Incredible Negligence: the R101 Disaster

In the late 1920s the whole world was experimenting with airships and lighter-than-air travels- Germany had an impressive fleet of zeppelins which would eventually culminate in the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin. But Britain experimented too, and the pride of the Imperial Airship program were the airships R100 and R101. Design faults and methodology flaws soon set in and the R101 set out in a dangerous condition leading to the largest loss of life in any airship accident. Let’s take a look at what went wrong and how Britain’s greatest airship was seemingly doomed from the start. Oceanliner Designs explores the design, construction, engineering and operation of history’s greatest vessels– from Titanic to Queen Mary and from the Empress of Ireland to the Lusitania. Join maritime researcher and illustrator Michael Brady as he tells the stories behind some of history’s most famous ocean liners and machines! #history #documentary #r101 #airship #zeppelin #hindenburg #engineering 0:00 Introduction 1:28 Airships; Way of the future? 4:39 R100 & R101 Are Born 8:07 Trials and Issues 11:31 Final Flight 17:30 Survivors 18:53 What Happened?