Event    From 5/10/1930  To 5/10/1930

Crash of the R101 airship

Categories: Tragedy

In the 1920s the British government was hoping airships would provide a means of transport to the far-flung Empire. Two vehicles were being trialled: the R100 and the R101. On its first overseas flight the R101 crashed at Beauvais, north of Paris. Of the 54 people on board 48 were killed.

The R100 had successfully crossed the Atlantic but was immediately grounded and in 1931 scrapped.

No film exists of the crash (though you may be familiar with the horrific Hindenburg footage) but there is film of the start of R101's final flight and the wreckage.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Crash of the R101 airship

Commemorated ati

Westminster Hall - R101

Plaque unveiled by Angela Smith Baroness Smith of Basildon, together with mem...

Read More

Other Subjects

Ahmet Alan

Ahmet Alan

22 years old, artist

Person, Tragedy, Turkey

1 memorial
victims of Human BSE (vCJD)

victims of Human BSE (vCJD)

According to the list on JusticeforAndy there have been about 160 victims in the UK, "people who have died, been diagnosed or affected by vCJD." The disease is too complex for us to attempt to summ...

Group, Tragedy

1 memorial
Thomas Darlington

Thomas Darlington

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Temporary Leading Fireman Stephen Thomas Maynard

Temporary Leading Fireman Stephen Thomas Maynard

Temporary Leading Fireman of Poplar Fire Station who died, aged 26 years, fighting a fire aboard the petroleum gas tanker the M. V. Rudi M, at Limehouse Basin on 25 January 1980. 50 firemen had bee...

Person, Emergency Services, Tragedy

2 memorials