The co-ordinates will take you to hangar 5 at the National
Museum of Flight at East Fortune. There is a large car park further
into the museum complex and also a bus service (121 between
Haddington and North Berwick).
At the given co-ordinates there is a plaque and some information
boards commemorating the historic voyage of R34 in July 1919.
You do not have to enter the Museum to reach the plaque or to
find the cache but access may be restricted outside Museum opening
hours.
If you haven't already been round, the Museum is well worth a
visit. Why not combine the cache with a day out touring the
exhibits and enjoying the "Concorde Experience"? More details about
the Museum can be found
here.
When you get to the Plaque, study the inscription. Using the
usual "A=1, B=2" method derive the following numbers, listed as
A-H. (Remember to count letters not characters!)
1st Line, Last Letter = A
3rd Line, 6th Letter = B
7th Line, 10th Letter = C
2nd Line, 16th Letter = D
7th Line, 14th Letter = E
4th Line, 4th Letter = F
8th Line, 19th Letter = G
5th Line, 3rd Letter = H
The final co-ordinates are:
N55 59.EDA
W002 43.(B-C)(F-G) H
R34 was built at the Beardmore Inchinnan airship factory. Her
vital statistics are impressive: 643 feet long, literally as big as
a battleship, and requiring a ground handling crew of 700 men!! Yet
she had a top speed of only 62mph. Fancy crossing the Atlantic by
air both ways at that speed? You can read more about her
here.
The original plan was that R34 would make the first ever aerial
crossing of the Atlantic. But she suffered technical problems on
her maiden flight and, while she was being repaired, Alcock and
Brown sneaked in the first Atlantic crossing by aeroplane. So a new
plan - a double crossing including the first east-west crossing was
devised.
R34 left her gigantic hangar at East Fortune in the early hours
of the morning on July 2nd 1919. Her crew was augmented by two
stowaways. William Ballatyne was one of the crew members who had
been told to stay at home to lighten the load and so maximise R34's
endurance. But he didn't want to miss the trip and for good measure
brought along the East Fortune cat, variously recorded as "Wopsie"
or "Whoopsie".
The trip west into the prevailing wind took four days and
included storms and and other adventures. When the landing site at
Mineola on Long Island was eventually reached, R34 was all but out
of fuel. And, as there was no-one on the ground with any experience
of handling airships, one of the crew had to descend to organise
the ground party. Major Pritchard donned a parachute, left the
airship and thus became the first man to arrive in the USA by
air.
The trip home was much faster with the wind behind her tail and
R34 took a more southerly track across the ocean. All told, the
ship had travelled some 7,420 miles on this voyage at an average
speed over the surface of 43 mph.
You can read more about the epic journey
here.