This film is part of Free
R101's Maiden Flight
First outing for an imperial airship, traveling from Bedfordshire to London and back again.
Overview
The vanguard aviation technology of the 1930s still looks like a science-fiction dream, as the sleek cigar-shaped body of the R101 floats by its mooring mast and away into the sky. Some of the ship's features do seem ill-advised to modern eyes, though - side mounted propellers, the gondola control car suspended underneath and the drawbridge gangway allowing precarious boarding from the mast.
The visual appeal of airships made them a frequent subject for the cinema newsreels, as in this story from Topical Budget. Sadly the great dream of British airships traversing the Empire died with the R101, when it crashed in France en route to India in 1930. The aftermath of the crash was also recorded on film, forming a valedictory bookend to this maiden flight. The R101's base at Cardington remains the British home of lighter-than-air craft however, hosting its 21st century successor, the enormous Airlander 10.
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