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.

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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...

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Other Subjects

Dr. Khawar Tauheed

Dr. Khawar Tauheed

A microbiologist, killed in the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster, aged 44.  Andrew Behan has kindly carried out further research: Dr Khawar Tauheed was born on 9 November 1954 in Pakistan and moved to...

Person, Tragedy, Pakistan

1 memorial
Lionel Erisey

Lionel Erisey

Non-British, killed by the Bali bomb.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Hammersmith war dead

Hammersmith war dead

Hammersmith servicemen who were killed in both world wars.

Group, Armed Forces, Tragedy

1 memorial
Maximilian Kolbe

Maximilian Kolbe

Saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Franciscan killed by the Nazis in 1941.

Person, Religion, Tragedy

1 memorial
Chung Choi
1 memorial

Previously viewed

H. R. Perriam

H. R. Perriam

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Hamilton T. Smith

Hamilton T. Smith

Furniture designer, founding member of the Design and Industries Association and director of Heals.

Person, Craft / Design, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior

A steam-powered armoured frigate. She and her sister ship HMS Black Prince were built in response to France's launching in 1859 of the first ocean-going ironclad warship, the Gloire. She became obs...

Vehicle, Transport

1 memorial
Robert Burns

Robert Burns

WC2, Victoria Embankment Gardens

Quill pen in hand. Unveiled by Lord Rosebery. This statue is one of 3 copies of that in Central Park, New York, the others being in Dunde...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators
Keith Bowler

Keith Bowler

We cannot find any information about Bowler himself, only that in c.1990-2010, at least, he lived in Wilkes Street Spitalfields and created these unusual pavement plaques. We understand they were c...

Person, Sculpture

22 memorials