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.
