A portable airship shed frame in Farnborough, Hampshire has been listed today at Grade II by Culture Minister Barbara Follett. Built around 1892-93, the shed in Farnborough was erected in 1910-11 on the site of what is now Farnborough Airport. It was known as 'Beta Shed' and was one of four airship hangars at Farnborough and one of only six in Britain at the start of WWI.

Such sheds were used to house airships, or balloons, which provided air observation of German submarines during World War I, monitoring threats to all shipping, including supply convoys, in the North Sea and the Channel.

Only a handful of portable airship sheds are known to survive throughout Europe, and this is the only frame known to survive from the pre-World War I period. Today's listing will provide the shed with enhanced protection against insensitive development etc, etc.

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As she listed the frame of the airship shed, Culture Minister Barbara Follett said: "This is a most unusual and unique building and deserves preservation. Only six of these sheds existed at the beginning of the First World War, and this one has housed some truly remarkable examples of British engineering. Its links with the development of early aerial reconnaissance is a reminder of a critically important time in Britain's aviation history and it deserves the extra protection that listing brings."

The early 20th Century was the age of flight and military aviation was at the heart of its development. The first powered flight took place in England in 1908, when Colonel Samuel Cody flew his British Army Aeroplane No. 1 at Farnborough.

Although Farnborough was the location of the very earliest airship trials like the first Sea Scout (SS), it was abandoned by the Naval Airship Service, given the expanding airplane squadrons there, and the personnel and airships were transferred to Kingsnorth, which became the airship headquarters.

(JM/KMcA)