Fatal Flight audiobook: Chapter Three: An Inept Command Takes Charge (5/14)

Download this audiobook, view the figures in the print version, or read the appendices at www.engineerguy.com/airship. Fatal Flight: The True Story of Britain's Last Great Airship is written by Bill Hammack and read by the author.
Fatal Flight brings vividly to life the year of operation of R.101, the last great British airship-a luxury liner three and a half times the length of a 747 jet, with a spacious lounge, a dining room that seated fifty, glass-walled promenade decks, and a smoking room. The British expected R.101 to spearhead a fleet of imperial airships that would dominate the skies as British naval ships, a century earlier, had ruled the seas. The dream ended when, on its demonstration flight to India, R.101 crashed in France, tragically killing nearly all aboard.
Combining meticulous research with superb storytelling, Fatal Flight guides us from the moment the great airship emerged from its giant shed-nearly the largest building in the British Empire-to soar on its first flight, to its last fateful voyage. The full story behind R.101 shows that, although it was a failure, it was nevertheless a supremely imaginative human creation. The technical achievement of creating R.101 reveals the beauty, majesty, and, of course, the sorrow of the human experience.
The narrative follows First Officer Noel Atherstone and his crew from the ship’s first test flight in 1929 to its fiery crash on October 5, 1930. It reveals in graphic detail the heroic actions of Atherstone as he battled tremendous obstacles. He fought political pressures to hurry the ship into the air, fended off Britain’s most feted airship pilot, who used his influence to take command of the ship and nearly crashed it, and, a scant two months before departing for India, guided the rebuilding of the ship to correct its faulty design. After this tragic accident, Britain abandoned airships.
Set against the backdrop of the British Empire at the height of its power in the early twentieth century, Fatal Flight portrays an extraordinary age in technology, fueled by humankind’s obsession with flight.
This audio recording is released under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike Non-Commercial License.
Book Metadata
Publisher Articulate Noise Books | [e-mail]
Hardcover | ISBN 978-1-945441-01-1
eBook | ISBN 978-1-945441-02-8
Paper | ISBN 978-1-945441-03-5
Audiobook | ISBN 978-1-945441-04-2
Audience 01 - General Trade
Subjects
HIS015070 HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century
TEC002000 TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Aeronautics & Astronautics
TEC056000 TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History
SCI034000 SCIENCE / History

[@ibchemvids]

I am really enjoying this. Well paced, interesting and great narration.

[@XPLAlN]

I really enjoyed listening to this story. So well told and full of interesting details. Growing up in Gt Britain this spectacular failure was mentioned in passing - ‘it crashed in stormy weather’, just one of those things,. All the ingredients here for a good feature film I would say. Heroes, villains, an amazing machine and political intrigue.

[@pub6023]

What can possibly warrant a thumbs down for this? Informative, entertaining and well read.....I guess there’s an inherent negativity in some people, ah well....takes all kinds to make the world go around.

[@judebrad]

Ordered the book.

[@markiangooley]

This sounds as if Scott was the only person who deserved to die in the R-101 crash, frankly…

[@TheyCallMeNewb]

Likely a mistake my beginning with this chapter.

[@deadmanwillyimbothdeadandalive]

I can't understand why they want these airships that don't work so much

[@dabking9454]

Michael Montgomery They worked just fine! LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin built from 1925-1928 it was the most succsessful Zeppelin ever to date along with its US Navy sister ship the LZ-126 or USS Los Angeles. Both were German built (as most Rigid Airships Were) My point is, they didnt "work" because the public got sick and tired of crashes and death tolls being in the 30-73 count (USS Akron had 73 Sailors Drown as she slipped into the sea due to the sailors trying to get out of a bad squall and flying to low, her lower fin slammed into the waters below and tore it off) Had most of the crashed Zeppelins used Helium, less deaths would have happend. Hydrogen lifting gas was the majority of the death of 700-804' long Zeppelins. One day i hope to build or see new ones built using the old methods, old re-produced engines, ect. Would be spectacular to see these graceful giants fly again

[@CeleryCarrots]

It was very efficient for its time as it could carry more than conventional aircraft, and had would have landed less for refueling. To the people backing the project, the benefits outweighed the risks back then