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This article is about the airship. For the italian radio station, see R101 (radio station).
R-101 was also the code designation used by the Soviet Union for studies of the Wasserfall missile. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The Wasserfall Ferngelenkte Flakrakete ( Waterfall Remote-Controlled A-A Rocket, also known as Aggregat 5) was a World War II guided
R101
Type Airship
Manufacturer Royal Airship Works
Designed by V. An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing building testing selling and maintaining Aircraft, Aircraft parts C. Richmond
Maiden flight 4 October 1930

The R101 Airship was a British airship that crashed on October 5, 1930, in France, during its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48 people. The maiden flight of an Aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Terminology In some countries airships are also known as dirigibles from the French (fr ''diriger'' to direct plus -ible) meaning "directable" Events 869 - The Fourth Council of Constantinople is convened to decide about what to do about Patriarch Photius of Constantinople Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Amongst airship accidents of the 1930s, the loss of life surpassed the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, and was second only to that of the USS Akron crash of 1933. Accidents of significant historical importance 1919 American Wingfoot Air Express. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Construction and commissioning Construction of the ZRS-4 commenced on 31 October 1929 at Springfield Township Ohio, by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, and on The demise of the R101 effectively ended British employment of rigid airships.

Contents

History

Design

The R101 was the result of a British government initiative to develop airships. In 1924, the Imperial Airship Scheme was proposed as a way to carry 200 troops or five fighter aircraft. The United Kingdom 's Imperial Airship Scheme was first known as the Burney Scheme after Sir Dennistoun Burney, who in 1921 proposed to Vickers, Ltd This was expected to require an airship of 8 million cubic feet (230,000 m³) – well beyond current designs. As a result, the two prototype airships of 5 million cubic feet (140,000 m³) were authorized; two to exploit competition and develop new ideas. Two teams were used: one, under direction of the Government Air Ministry, would build the R101 (hence the nickname "the Socialist Airship"), and the other would be designed by a private company Vickers, building the R100 (the "Capitalist Airship") under contract for a fixed price. The Air Ministry was formerly a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force. Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 2004 WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Among Vickers' engineers were the designer Barnes Wallis, later to become famous for the bouncing bomb and, as Chief Calculator (ie, Stress Engineer), Nevil Norway – known in later years as the novelist, Nevil Shute. Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE, Kt, FRS, RDI, FRAeS ( 26 September 1887  &ndash 30 October A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target such as across water to avoid Torpedo nets Unlike Skip bombing, which uses conventional Nevil Shute Norway ( 17 January 1899 - 12 January 1960) was both a popular novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer

The story of the designs of the R100 and R101, and the competition between them, is told in Shute's Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer, which was first published in 1954 and in Airship Saga, published 1980 by Lord Venty. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Slide Rule Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial Autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute.

Construction

The building of the R101 began in 1926 at the Royal Airship Works at Cardington in Bedfordshire. Cardington is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire in England, best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers Bedfordshire (abbreviated Beds) is a County in England that forms part of the East of England region. The frames themselves were built by Boulton and Paul in Norwich and transported to Bedfordshire for assembly. Boulton & Paul was a British general manufacturer from Norwich that became involved in aircraft manufacture History Roman The Romans had their regional capital at Venta Icenorum on the river to the south which is near modern-day Caistor St Edmund

Due to a failed attempt to create hydrogen-powered engines and several other new design concepts, the project's completion was delayed from 1927 to 1929. Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 The R101 was meant to have a useful lift of 60 tons but ended up only able to carry 35 tons. In the context of a Fluid flow relative to a body the lift force is the component of the Aerodynamic force that is Perpendicular to the flow

The stability of the R101 was doubtful, due to the insufficient span of its fins into the airstream. During its flight at the Hendon air show in 1930, it almost plunged to the ground, as well as repeatedly going into a dive during the return flight. Hendon is a London suburban development situated 7 miles (113 km north west of Charing Cross. Its gas bags also developed numerous leaks. The gas bag valves were of a novel design and placement. They showed a tendency to open slightly as the ship rolled thus causing a continual leaking of lifting gas and leading to constant decrease of lift in flight. Despite this, it was given a Certificate of Airworthiness. Airworthiness Certificate can mean Standard Airworthiness Certificate Special Airworthiness Certificate Engineers lengthened the frame, added another gas bag, reversed propellers, and replaced the outer cover. After that, the ship was 777 feet (237 m) long with a total volume of 5. 5 million cubic feet (160,000 m³) and a useful lift of just under 50 tons. The cubic foot is an imperial and US customary (non- metric) unit of Volume, used in the United States Canada and the United Kingdom

At completion, she was the largest flying craft ever built, surpassing the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, which was of similar length but carried only 3. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout 7 million cubic feet (100,000 m³) of lifting gas. The LZ 129 Hindenburg surpassed her five years later at 804 feet (245 m) long and 7 million cubic feet (200,000 m³). WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Accommodation

The passenger accommodation was spread over two decks within the envelope and included 50 passenger cabins for one, two or four people, a dining room for 60 people, two promenade decks with windows down the sides of the ship, and even an asbestos-lined smoking room for 24 people. Most of the passenger space was on the upper deck with space for the crew, kitchens and washrooms and the smoking cabin on the lower.

Engines

The R101 was fitted with five heavy diesel engines made by Beardmore. William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish Engineering and Shipbuilding company based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area The engines were designed by combining two four cylinder railway transport units into the 8 cylinder Beardmore MkI Tornado engine. These were intended to give an output of 700 bhp (520 kW) at 1,000 rpm but in practice had a continuous output rating of only 585 bhp (436 kW) and, at 17 tons for the five, were 6 tons above design weight. The big end bearings were also found to be prone to early failure, and it was reported gold plating had to be used to lengthen their life. In additions, there were two critical vibration frequencies which coincided with idling and cruising speeds, to unfortunate effect. The engines were intended to have reversing propellers, but they failed. At one point during development, one engine was to be aimed astern and used only at the start and finish of flights, a decision that astonished Shute and the other engineers on the R100 team. This was later changed when two engines were made reversible.

Final Flight

The wreckage of the R101 airship.
The wreckage of the R101 airship.

The Air Ministry pressured the engineers to finish the project. The final trial flight of the R101 was originally scheduled for September 26, 1930 but an unfavourable wind delayed it until October 1. Events 46 BC - Julius Caesar dedicates a Year 1930 ( MCMXXX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 331 BC - Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. She returned to Cardington after a flight of 17 hours.

The R101 departed on October 4 at 6:24 p. Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas m. for its intended destination to Karachi (then part of British India) via a refueling stop at Ismaïlia in Egypt under the command of Flight Lieutenant Carmichael Irwin. (ڪراچي) is the largest city in Pakistan. It is the world's second largest city proper behind Mumbai in terms of population which exceeds 10 million For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British Ismaïlia (الإسماعيلية is the Capital of Al Isma'iliyah Governorate. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Flight Lieutenant ( Flt Lt in the RAF; FLTLT in the RAAF and RNZAF, F/L in the former RCAF) is a junior Passengers included Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation, and Squadron Leader William Palstra, RAAF air liaison officer (ALO) to the British Air Ministry. Christopher Birdwood Thomson 1st Baron Thomson ( 13 April 1875 - 5 October 1930) was a British Army officer who went on to serve as The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position in charge of the Air Ministry. Air Vice-Marshal Sir William Sefton Brancker KCB, AFC ( 22 March[[ 877]] - 5 October[[ 930]] commonly known as Sir Sefton The Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF) is the Air Force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The airship had to drop 5 tons of water ballast to lift off.

Over France, the R101 encountered gusting winds that tore back the outer covering, exposing and rupturing the first gas bag. The R101 crashed into a hillside near Beauvais, north of Paris, at only 13 mph (20 km/h). Beauvais is a town and commune of northern France, Préfecture (capital of the Oise département. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city The crash ignited the leaking hydrogen and fire quickly engulfed the entire airship.

Forty-six of the fifty-four passengers and crew were killed immediately. Two men who survived the crash later died at the hospital bringing the total to forty-eight dead. One of the on-site crash investigators absent-mindedly used a bit of still-burning wreckage to light a cigarette, prompting his partner to observe that he had just lit up with "the most expensive cigarette lighter in the world. "

The Court of Inquiry concluded that there was evidence there had been a failure of the outer cover of the upper nose. This, it was postulated, led to the destruction of a gas bag, loss of the flammable hydrogen lifting gas, and caused the nose to drop. Hydrogen (ˈhaɪdrədʒən is the Chemical element with Atomic number 1 The R101 had exhibited severe longitudinal instability in previous flights, and due to a unique design feature –- lack of any wire bulkheads to prevent gas cell surging –- they had been seen to move back and forth during flight. The exact source of ignition was never determined.

Scrap contractors salvaged what they could of the R101 wreckage, continuing through 1931. The Zeppelin Company purchased 5 tons of duralumin from the wreck. Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German company which during the early 20th century was a leader in the design and manufacture of Rigid airships Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium or dural) is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable Aluminium alloys

The R101 was the end of British attempts to create lighter-than-air aircraft. Its competitor, the R100, despite a more successful development programme, and a safe transatlantic trial flight, was mothballed immediately after the R101's crash and sold for scrap in 1931. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout

Popular culture

Illustration of the R101 Maiden Voyage
Illustration of the R101 Maiden Voyage

Specifications

General characteristics

Performance

See also

References

External links

Slide Rule Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial Autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute.
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