The R101 Airship

[@oldeafcoot]

Thank you for presenting this historic film on KZbin,

[@alanraven3578]

My Uncle, Stanley Raven was the valet who looked after Lord Thomson the night before he joined the airship. He recalled running a bath for him and laying out his gold watch, the very same one by which his burned body was identified. My Uncle asked if he could go along as his valet. Lord Thomson said that that there was no room, but that he would send for him on the next trip.

[@balotte]

Amazing

[@dartthornton]

Did he have more than one valet, then? It says on the Bedford website that Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, insisted on taking his valet, James Buck. Buck was aged twenty and lived with Thomson at 122 Ashley Gardens, Westminster.

[@deeremeyer1749]

Your uncle was full of shit. Or you are.

[@divisioneight]

Some of the design team then commented that R101 should have never been flown. She was heavy from the start and couldn't fly without the added 45 foot bay. Her gas bag retention wiring was slackened to allow for greater hydrogen capacity. This created dangerous movement of the gasbags within the hull which caused trim and balance issues as well as hydrogen loss from chafing inside the hull. The R101 would actually land heavier, less her fuel, due to holes in the gas cells from chafing.

[@BrianMorrison]

I had never before seen this footage, so it's been a real pleasure to find it even if the end result of the earlier Cardington airship ventures ended in tragedy. I sit watching this a few hundred yards from the site of the mooring mast, and I frequently visit the pub in the village where the R101 crew drank. Their last night in the pub was spent saying goodbye to their friends and telling their sons to look after their families, the crew knew that the R101 was too flawed to complete the trip.

[@root19733]

The dreamers may die, but the dream lives on.

[@fourfortyroadrunner6701]

That may be but there are REASONS "we" don't have these, anymore................

[@Ms_Fortunes]

To ride the storm, to an empire of the clouds To ride the storm, they climbed aboard their silver ghost To ride the storm, to a kingdom that will come To ride the storm, and damn the rest, oblivion

[@Its_Star_Brite]

Yaaaay maiden

[@Humbertusmarius]

No one else can tell a story like Iron Maiden.

[@spitfireJEJ]

The criticisms were indeed justified and also included the gasbags being holed by the structural bolt heads when they were let out in an effort to garner more lift. However, Neville Shute Norway (and Wallis's biographer, Morpurgo) were both a little hesitant in outlining the faults on R100 and that is my point. Incidentally, R100 would have had an extra lifting bay inserted too had it continued flying and the structural fault in the original conical tail was a very serious one.

[@ruperthardcastle2259]

My grandfather always drew the comparison that the R100, built by private enterprise, was perfectly safe; while the R101 was designed by committe and weighed down with luxuries paid for by the working class

[@tc19948]

After the loss of R38, badly copied from a Zeppelin design intended for use mainly at high altitudes (i.e. thin air) and very roghly handled at low altitude, R101's designers put far too much metal into the ship, and far too little space for gas capacity. This was not helped by the elaborate "parachute" gas-bag wiring intended to transfer lift to the rigid framework without the bags bearing on girders. The often-criticised extra bay solved most of these problems, and from sources quoted in "To Ride The Storm" by Sir Peter Masefield, the ship was sufficiently sound to have made the Indian journey. The outer cover of BOTH ships was known to be of marginal strength, and undoubtedly the wise course would have been to return home when the weather deteriorated over France.

[@stanthompson5160]

I watched the R101 as it crossed over via East Barnet on its fatal journey' It was in the evening of 4th October 1930.

[@TexanFiveThree]

Great to have you back Bomberguy. Keep these history lessons coming. Your time and effort is greatly appreciated.

[@pugthing]

Hi, no probs talking about The Hindenburg - it was a great airship. Great to talk to someone who's interested in airships. I first became interested when I was a kid, after my grandfather told me how he had seen the Graf Zeppelin and R34 - been interested ever since. Best wishes

[@OlegKostoglatov]

@trespire There were two airships under development at the time in Britain, one was the R100 and the other was the R101. The R100 was built by private interests with private money, on budget and on time, it made several successful voyages, including one over to North America, and never had a serious accident. The R101 was built by the British government with tax dollars, was over budget and behind schedule and crashed on it's maiden voyage. A perfect case in point of politics at work.

