THE DЕАDLIEST civil airship accident: Forgotten British Giant R.101

The crash of the British airship R101 is not as well known as the famous Zeppelin Hindenburg Disaster. Nonetheless, the R.101 disaster still remains the biggest tragedy in history among commercial airships.

On October 4th, 1930, the giant airship R-101 set to fly from London to India. At that time, it was the largest and arguably most luxurious airship in the history of aviation. The R-101 was the first link in the British Empire's ambitious plan to create a worldwide network of air routes and build a fleet of giant airships. Just like British dreadnoughts ruled the seas, British airships were meant to rule the skies. But the crash of R-101 put an end to Britain's ambitious Imperial plans.

Chapters:
00:00 - R.101
01:40 - Air Giants
03:48 - Socialist vs Capitalist
05:55 - Intestines
08:33 - Hydrogen
10:35 - Diesel
12:24 - Luxury
15:30 - 14 Meters
18:55 - First and Last
22:04 - Curse

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Paper Skies - amazing stories about famous airplanes, historical events, or exceptional people that have changed the world of aviation or turned out to be unfairly forgotten.

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#aviation #history #airship

[bombtwenty]

It's strange that under friendly conditions, these ships had a habit of burning, but during WWI, the RAF had difficulty at first bringing raiding Zeppelins down

[smiffy]

This is family history for me - the Chief Coxswain George ‘Sky’ Hunt was my great uncle and he died when, having actually escaped from the wreck, he went back into the inferno to try to rescue his best friend. I represented the family at the 85th anniversary commemoration of the disaster at the mass grave and memorial to the victims in Cardington, Bedfordshire, not far from the huge sheds where R100 and R101 were built.

[osirisandilio]

Smoking, Asbestos and Hydrogen, sounds like a dream flight

[afterburner]

Just gonna throw this out there : the visuals in this video are absolutely mind blowing. Aside from archival footage, the whole blueprints and 3D models used are really serving the narrative of the documentary. Absolutely zero regrets to be a subscriber. Amazing story telling, voice over, use of visuals and editing skills. Hats-off sir.
Cherry on top is the shout out to Bill Hammock, The Engineering Guy at the end.

[umvhu]

The R100 design team included Barnes Wallis, the R101 essentially used an enlarged R100 frame and Barnes Wallis had doubts about it's strength and when the 14 metres was added he again expressed his concerns.
When R101 departed Cardington the altitude was about 25m ASL, just to the South East is Hammer Hill about 4km at about 80m ASL, R101's lift was so poor it failed to clear the hill. A gondola gouged the hill and the furrow was still visible in 1981 when I visited the site.

[panachevitz]

Iron Maiden (Bruce Dickenson) wrote a 20 minute masterpiece about the R101's last day, called "Empire of the Clouds." It's an amazing song, and if Bruce's cancer treatment hadn't been as effective as it was, it might have been the last Iron Maiden song ever written.

The Engineering Guy channel (professor of engineering) also wrote a book about the R101 and did several presentations on the airship as well.

[XPLAlN]

I gave up my job at the helium factory. I won't be talked to in that tone.

[jobbiejew]

Your channel is one of YouTube’s hidden gems. Very interesting content.

[joshuahedges]

The fact that the R. 101 and the Hindenburg had the same metal sure was a twist for me.

[davidmcintyre]

The Iron Maiden song"Empire of the Clouds"is a moving and powerful telling of the story of this airship

[ianmacfarlane]

Although airships were inherently dangerous, (given the available technology of the era) I'd love to have had the opportunity to see one, even travelled on one - perhaps the R100 rather than the R101.
RIP to everyone who died in all airship accidents - true pioneers.

[peterbrazier]

The Tragedy is that R100 got scrapped and there was no problems with it.

[Rick-velx]

When my dad was a small boy he saw R101 at no great height on a test flight over Coventry. He remembered waving at the crew in the control car who saw him and they waved back. He was later taken to Cardington by his grandfather (by motorcycle) and saw R101 on the mooring mast. His lifelong interest in aviation began at this point and he subsequently flew fighter jets.

[na]

Thanks for the recognition of the magnificent L59 (LZ-104) and Captain Bockholt.

Things like the rings without wires had been tried by Schütte-Lanz in Germany in 1916-1918, and while some things there innovated were quickly adapted by the builders others did not.

[stejer]

Incredible accurate and great footage as well!
Please keep up this quality, even if it takes longer to produce.

We don't need another 'Dark Skies' on YouTube...

[rogerb]

@ 18:20 ... one of those emails in my spambox promising to enlarge my airship. The best line of the week. Thanks, mate!

[helenprole]

Amazing video! A video on the harrier (callsign ZA176) that landed on a cargo ship (Alraigo incident) would make my dreams come true! And expect to see me here on every video! Keep up the outstanding work!

[sixstringedthing]

I watched a video the other day about tower crane operators. I'm trying to decide which would be a more intimidating way to start your workday; climbing 100 meters up a rickety ladder inside a swaying metal tower to get to the crane cab, or climbing 3 meters down a vibrating ladder 500M above the ground to get into the engine cab with the roaring diesel. I suppose it doesn't really matter... it's not the height of the fall that's the problem, it's the sudden stop at the end. As an electrician I'm not unfamiliar with working at heights, but yeah... no thanks!
In terms of critique: well researched, wonderfully produced, and your accent is a pleasant change from the British/American voiceovers, very pleasing to hear. Thanks for the videos!
Edit: And thank you for the audiobook link too! :D

[futurepig]

It takes a lot of guts to fly an airship...

[jonskowitz]

Also: USS Akron and USS Macon were awesome! The loss of both ships had more to do with poor operational planning and Navy brass not fully grasping the limitations of airships than any design flaw (though I will concede that the tail framework of both airships was substandard).