Published: Thursday, 6th November, 2008 09:00
Retro: The R101 over Reading
By David Cliffe, Reading Central Library
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Airbourne: The R101 airship on November 3, 1929, returning from her first night-time test flight. Eleven months later, on her maiden flight, she crashed in France, killing 47 of the 54 passengers and crew.
THIS week’s picture came as something of a surprise to me, so I thought I’d share it with Retro readers.
The airship is a mode of transport that has largely been abandoned and forgotten – though in the 1920s they were the latest thing, the answer to many transport problems.
They had had their uses during the First World War, and they were seen as a means of carrying troops in large numbers to where they were needed. They could even be used as aircraft carriers.
In peace time, they could convey large numbers of passengers in quietness and comfort over land and ocean. The R101 had sleeping berths, lounges, a promenade deck, and even a smoking-room.
The smoking-room seems a bit ironic when you consider her ignominious end.
The maiden flight should have taken four days to reach Karachi. By aeroplane it would have taken eight days, and involved 21 stops for refuelling. By sea it would have taken four weeks.
The R101 should have been the fastest and most comfortable way to travel, if not the safest. She was one of two airships built to link the far corners of the empire.
It was intended that there should be regular flights between England, Canada, India and Australia.
And here she is, at 6.30am on November 3, 1929, over London Street in Reading, returning to Cardington near Bedford after her first night-time test flight.
It was subsequently decided that she would need more 'lift’, so she was cut in half, and a new section was added for more gas tanks. Once modified, she was an amazing 777 feet long.
The maiden flight was to have taken 54 people, including many of those involved in developing airships, from Cardington to the Imperial Conference in Karachi.
She left at midnight on October 4, 1930, and crashed to the ground not many hours later in France, bursting into flames and killing 47 of the 54 passengers and crew.
After this, despite the successful return trip of the sister ship, the R100, to Montreal, the country’s enthusiasm for building airships evaporated, the R100 was scrapped, and the Imperial Airship programme was abandoned.
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