynolds, Quentin, They Fought for the Sky (London 1960)
Robertson, Bruce, Aviation Enthusiast’s Data Book (Cambridge 1982)
Robertson, Bruce, The Army and Aviation (London 1981)
Rolt, L.T.C., Isambard Kingdom Brunel (London 1957)
Roskill, Captain S.W., Documents Relating to the Naval Air Service Volume I 1908–1918 (London 1969)
Saunders, Hilary St George, Per Ardua: The Rise of British Air Power 1911–1939 (London 1944)
Snowden Gamble, C.F., The Air Weapon Volume I (Oxford 1931)
Statham, Commander E.P., The Story of the ‘Britannia’ (London 1904)
Steel, Nigel and Hart, Peter, Tumult in the Clouds (London 1997)
Stephenson, Charles, Zeppelins: German Airships 1900–40 (Oxford 2004)
Sturtivant, Ray and Page, Gordon, Royal Navy Aircraft Serials and Units 1911–1919 (Tonbridge 1992)
Sueter, Rear Admiral Murray F., Airmen Or Noahs (London 1928)
Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M., United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 (Annapolis 1976)
Sykes, Major General Sir Frederick, From Many Angles (London 1942)
Taylor, M.J.H. and Mondey, D., Milestones of Flight (London 1983)
Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (London 1971)
Till, Geoffrey, Air Power and the Royal Navy (London 1979)
Trotter, Wilfrid Pym, The Royal Navy in Old Photographs (London 1975)
Turner, Major Charles Cyril, The Old Flying Days (London 1927)
Usborne, Vice Admiral C.V., Blast and Counterblast (London 1935)
Walker, Percy B., Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships (London 1971)
Walker, Percy B., Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume 2: The First Aeroplanes (London 1974)
Warner, Guy, Airships over the North Channel (Belfast 2005)
Warner, Guy, with Boyd, Alex, Army Aviation in Ulster (Newtownards 2004)
Williams, T.B., Airship Pilot No.28 (London 1974)
Websites
www.airshipsonline.com (Airship Heritage Trust)
www.geocities.com (U-boat war 1914–18)
www.gwpda.org/naval (German Admiralty Declaration 4 February 1915 and following events)
www.rafweb.org (Air of Authority: a History of RAF Organisation)