What aircraft - interesting photo album...

[impetuous]

Picked up an interesting photo album at a junk shop.

172 photos of a pilot's life entitled "Royal Naval Airservice - British Aegean Squadron - Christmas 1917-18"

Utterly fascinating, mess photos, sailing photos, aerial photos of the camp and warships, local island life, etc.

However ... my fascination is the aircraft he was piloting - they appear to be airships with a plane (less tail and wings with skids instead of wheels) suspended below.

Some photos attached ... any ideas?

Do excuse the watermarks, I may be selling the album one day, so thought to mark them.

[lufbramatt]

Looks like a BE2c fuselage to me.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Aircraft_Fac...

Also:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_class_airship

[dr_gn]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_class_airship

[williamp]

fantastic. It would be a shame to sell: I am sure a museum (Hendon??) would love to have them, scan them and display them. what say you??

[Simpo Two]

Fascinating, priceless and unique!

Think of it the other way round - start with an aeroplane, then replace the wings with a balloon. It's still lift, but you don't need forward airspeed.

[Eric Mc]

As the pictures are of Royal Naval Air Service operations, the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton might also be interested.

PS - I own a small section of RNAS airship hull (a couple of inches)

[lufbramatt]

Interesting thread. I've just spent an hour googling kingsnorth airship station- I cycle a lot on the isle of grain and knew that there was a history of airships over there but had never worked out what or where. Turns out the two massive airship hangers were constructed just north of where Kingsnorth power station now stands.

Apparently when they were dismantled they were bought by Shorts, cut down and rebuilt at Rochester Airport and now form part of the BAE complex, which is minutes from where I live. Fascinating.

[Eric Mc]

During World War 1, he Royal Navy had a number of airship stations around the British Isles, including Ireland. Near to where I grew up in Dublin is the seaside town of Malahide.
At Malahide is a "grand house" called Malahide Castle. It was the home of the old Anglo-Irish family, the Talbots and in the grounds of the estate was an airship mooring site from which anti-submarine patrols over the Irish Sea were operated.

The piece of airship that I have was from a craft that was blown from its moorings into nearby trees and destroyed. The local lads, including my granddad, obtained souvenirs of the envelope in the form of small rectangular sections of the fabric. That's how the piece ended up in my family.

[impetuous]

Thank you all for the links, suggestions and comments.

I'm educated.

Will try Hendon / Royal Naval Air Service operations, Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton as suggested regarding scans.