Latest Meeting Report:

Meeting Report of the Ipswich and District Historical Transport Society on April 24th 2024.

 A total of  66 members and guests attended our April meeting.

We welcomed Alastair Lawson. Alastair gave an illustrated talk on “The Airship Trust including the Golden Age of Airships and Cardington Airship Station.”

One of the first pioneers of airship design was Ferdinand von Zeppelin in Germany back in the early 1900’s. By the time World War One began, the Germans were using them as very effective bombers. The British brought out their own slow moving, non-rigid Submarine Scout Class airships during this period and used them for spotting U-boat periscopes.

At this time the main manufacturers were Short Brothers in England and Beardmores in Scotland.

Airships through the war became more sophisticated and eventually contained a number of hydrogen gas cells, rigid framework skeletons, used more advanced mooring techniques and incorporated swivelling propellors. In 1917 Short Brothers moved to Bedfordshire and their Chief Designer (Claude Lipscombe) chose the open land at Cardington to build his factory and sheds. With houses for workers; this became Short’s Town. A little earlier in the war the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) had their own airship base at Howden in South Yorkshire. The RNAS also had an experimental airship base at Pulham in Norfolk.

The first airship out of Cardington was R31, built just before the Armistice in 1918. R31 had a top speed of 70 mph and two engines originally. One was eventually removed to aid lift. A number of craft followed, including R34 which created a first by making an Atlantic crossing in July 1919.

In 1926 a 226 foot high mooring mast containing a lift was brought into use at Cardington. The main shed was expanded in size and a second shed transferred from Pulham in this period.

By the late twenties airships were designed to mimic the facilities only found in the top luxury liners with lounges and promenade decks. At this time two parallel projects were launched; the R101 at Cardington and the R100 at Howden. The Cardington project team were headed up by Colonel Richmond and Squadron Leader Michael Rope. The latter was a member of the farming Rope family of Kesgrave – Ropes Drive is a road through Kesgrave and is named after the family.

The Howden project was led by Barnes Wallis of “Dambusters” fame. The two teams were deliberately set-up in competition. The intention being to take the best ideas from each in order to use them in later designs.

A test flight of R101 was made to Montreal and back after which a new cover was fitted. An additional centre section incorporating an additional gas balloon was introduced because the trial indicated inadequate lift. R101 was originally 735 feet long but its final length was 777 feet, which is three times the length of a Boeing 747.

R101 set out from Cardington for Karachi at 6.24pm on October 6th 1930. The Secretary of State for Air; Lord Thomson was on-board, as was Michael Rope. The latter had some misgivings about the ship and its ability to survive in heavy rain and he had made these known – to no avail.

By dusk the weather had begun to deteriorate and fine rain began to fall. The French coast was crossed at the Point de St Quentin at 23:36 GMT. It is interesting to note that, if needed, rain was collected from the surface of the airship in order to augment ballast stocks.

By 02.00 hrs the airship was having trouble maintaining height and at 02.08 hrs it went into a steep dive. A tear opened up in the nose area, water entered which split a hydrogen gas bag. Efforts were made to keep the craft aloft but it was a losing battle. She landed gently at a speed of c.13 mph at the edge of a wood outside Allonne, 2.5 miles southeast of Beauvais. It bounced and the nose cut a furrow in the ground. Unfortunately the hot starboard engine made contact with a gas bag – igniting the hydrogen.

Of the 56 on board; eight survived but two of those died later. The bodies of the dead lay in state by orders of King George V in Westminster Hall. It proved an ignominious end to airship travel for many years and it still carries the stigma of that sad end. R100 flew no more.

Michael Rope’s young wife had the little Catholic church of St Michael in Kesgrave built as a memorial to her dead husband. She was carrying his unborn baby at the time of his death.

The Airship Heritage Trust was set up in 1985 by a group of dedicated enthusiasts and relatives of the original crew members. Over the last few years from its humble beginning the Trust has grown and worked very hard to where it is today, with it's membership spanning many countries, worldwide.

The evening ended with a short Q and A session, followed by warm applause for our guest and a vote of thanks from our Chairman; Sylvia Kerridge.

Mervyn Russen

Alastair Lawson (With his permission)

R101 discharging water ballast as it leaves the mooring mast at Cardington. (With the permission of Alastair Lawson)

Close-up of the mooring mast from “Picture 2”. Note the two men standing on top of the mast unsecured. (Picture with the permission of Alastair Lawson)

R101 in flight. (Attributed to Victor A Chapman under the Creative Commons Attribution – Share Alike 3.0 Unported Licence)

Grainy shot of the wreck of R101 with sightseers. (Picture in the public domain)