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The R101 Airship Crash

In the early morning of October 5th, 1930, the British dirigible airship R101 crashed in northern France, killing 48 of its 54 crew­men and pas­sen­gers. The horrific accident made inter­national head­lines and predated the better-known Hin­den­burg disaster by nearly seven years.

(Notice the delightful num­ber of steps you have to climb.)

To clarify: it’s easy to get confused, but the term “dirigible” is just the French name for
an airship, and Zeppelin was a German company that made airships (like: the Kleenex or Band-Aid of the airship world). But the proper term, as generic and boring as it sounds, is “airship.”

(Notice the elegantly precarious way to board.)

The R101 was supposed to match the sturdy luxury of a high-end ocean liner. But to allow for those essential refinements, everything else could only have the thinnest veneer of opulence because it needed to weigh as little as possible. One person described touch­ing the ceiling and it feeling “like a piece of stage scenery." All the walls were actually fabric. The pillars in the lounge were made from balsa [wood] covered with metal. Tables were also balsa and the chairs were made of the lightest cane. So it was kind of an illusion, the solidity of the ship.