The R101 Series

Date: 5 October 1930

Place: Beauvais, France 

Passengers and crew: 55

Survivors: 7

Death toll: 48

R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. 

It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition with the government-funded but privately designed and built R100. When built it was the world’s largest flying craft at 223metres in length, and it was not surpassed by another hydrogen-filled rigid airship until the Hindenburg flew seven years later.

After some trial flights and subsequent modifications to increase lifting capacity, which included lengthening the airship by 14 metres, it crashed on 5 October 1930 in France during its maiden overseas voyage. The impact was slight and caused few if any injuries, but the ship’s hydrogen ignited and the ensuing inferno killed 48 of the 55 passengers and crew. Among the deceased passengers were Lord Thomson, the Air Minister who had initiated the programme, senior government officials, and almost all the dirigible’s designers from the Royal Airship Works. 

The crash of R101 effectively ended British airship development, and was one of the worst airship accidents of the 1930s.

Bibliography 

Grossman, D. (2017). Hidrogen Airship disaster. [online] Airships.net. Available at: http://www.airships.net/hidrogen/airship/accidentsNavy Airships, and other Dirigibles. [Accessed 5 Apr. 2017].

Wikipedia. (2017). R101. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R101 [Accessed 28 Mar. 2017].

Images

British Pathé (Jul 27,2011)YouTube. 

Hindenburg Disaster Real Footage 1937. (2017).

Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgWHbpMVQ1U1 Oct. 2017]. [Accessed 7 Apr. 2017].

Daily News (2017). Hindenburg disaster victims. [image] Available at: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/hindenburg-disaster-anniversary-gallery-1.1072697?pmSlide=1.1072693 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017].

Haining, K. (n.d.). Gallery: Wreckage of the R101 Airship (R101-8) in Allonne near Beauvais, Oise, Picardie, France.Kirsty. [image] Available at: http://www.hainings.net/2/20623.htm [Accessed 28 Mar. 2017].

Sound

Davro (2015). WWII Air Raid Siren. [Online] Davao. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ5Q__uLcDA [Accessed 30 Mar. 2017]. 

Irving, T. (2015). Air and Light 5 minutes sound of gusting wind in barley field changing light. [Online] Youtube: Tim Irving. Available at: http://Air and Light 5 minutes sound of gusting wind in barley field changing light [Accessed 30 Mar. 2017].