Cardington Hangars April 2011

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

Well this place has been done time and again, here is my slant. Anyone whose has driven the A421 and various other roads on the outskirts of Bedford will most certainly have noticed what at first glance appear to be 2 incredibly large sheds on a hill of to one side...welcome to the Cardington Hangars, built in the 1920's and rumoured to have cost the lives of 20 or so workers during construction these huge structures dominates the skyline and they still attract people from far and wide to view them from arms length.
Even when you see them from the perimeter fence you still unaware of their true size, and its not until you actually get right up next to them that you find yourself awestruck by the shear size.

Taken from Wikipedia
Cardington became one of the major British sites involved in the development of airships when Short Brothers bought land there to build airships for the Admiralty. They constructed a 700-foot-long (210 m) airship shed (the No. 1 Shed) in 1915 to enable them to build two rigid airships, the R-31 and the R-32. Some 800 people worked there in 1917, most of them travelled daily from Bedford[citation needed]. Shorts also built a housing estate, opposite the site, which they named Shortstown.
The airships site was nationalised in April 1919, becoming known as the Royal Airship Works.
In preparation for the R101 project the No 1 shed was extended between October 1924 and March 1926; its roof was raised by 35 feet and its length increased to 812 feet. The No. 2 shed (Southern shed), which had originally been located at RNAS Pulham, Norfolk, was dismantled in 1928 and re-erected at Cardington.
After the crash of the R101, in October 1930, all work stopped in Britain on airships. Cardington then became a storage station.
In 1936/1937 Cardington started building barrage balloons; and it became the No 1 RAF Balloon Training Unit.
For both airships and barrage balloons, Cardington manufactured its own hydrogen, in the Gas Factory, using the steam reforming process. In 1948 the Gas Factory became 279 MU (Maintenance Unit), RAF Cardington; and then, in 1955, 217 MU. 217 MU, RAF Cardington, produced all the gases used by the Royal Air Force until its closure in April 2000; including gas cylinder filling and maintenance.
The two airship sheds ceased being part of the RAF Cardington site in the late 1940s and they were put to other uses. The fence was moved, so they were outside the main RAF Cardington site.
For many years until around 2001, one of the sheds was used by the Building Research Establishment as a whole building test facility for the Cardington tests. Here, multi-storey steel, concrete and wooden buildings were constructed and then destructively tested within the huge space available. This shed was repainted and looked after in comparison with the other shed.
The buildings tests were mentioned during the course of the BBC series "The Conspiracy Files" as evidence in the controversy surrounding the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 on 11 September 2001

Many thanks to Skeleton Key, Mimi, Tstranger and Nelly for the trip....in more than one sense....onto the photos:

You can just about make out Mimi at the door gap which gives you an idea as to the size of the place

Unfortunately on my exit I seriously sprained my ankle and it pretty much ruined an otherwise great visit...I truely appreciate all my co-visitors for their help and concern.

MD · Apr 17, 2011

thats pretty impressive
nice to see some different shots too

skeleton key · Apr 17, 2011

Mr 7 was a great day exploring cut short unfortunatly with a leap in to space from yonder window
Which ended in a fail worthy of you tube.
Loving the pics mate and hope the ancle doesnt lie you up for too long as lots to do.

Lets not be making a habit of it lol.
I still think Nelly played a part in it somwhere..

SK / Neil

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

I blame the bunny rabbits for diggin' feckin holes...I mean why cant they just stay in the hutch us humans build them...

klempner69 · Apr 17, 2011

Great shots indeed..this was thee explore of last year for me and all down to Mr Key.

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

Hey Klemp...no denying SK is the main man...although he should be called Spider Monkey 'cos if its available to climb he is there climbing it...and sometimes even things that shouldn't be climbed are scaled by this man...the only fail I have seen from him was getting stuck in the brambles when he accidentally sat in them lol

Tstranger1066 · Apr 17, 2011

Really glad you got to see the hangars mate, was a good morning. Sorry the day was cut short for you, and hope you're feeling better!

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

Yea I am fine feels like I have a lump of concrete on the end of my leg...TBH not entirely sure where my ankle ends and my leg begins now the swelling is up lol

John_D · Apr 17, 2011

Driven past here several times.The hangers are very imposing. When I was going through my late fathers papers, a few years ago, I found his original RAF call up letter, dated 1940, telling him to report to Cardington, I assume that it was an ideal muster point for a large group of conscripts from all over the country, he was living in Louth at the time..

dizzydebs · Apr 17, 2011

Sounds like you have far too much fun on yr explores I'm jealous!! Lol

fluffy5518 · Apr 17, 2011

Nice one Mr P 7 !! I really want to have a visit here,the scale shot with Mimi in is mind bogglin' !!! Thanx for the post GET WELL SOON !!!!

night crawler · Apr 17, 2011

Love seeing that place, some where I'd like to visit.

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

For those wondering here is the injury...I managed to do part of Thurleigh and walked maybe a mile on it in total but gave up after a small bite of Thurleigh which I was gutted about as it has been on my list for yonks....

Its difficult to see it but its roughly twice the size of my other ankle

fluffy5518 · Apr 17, 2011

bloody ouch !!!!!

skeleton key · Apr 17, 2011

sorry mr 7 i didnt come on to this top urbex forum tobe looking at youre plates of meat

and hairy toes lol

SK / Neil

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

Jealous SK

Sorry I was gonna shave them tomorrow lol

nelly · Apr 17, 2011

A great day out, sorry you lot had to see the monkey feet and no I didn't push him

If he can't stand on an upside down dustbin without falling off? Well???

Get well soon mate.

Anyway, here is my contribution

The front sliding doors weigh over 80 tonnes of metal each and the hangers in length extend to over 247m and rise to just over 59 metres, both sheds still remain the largest in Western Europe and could house 2 Wembley Stadiums with leftover space for a hooligan bar.

These sheds which were designed and built by hand required vast space to house an aircraft significantly large enough to compete with the monstrous Zepplins, so steel portal frames were used with pin joints to hold up the crown and all side walls of the structure.

The death count during their assembly remains vague however inevitably dozens did fall to their deaths during the construction period.

Hanger no.1 was home to the famous R101 which crashed on its maiden voyage in Beauvais, north of France killing hundreds of passengers flying over to India.

You can just see my 15 year old daughter standing to the left of the gap in the doors.
This gives you some idea of the scale of the place

Yeah right!!!

My mate P7 can be seen down on the floor

These are the blocks that the Airships were tethered to.

This is the outside of the doors. The door operator sits
in the shed and operates the motors, the cog wheels pull the
doors along the giant "bike chain" that lays on the ground.

Priority 7 · Apr 17, 2011

Nice shots Nelly bud...what will you do when the canon is taken away bud

nelly · Apr 17, 2011

Priority 7 said:
Nice shots Nelly bud...what will you do when the canon is taken away bud

Cry!!! :sad:

alex76 · Apr 18, 2011

Love the post and photo's folks nice one

Cardington Hangars April 2011

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