[@allanmoore4353]

Well put, completely agree, the whole story almost a study in the difference between capitalism and socialism.

[@spitfireJEJ]

The story given in Masefield's book is that the designers felt on the basis of experience that 5 million cubic feet capacity was not enough for safe transcontinental operation with a reasonable load. So therefore future ships should be bigger. They also proposed "dieselising" R100's Condor engines and moving the passenger accomodation outside the ship's hull in order to create space for more gas. The "Airship Online" website has details and drawings of these proposals.

[@Victorjigsawkiller]

Iron Maiden "Empire of the clouds"

[@billy-the-butcher]

+Михаил Владимиров she doesn't xD

[@jayjay1524]

Just bought Book of souls and Empire of the clouds is the last track and the R101 is the what the song is about and i neede to know what it was. Iron maiden not just a metal band nut a educational metal band, UP THE IRONS.

[@MidnightVisions]

Rushed into service to fulfill political ambitions, well said!

[@2206411411]

According to the book "World's Greatest Mistakes", witnesses reported hearing survivors of the crash itself who were unable to escape the inferno. The implication is that flaws in the design of the passenger section were responsible for at least some of the fatalities, that as with the Titanic, the problems were at least as much to do with escaping as anything and that the accident should have been far more survivable than it was.

[@TheLSK]

Very Interesting. It's fasinating(sic) just to see how far we've came in aviation technology in 70-odd years. The control cabins on these behemoths all looked mighty small for command and control structures, though.

[@spitfireJEJ]

No. It occurred because there were fewer longitudinal supports for the fabric than on the German Zeppelins. R100 would have needed a complete recovering before flyig again. It has been theorised that Neville Shute's criticism of R101 was brought about by the failure of Richmond to offer Shute a job at one stage. This assertion appears in the Masefield book. There was much wrong with R101but R100 was far from flawless.

[@Stedman75]

the bigger they are the harder they fall, and unfortunatly airships are f'ing massive. :(

[@deltavee2]

If you want to read about the rest of the story, find a copy of the book about the R-101 called "The Airmen Who Would Not Die". Some of the crew knew they were about to fly in an inadequate, badly-engineered craft, but flew with her on her first flight out of duty.

[@mrroboto5785]

I think it was revealed after the R 38 crash that the British had shunned the Germans offer to help them with the airships. The US simply made promises of EXPERIMENTAL ideas and technologies for their ships, and since they really had no experience, it lead to crashes. It didn't help that the person behind the program was more concerned with his public eye image than anything else, and I think it was one of the causes of three crashes, the Shenandoah, Akron and Hindenburg.

[@WarJackalGaming]

The R101 didn't plow into the ground, reports say that she "bounced" before coming to a rest. The fire was caused by one of the engine cars, which was twisted after the impact.

[@spitfireJEJ]

It had problems with the fabic covering which rippled badly at speed along much of the length of the ship. It also had a structural failure of the tailcone which left the assembly drooping. In repairing this, Richmond altered the design - to the fury of Barnes Wallis.

[@spitfireJEJ]

Maybe - maybe not. One other theory re the fire was that magnesium flares (normally used for drift measurements over water) spontaneously ignited on contact with wet ground. Whatever the cause, it is arguable that she should have turned back and hubris both before and possibly during the flight was a factor in her demise.

[@spitfireJEJ]

The title of Masefield's book is "To Ride The Storm" Good luck finding a copy! More details of R100 and its conception are to be found in "Barnes Wallis" the biography, which was written by J E Morpurgo. Frankly I do not know which ship flew first although the Canadian trip was done before R101 had been tested with flights of any real duration.

[@Broaster07]

John G. Fuller's book, The Airmen Who Would Not Die goes deeply into the subject of why this airship failed. Testimony came, in part, through automatic writing from some of the deceased crew. In short, hurried modifications, rough weather, and a membranous gas bag leaking hydrogen and getting lit up by lightning were all part of the cause. Mostly it was the demand by the Air Ministry that the ship launch according to their timetable so that the Empire could save face.

[@pugthing]

Really enjoyed this - so much airship information seems to concentrate on The Hindenburg. I just can't imagine the size of ships like this. Many thanks for posting it

[@2206411411]

It is a mistake to equate the R100 and R101 with the Zeppelins, from what I understand. Their design was said to be very different and the results gathered from the successful flight of the R100 suggests the design was, in some ways, superior. Had the airship programme not been cancelled, it is possible to imagine descendants of this design to have become cruise liners of the sky and that modern blimps would look closer to this shape. The R101 disaster changed a great many things.

[@baldpatch79]

i've read about this ship before. its a shame that it was all hurried with the repairs and trials,all them people wouldnt have died otherwise. look out for a book called "the airmen who would not die". facinating book,well worth a read.

[@spitfireJEJ]

Later....I see from the website that R101 did indeed fly first - October 1929 while R100 flew in December of the same year.

[@cannissolis]

It is many years since I read Slide Rule but if my memory serves, didn't the rippling fabric only occur at a speed in excess of the requested design maximum for R100?

[@Nastyswimmer]

Interesting that the first two commentators stress the large size of the fins and stabilisers, since the inquiry found that the cause of the vertical instability, seen in the test flight, which almost certainly was the ultimate cause of the crash, was that the stabilisers were far too small for the size of the ship.

[@divisioneight]

Agreed; Given the inherent economy of lighter than air capability, the airship burns less fuel to remain aloft than a HVA craft. The issues of maintaining stability while fuel's burned is not insurmountable. And with HVA travel becoming more like riding the subway than flying somewhere in style and decency, the airship's time once again is indeed upon us.

[@tomservo5007]

I know this is 6 years later .. but the world's supply of helium is running out .. unless you think hydrogen is still the answer.

[@Rapscallion2009]

I'm not sure that's true. The r101 carried 50 people. A lot less than an airliner and would require many times as many trips to move the same number of people. Plus it burns diesel, not Kerosene. The airships two big problems are lack of speed and inability to operate in bad weather. A modern airliner can take off and land in a virtual hurricane. Try launching a zeppelin in high winds or a thunderstorm! I do think there could be s pleasure cruise market, though.

[@Derukugi2]

The private built R100 was on budget, on schedule, and flew without incident. The government-build R101 sistership was way over budget, way over schedule, burdened with countless technical problems, and crashed on her first long distance flight. Somewhere there is a lesson there?

[@diabeticalien3584]

Derukugi2 I know. You'd think they'd take time building a ship made to carry people.

[@awuma]

Neville Shute, "Slide Rule".

[@cannissolis]

for a very good and full account of these two ships, read the book: Slide Rule by Nevil Shute. Apart from being an Author, he was one of the engineers involved with the design of the R100. It is fascinating reading, and is also a very good 'snapshot' of between the wars England.

[@spitfireJEJ]

On top of that the gasbag valves were over sensitive and tended to vent gas excessively when the ship rolled.

[@RTD8481]

Shocking to see the burned man exiting from the airplane. One can only imagine the horrific pain he endured.

[@edwardmclaughlin7935]

A very revealing account of the events leading up to this disaster is given by Neil Shute in his 'Slide Rule'. He was a keen aviator in his youth and prior to his eventual great success as a writer of novels, he was greatly involved in the design and construction of the rival R100, built at Howden in Yorkshire. Shute is very scathing in his description of Lord Thomson and of the general conduct of the Air Ministry and the bureaucrats who oversaw the Cardington operation.

[@ZeppelinR101]

Great video!

