HMA No. 1

HMA No. 1

His Majesty's Airship No. 1 was designed and built by Vickers, Sons and Maxim at their works in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, as an aerial scout airship for the Royal Navy. She was the first British rigid airship to be built, and was constructed in a direct attempt to compete with the German airship programme. Nicknamed “Mayfly” by the lower deck (i.e. the non-commissioned component of a naval ship’s crew), she is often referred to by this name, but in public records is designated ‘HMA Hermione’, because the naval contingent at Barrow were attached to HMS Hermione, a cruiser moored locally preparing to act as her tender.

When she was moved from her shed in Cavendish Dock to conduct full trials on 24 September 1911, she broke in two as a result of being subject to strong winds before she could attempt her first flight. Although Mayfly never flew, her brief career provided valuable training and experimental data for British airship crews and designers.