Meeting Reflections

Richard Moon – Seizing The Skies

Richard is the co author of a play entitled “Seizing the Skies.”His play was recently performed at the Place Theatre in Bedford and was very well received 

Now Richard was going to talk to us about the theme of the play which is the airship R101

He explained the story had three parts

The people who built the airship

The people who flew and why it shouldn’t have flown

The crash

He told us that it was really a story of obsessive love and terrible loss, really a story about people.

The first person was Christopher Thomson. Richard said it is quite difficult to put ourselves in touch with the 1920s. Christopher Thomson was very intelligent, a socialist, a believer  in the British  Empire and an imperialist 

He fell in love with a Hungarian Princess Marthe Bibesco. Unfortunately, Marthe, a socialite who lived in Paris, moved in high circles,  had liaisons  with VIPs and had an attraction to powerful men. She was not particularly interested in a British major . Nevertheless this didn’t stop Christopher Thomson trying his best to impress her

He joined the Labour Party  and gave up his career. He lost the election in 1924 but Ramsey Macdonald who thought very highly of him , made him a peer. He also became Air Minister. He was determined to show the Princess that he was an important man and definitely not a failure

He gave a speech in the House of Lords outlining his Imperial Airship Scheme in which his intention was to have airships  flying to our colonies, Australia and New Zealand

Nevil Shute Norway was a designer who recommended to Christopher Thomson that he should go ahead with his airship  proposals as the rivals would not wait

In 1924 , it was agreed that aeroplanes had no future for flying long distance and airships were the answer. A plane was suitable for flying as far as Paris with a maximum of 10 people as passengers 

There had been trouble with airships before but they thought to build them stronger and bigger was the answer. A strong airframe was built in sections  in Norwich with diesel engines( which were very heavy)  The airship was 777 feet long with viewing windows ,a hundred cabins and even a smoking lounge

There was five and a half cubic metres of hydrogen . A lot of the workmen engaged in the building of the airship were riggers. They were used to climbing and were able to do running repairs even during flight They could usually be heard whistling or singing because hydrogen does not smell or taste and this was the only way to test if there was a leak 

Women made the gas bags. There were 17 bags and these were made from the intestines from cows. These were delivered from Argentina and the USA. The barrels they came in smelled appalling and had to be cleaned in a humid atmosphere .

It was a really strong build but the 100 cabins and fittings, as well as the diesel engines , made it too heavy . The bags were too small and the lift proved to be only a half of what it should have been

Thomson, who still wanted to impress the Princess, wanted the ship to fly to India. The nearest mooring mast , after Cardington, was in Karachi. He wanted first the airship to fly over London where there was to be a conference of 6 to 8 weeks involving the colonies

It was discovered that the gas bags were coming into contact with metal and this was causing them to tear. The bags were made stronger  with more of them. The airship finally flew at Hendon Air Show  in front of the King.  800 people worked at Cardington  and Wing Commander Reginald Coleman who was top man there needed the Government to order the next set of airships Perhaps he should have realised and told Thomson that his dream of flying to India was not a reality . He was responsible for  the air nautical department granting the permit to fly

The airship went back inside the hanger. 47 feet was added  in the middle and a new gas bag was made . Scott who was second in command was an experienced pilot and should have said the ship was not capable of flying to India . Instead he was usually , by report, found inebriated after lunch

In September 1930, the ship was walked out of the shed by 400 people. It needed calm weather and was supposed to fly. One engine failed so it couldn’t. The Ship’s Captain was Bird Irwin an experienced pilot and second in command was Lieutenant Commander Atherstone who was competent , a good leader of men but critical of the way things were run at Cardington 

On October 4th 1930, a storm was brewing. People were ready to board. It was decided to drop 10 tons of ballast. Lord Thomson came on board. With him he brought his personal valet ,his dress sword and an Axminster carpet. She flew as far as the Channel where she should have turned back to Cardington to stand any chance of survival but instead she flew on . The ship was losing height and at 2 am she flew low over Beauvais Cathedral. Reports have said that in reality she was only flying at 300 ft. A little east of the Cathedral she crashed. 54 people died , 2 more died later  and 6 survived. The bodies  were sent to Westminster Hall to lie in state and in Cardington church there is a memorial to those who died

Richard Moon added that we all moan about risk assessments but in reality they are our safeguard. If only one had been done for the R101  !!

Phil Dover