[@cannissolis]

Did this occur at all speeds? I still seem to recall that it only happened at speed in excess of the requested design speed? And as to possible sour grapes, maybe? But his criticisms of R101 would appear to be justified, 4 very heavy diesel thrust engines and unnecessary steering engines meant it couldn't lift it's payload so it was cut in half and lengthened (all cock ups payed for with public money) and then doped with the wrong stuff which rotted the fabric, causing it to be re-covered!

[@spitfireJEJ]

@Nastyswimmer They were indeed too small. However, the basic cause of the instability was the way in which the gasbags moved backwards and forwards after they had been loosened in their harnesses to accommodate more gas to solve the lift problem. This measure proved to be inadequate, hence the eventual addition of another gasbag.

[@dizzedahmer]

Bruce Dickinson brought me here.

[@seanm9815]

Me too XD

[@filiperocky]

+Dizze Dahmer me too!!!!!

[@LilMessaldo]

+Dizze Dahmer Maiden got me really interested in history when I was nine. I eventually got my PhD in European history. I love that he is still educating people about history. I came here, too, to see video of just how big the R101 was. I didn't remember it being so big. I love that I am still learning about the history of aviation from Bruce!

[@dizzedahmer]

+LilMessaldo thats awesome. And they say only idiots listen to metal...

[@LilMessaldo]

They are just too big of idiots to know what smart music is! I am actually going to quote Maiden in the preface to my book that I am converting from my dissertation. I'm going to try to get "Up the Irons" past my publisher in a footnote, too!

[@CWinther95]

Had the british and Germans collaberated on the airship projects, this would not have happend

[@tomsriv]

Thank you for posting!

[@cannissolis]

Interesting! what problems do you refer too re. R100, I understand it exceeded Its requested specifications (speed, lifting ability etc)?

[@johncliffe39]

Most of those killed aboard the R101 are buried in Cardington Churchyard.

[@trevorcardington]

right in 1930 she was the largest airship in the world, the Hindenburg didn't fly for a few more years.

[@1276epr]

@RTD8481 my guess would be it was a combination of factors, such as the huge expense of helium extraction from natural gas wells, plus the time and financial constraints of the British airship programs, plus the fact that hydrogen has greater lifting ability, which was always a concern on these airships, plus no contemporary history of danger from hydrogen airships. Still, the cavalier attitude that seems to have existed about use of hydrogen is hard to understand today.

[@trevorcardington]

did you know to save weight the cusions in the lounge were filled with air?

[@cannissolis]

What a fascinating website! Thanks for that. On the R100 Page they say "Following the completion of the R101, the R100 followed closely on" but I thought R100 was finished marginally before R101? What is the title of Masefield's book, please.

[@Jjames763]

@zeppship That's not very fair. I hear that the R-100 was a very well-constructed ship. Except for the tail thing, but that got fix'd. She only flew once, but that's beside the point. Aside from her, the WW1 Zeps on were pretty reliable too, even considering the Pulham Pig breakaway and ZRS-ll.

[@trevorcardington]

one of the main reasons for the R101 to fly low was to conserve gas, the higher the ship flew the valves would vent off the gas to prevent the gas cell from exploding, as you get higher hydrogen or any gas expands due to the lower atmospheric pressure, on a long trip to fly at high altitude from the start would mean a reduction of lifting gas which could not be replenished until moored at the next stop on the trip, not advisable on a long journey, unfortunately flying a 777ft airship

[@daniellira5549]

Empire of the Clouds.

[@spitfireJEJ]

The fault, I am afraid, lay in her basic design. She was hugely overweight and efforts to counteract that by letting out the gasbags created more problems than they solved. Fabulous looking creation to be sure, but as one eminent individual said of airships in general; "A pretty face but no good in the kitchen".

[@Porpentine1961]

@RTD8481 The R101 was barely able to take off filled with hydrogen. Helium is heavier than hydrogen - filled with helium, it wouldn't have been able to fly at all (so in that sense you are correct that the disaster wouldn't have happened)

[@pettdog78]

Looked like a nice ship but it's obvious the brits hadn't worked all the kinks out of the system. Would have been nice if they did though as it would have been great to see some of these aerial giants in real life.

