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

Lidice massacre

Lidice massacre

Lidice is a village in the Czech Republic just north-west of Prague. Following the assassination of Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich, a high-ranking Nazi, the search for the culprits failed, desp...

Event, Tragedy, Czechoslovakia

1 memorial
George Topham

George Topham

Construction worker killed in the fatal accident at Crystal Palace.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Chiman Mahanlal Shah

Chiman Mahanlal Shah

There is some confusion about the spelling of this man's name. We know that he was killed on his 36th birthday in the Moorgate tube disaster. His death was registered as Chiman Mahanlal Shah in th...

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial