Inside the R-100 airship
Luxury among the clouds, years before the Hindenburg
Amanda Uren
1929-1930
In 1921, the British empire was at its territorial peak, and needed aircraft to reach its distant colonies quickly. It was proposed that two airships be constructed: one by a private company, the “Capitalist” R-100, and one by the British Government Air Ministry, the “Socialist” R-101. The R-100 was designed by Barnes Wallis, who went on to create the “bouncing bomb” for the RAF in World War II. She was constructed in a remote hangar in Yorkshire, England. The design work began in 1925 and she made her maiden flight on Dec. 16, 1929. With a capacity of 100 passengers and 37 crew, the R-100 was propelled by six petrol engines and buoyed by more than 5 million cubic feet of hydrogen. Life on board for the passengers was in some ways luxurious, and in other ways not. The ship had three decks, the top two for passengers, the bottom for crew. There were 14 two-berth cabins and 18 four-berth cabins.A double staircase led down from the cabins to the main salon, which also doubled as the dining room. On either side of this were promenade decks where passengers could enjoy tea and the view through panoramic windows. The R-100 brochure described it as "like a small hotel” and "intermediate in comfort between a Pullman coach and ocean liner." This may have been so for the public areas of the airship, but the cabin arrangements were different. Passengers slept in bunk beds and the cabins were separated by cloth walls with no soundproofing. The fittings of the ship were made of lightweight wood stained to look like mahogany and the lightweight metal Duralumin.
There was nothing to suggest that we were in an aircraft and actually in the air. We might have been in some well appointed restaurant. - Flight Magazine, Dec. 6, 1929
After a series of tests, the R-100 embarked on her first great voyage. Originally planned for India, the destination was changed to Canada over concerns about the engines’ performance in tropical heat. The R-100 departed from England on July 29, 1930, arriving at Quebec Airport 78 hours later. It flew some short flights in the area and returned to the UK on Aug. 16.There were a few minor hitches on the journey. A storm caused the outer membrane to rupture, which had to be repaired in-flight and replaced in Montreal. The galley’s electric oven also broke down due to water damage on the way back.When the R-100 arrived back in the UK, it was pulled into a hangar for a damage assessment. Meanwhile, on Oct. 4, 1930, the R-101 set off for a voyage to India. It crashed in France due to bad weather, killing 48 of the 54 passengers and crew, including several major figures of British aviation. As a result, the R-100 was grounded and eventually steamrolled flat and scrapped for less than £600.