[@robertallan4286]

Magnificent footage of a tragic event, and the end of British rigid airships

[@pogoflyer]

Does anyone know what the music is at the beginning of the video?

[@ratty383]

Very interesting, Thanks for posting.

[@behahve1]

The R100 was a far superior design, pity to break it up...

[@GREEROPS]

Great stuff. R101 and the Hindenburg notwithstanding airship travel in terms of fatalities per passenger mile travelled was still safer than other powered flight

[@deeremeyer1749]

Bullshit.

[@DirektorMira]

Empire of the Clouds 👍✌️

[@spitfireJEJ]

Sir Peter Masefield i his book "To Ride The Storm" tried to make the case for R101 as not being as bad as it was reported. I don't think he quite succeeded. R100 was vastly superior but in fairness, both had their problems.

[@RavenswoodProductions]

Remarkable that more people do now know about this. The Hindenberg crash is widely remembered, but this crash (which from the looks of the wreckage and casualty count) would have been just about as bad, is largely forgotten. I guess crashing and burning while live on radio and on film makes a difference.

[@Nastyswimmer]

@2rings2many If you look at about 01:10 you can see the passenger entrance ramp, just below the nose, lowered down to the "verandah" on the tower. From there there was a walkway inside the outer envelope that led to the accommodation amidships. (The outer envelope doesn't contain the gas. It's just a streamlined outer container stretched over the structural framework. The gas is in several large bags inside.)

[@manmonkee]

Man with todays composites the r101 could be a sight indeed, carbon fibre frame???, having said that the R100 was a perfectly safe ship and could have flown for years.

[@tc19948]

Not quite true, Shute stated several times that R100 was extremely lucky to have survived the Canada trip, and she did suffer potentially dangerous outer cover damage during it. Plans were in progress for R102 and R104, but flying boats were advancing by leaps and bounds, and offered comparable luxury with far less ground-handling infrastructure requirement, so the Airship programme was shelved. R100 was scrapped owing to needing a complete renewal of the outer cover, and serious metal corrosion problems and so was deemed uneconomical to refurbish.

[@trevorcardington]

the last picture showing crew members, the ship there was the R100.

[@arlobrubaker]

Thanks for posting this

[@bobduvar]

Airships would help to make freeways traffic lighter (freight and public intercity transports).

[@trevorcardington]

the passengers entered the ship through the nose hatch on top of the mooring mast.

[@jetaddicted]

For those interested, and visiting Paris, go to le Bourget aeronautics museum; they have the nose cone and a the command nacelle of the LZ121 Zeppelin which you can climb into.

[@terencehaydn]

Really good film it was sad that it was an accident waiting to happen

[@trevorcardington]

also have worked on a musical video of the R101 with Ian Hubball, set to Ian's music final flight cant leave a link so you'll have to search R101 AIRSHIP

[@divisioneight]

Both the R100 and R101 were filled with hydrogen. The US at the time was just becoming the only supplier of helium in the world and the Helium Control Act maintained a firm hold on the supply of the rare gas for some time. The R-101's engines were diesel as the British were intending on using for regular revenue service to India where it was thought the high temperatures there would make petrol too volatile.

[@tc19948]

Eugene Rabouille was out poaching and saw the ship hit the ground. At the Court of Inquiry he stated that the ship bumped into the ground almost level and travelling slowly. However, an "enormous" explosion and flash fire instantly occurred in the region of the control car. This and the ignition of the diesel fuel, which takes very high temperature, suggests that the culprit was definitely the calcium flares stored under the control car.

[@fmlazar]

Of the rigid airships,only the American ones ever used helium. All of the others including the British R series, the highly successful German Graf Zeppelin used hydrogen. It should be noted that helium did not prevent the near total loss of the crew of the first American-built airship, the Akron of which only three survived her sinking. The rigid airship was a doomed technology from the start. If it wasn't flammable hydrogen it was their serious vulnerability to any significant weather.

