British Airship R.101 - Currell.net

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The great British passenger airships were built to meet the requirements of the Imperial Airship Scheme, a plan to provide travel throughout the British Empire by air. The R.101 was constructed by the Royal Airship Works while a rival ship, R.100, was built by a private company. When first flown in 1929, R.101 was the largest flying object ever built, with luxurious accomodations for her passengers. In spite of the huge volume of hydrogen lifting gas she was found to be too heavy, and in 1930 the ship was lengthened to 777 feet to add an extra gas cell.

R.101 at the mooring mast of her home base at Cardington, England.

Even then R.101's performance was unsatisfactory, but political pressure caused the ship to be sent on her maiden voyage to India on 4 October 1930. Early the next morning, struggling against wind and turbulence over northern France, the huge ship struck the ground and burst into flames. Of the 54 people aboard only six survived. The disaster caused the cancellation of the Airship Scheme, and the rival ship R.100, though a successful design, was scrapped the next year.

The great British passenger airships were built to meet the requirements of the Imperial Airship Scheme, a plan to provide travel throughout the British Empire by air. The R.101 was constructed by the Royal Airship Works while a rival ship, R.100, was built by a private company. When first flown in 1929, R.101 was the largest flying object ever built, with luxurious accomodations for her passengers. In spite of the huge volume of hydrogen lifting gas she was found to be too heavy, and in 1930 the ship was lengthened to 777 feet to add an extra gas cell.

R.101 at the mooring mast of her home base at Cardington, England.

Even then R.101's performance was unsatisfactory, but political pressure caused the ship to be sent on her maiden voyage to India on 4 October 1930. Early the next morning, struggling against wind and turbulence over northern France, the huge ship struck the ground and burst into flames. Of the 54 people aboard only six survived. The disaster caused the cancellation of the Airship Scheme, and the rival ship R.100, though a successful design, was scrapped the next year.

Information on the R.101 from other sites:

R101 - Wikipedia article on the R.101.

Airshipsonline: The Imperial Airship Service - A wealth of information about the R.100, R.101 and the British airship programme.

Information on the R.101 from other sites:

R101 - Wikipedia article on the R.101.

Airshipsonline: The Imperial Airship Service - A wealth of information about the R.100, R.101 and the British airship programme.

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British Airship R.101

Illustration of R.101

Photo of R.101 model

Skill Level 3/5
Previous experience recommended.

This model builds into an accurate 1:700 scale replica of R.101 at the time of her last voyage. The completed model is over 13 inches (33cm) long.

You will need a colour printer capable of handling card or cover stock to print the parts sheets. 67 lb cover stock (approx 8.5 thousandths of an inch or 0.2 mm thick) is recommended.

See photos of the finished model.

Brief history and related links.

The model files

r101_instr.pdf - 182 KiB - This document contains the instructions only (4 pages).

r101_parts.pdf - 2.68 MiB - This document contains the parts for the model (4 pages).

The parts and instructions are in Adobe PDF format. