The Accident to “R.101”: A Recapitulation of the Airship's History and the Circumstances of the Last Flight

THE fact that (pending the holding of a Court of Inquiry by Sir John Simon, with Lt.‐Col. J. T. C. Moore‐Brabazon and Professor C. E. Inglis as assessors, which is only starting to sit as this is being written) the Air Ministry have rightly withheld all information as to any evidence that has been obtained pointing to conclusions as to the cause of the disaster to “R.101,” makes it difficult to write on the subject. The utmost that it seems possible to do is to review briefly the history of the airship since her launch on October 12, 1929; to touch on any points in her original design (of which a full description was published in AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING in November, 1929, Vol. I, pp. 304–312), or in any alterations that have since been made thereto, that might have a bearing on the accident or rebut improbable theories; to describe the incidents of her flight up to the moment of the accident; and to attempt to sift some coherent account of the disaster from the press reports, often conflicting, of the statements of the survivors and the one eye‐witness.