[@divisioneight]

Agreed with weather being an issue to rigid LTA. So is it to HVA too. What was missing in the 30's was the web of data regarding weather as well as things like Dopler radar and satellite imagery. All these things make flying safer for us today, and would also be for the larger LTA, just as it is for smaller LTA like blimps.

[@TheGERO418]

did it crash or did it survive because i dont now what happend

[@JamieBignell]

Very Very Good, thanks very much for posting. Please Please can you do one like this for the R-100 Airship. Thanks!

[@Jjames763]

@zeppship That's a convenient example, seeing as ZRS stands for "Zeppelin rigid ship". It was a synonym even back then. That and the fact that the Macon and Akron were in fact built by Goodyear-Zeppelin.

[@sharronneedles6721]

Assembled, by Goodyear. The Design Was German, Given To The US As Reparations From The War.

[@ceemosp]

In your description you said: "...to compensate for over loading" As far as all sources say, the design called for a crew of 42 and 50 passengers. How was she overloaded then with 12 paxes?

[@leifvejby8023]

Overweight!

[@mellocello]

Cautionary Tales podcast brought me here. Fascinating story.

[@cannissolis]

Ah! that's interesting, didn't know R100 was destined to be lengthened, tho' this could not have been due to a cock up? as it met the design acceptance spec. (I believe it exceeded it in fact)so, did the goal posts move?

[@LouiseTopp]

What a beast (the airship I mean) :)

[@trevorcardington]

this year is the 80th anniversary, lots happening in Bedford to commemorate

[@Neslak1m]

Majestethic... I wish it was possible to go on a cruise in those (:

[@trevorcardington]

1. yes but the Hindenburg wasn't even built in 1930 so in its day the R101 was the biggest airship in the world. 2. good luck.

[@macbrack04]

Sounds like they got the 'rent a cheer' mob in from the Royal Oak at Cardington!!!

[@punchline43]

I was just thinking of this zeppelin and happened to click this video today (Oct 27 2018) exactly 10 years to the day from it's upload. Nuts.

[@bluemoose1]

@Inmango steel isn't getting any lighter. Steel is always going to be steel just as heavy as it was the day before.

[@ModelBoatMayhemPhotos]

Excellent! Thanks Bomberguy. What did the "R" stand for? ( Commentator sounds drunk! )

[@loltime8179]

if it was not for the hindenburg incident, we would still have these great aircraft.

[@majorfrost8206]

Anyone interesting in learning more about Britain's airship program should read " Slide Rule" by Nevil Shute. Before he was a household name as a novelist (A Town Like Alice among others) he was an engineer and worked on the R100 (the one that actually worked)

[@ratbagsofrhythm]

Thank you! Everyone forgets about the ship that actually worked.

[@dartthornton]

Bomberguy, this video is amazing. I am writing a book about the R101. How may I contact you please?

[@davidrodgersNJ]

Such a beautiful ship, it seems unjust to have named her "R-101."

[@Gruntol5]

Your English is as good as my Latvian, and I can't speak a word of it.

[@nesbitstreet]

Designed to carry 52 passengers, but overloaded with 12. Not an auspicious start.

[@Gruntol5]

The cabin looks enormous at 0.33, yet practically invisible on the complete structure. Sad story.

[@philboardman4112]

I have a photograph taken from a ship with the R100 and the R101 in the sky together. I have been told that this never happened. Is this correct?

[@BrianMorrison]

And on the matter of survivors, all the six survivors were from the crew, no passengers survived because the passenger accommodation was mostly made of wood and during the impact the diesel tanks ruptured and poured diesel all over the passenger area. When this ignited (and initial ignition was from a calcium phosphide flare in the control car) a massive blaze broke out immediately and burned all of the passengers to death. A seventh crew man died in hospital from burns, he was one a rigger.

[@zicothemagnificent]

A sign of things to come, German stuff being built in Ingerlund.