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September 17 1926 :
Nevil Shute Norway, Sir Charles Denniston Burney, Barnes Neville Wallis and John Edwin Temple file for a patent titled "Improvements in or relating to Rigid Airships". It is about structural design of airships. Shute applied for at least 3 patents during his lifetime. This, the first, was applied for on Sep 17, 1926 and concerns the structural design of airships. Shute was later involved in patents for an aircraft air density measuring instrument (1936) and a bombsight for use with Sir Dennistoun Burney's Toraplane Gliding Torpedo. (1939). |
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Of an innovative design by Barnes Wallis, these Spider Joints in R100 were used at each corner of the 16 sided transverse frames and connected these frames to the longitudinal members. More than 200 such joints were used in R-100 and were crucial in providing the strength and rigidity of the airship frame.
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| 1926 : "Marazan" is published using the name Nevil Shute. |
| 1926 - 1928 : Shute writes and rewrites "So Disdained" over 18 months. |
| 1926 - 1930 : Shute buys his second car, a "Bullnose" Morris Cowley 2 seater. |
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This is a catalogue photo of a 1925 model. ( OU ) |
| 1926 - 1930 : Shute joins and becomes Secretary of the Yorkshire Aeroplane Club at Sherburn-in-Elmet aerodrome. These experiences are reflected in "The Rainbow and The Rose". He meets his wife-to-be Frances at the club. He once hits a fence on landing and flips onto the runway. |
| Shute had been at Howden since the Spring of 1926 so it seems inconceivable that he wouldn't have attended the 1926 Yorkshire Air Pageant at Sherburn-in-Elmet aerodrome. ( TA ) |
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The Sherburn-in-Elmet Aero Club in this 1950s photo was unchanged from
the late '20s when Shute was club secretary there and Harry Worrall was
the instructor. The building, still standing but now a private home, was
called Lennerton Lodge. The low area on the left was the bar and club
rooms where Brenda and Johnnie had lunch in Rainbow. The planes are
Front row (L to R): Two Auster J/1 Autocrats and a DH Tiger Moth.
Rear row: Two Percival Proctors
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| The R100 machine shop at Howden. Most of R100 was built from scratch at Howden. ( NAMC ) |
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The girders for R100 are laid out in the Howden Hangar in 1926. The first Polygonal Ring was hung in December 1926. The hangar windows are to the left and the empty 2nd hangar bay is on the right. ( NAMC ) |
| The airships girders on Howden Hangar floor showing the geodetic construction. The photo is probably from 1926. ( NAMC ) |
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Girder for R100 showing the Geodetic design. ( TWTAATF ) |
| 1926-1933(?): Shute writes several short stories while in York at the address 7 Clifton, York: "Tudor Windows", "Down the Humber in a Motor Cruiser", "Knightly Vigil". |
| Was this 7 Clifton, York? This building now is called number 1 Clifton, York, and the building next door is number 11. Possibly it is where Nevil and Frances lived when they first married in 1931. (Photo: RM 2003) |
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