Hindenberg spying mission over Bingley College

The airship Hindenberg made three flights up the Aire Valley on May 23, June 30 (in the daylight) and on October 12 1936 (in the darkness). The College Engineer, Alfred Mitchell, photographed the Hindenberg flying over the main College building on June 30 . Sitings were also made on these dates at Barrow in Furness, Morecambe. Barnoldswick, Earby, Gargrave, Crosshills, Kildwick, Skipton, East Morton,Keighley, Bingley, Bradford, Pudsey, Rawdon and Leeds.

An article about the College in the Bingley Guardian of 9 th September 1977 states “ records show that Hitler thought it might make a good local HQ for his occupation troops”. Similar comment was made in the Leeds press in 1936 re the Hindenberg flying over the newly built Quarry Hill Flats. Were these the reasons for the airships strange flight path over the Aire Valley and Leeds? Was Bingley College indeed going to be considered as an invasion HQ? Or where these just early examples of urban myth?
The Hindenderg flight paths were either from Frankfurt and then across Northern England to the USA or from the USA across Northern England towards Frankfurt. The Hindenberg was essentially banned by the British and French Governments from flying across either country unless forced to do so by bad weather. The weather was reported as fine on both dates.  Questions were asked in Parliament on 11 th June and 8 th July as to the legitimacy of these flights over what were considered to be “prohibited” areas in the North of England.
Right : The Hindenberg over Germany in 1936.
 
Press records of the time show the dropping of a crucifix and a bunch of carnations from the airship over Keighley on 23 May by a priest commemorating the death of his brother, a prisoner of war in 1919, who died of influenza. Whilst this seemed to be a mercy errand, did it hide something more sinister?
In the event, the College housed students from Edge Hill College and from Hull to shelter them from the bombing of Liverpool and Hull. The nearest the College came to bombing was when a couple of incendiary bombs were jettisoned by Luftwaffe aircraft returning to Germany, in the fields behind the College in 1941.

It was suspected at the time that these were spying flights to assess industrial sites across Northern England. Subsequent archive records show that there were indeed three SS Officers on board before the war as regular crew, one of whom was a helmsman of the Hindenberg. The records also show the existence of a camera known as the Hindenberg Eye in the rear tailplane of the airship.

Alan Cattell. November 2008