Bedford Creative Arts (BCA) has recently uncovered evidence to reveal the identity of the ‘mystery girl in the deckchair’ featured in a photograph of the R101 airship.
And they’re hoping local people can help fill in the blanks.
In the famous image, a woman is seated in a deckchair while a man stands alongside her. Now just ahead of International Women’s Day, BCA can reveal she was a Miss DC Forster and played an important role in the development of the R101.
To find out more about the mysterious Miss Forster, BCA and the Higgins Bedford commissioned Dr Nina Baker, the author of Adventures in Aeronautical design: The life of Hilda M. Lyon.
The research was commissioned as part of the Airship Dreams: Escaping Gravity exhibition. The community-curated exhibition is on display in The Higgins until 20 March. Contributors included Alastair Lawson, the Chair of the Airship Heritage Trust and Allan Slater who found the album.
Hilda also worked on the R101, so Dr Baker was ideally placed to find out more.
The mystery began when a local resident, Allan Slater, found an old photo album in a skip.
At the time, Allan didn’t know that he would be saving some precious airship history and finding another mystery of the era too. Who is the girl in the deckchair and why was she on the R101?
The photo album – which is on loan to The Higgins courtesy of the Airship Heritage Trust -has helped to shed some light on the mystery lady, as her name is stated as DC Forster, however, her role on the R101 wasn’t clear, and it appears she had more than one role.
Many women worked on the R101 including Hilda Lyon who was the engineer responsible for the actual shape of the balloon section of the airship and she designed the airframe too.
Many other women were employed to manufacture the inner and outer balloons. These women were pivotal when it came to the manufacturing process and getting the airships off the ground.
Miss Forster headed up the Outer Coverites as they were known and assisted with the construction of the outer cover of the airship. As she was a nurse in the First World War, she also had a first aid role at Cardington.
Much more is now known about the ‘mystery girl in the deckchair’, however, there is still some of her history missing, maybe now is the time for her story to be told.
Can you help?
If you know anything about Miss Forster please get in touch as the team at BCA would love to know more.
You can get in touch by emailing info@bedfordcreativearts.org.uk.
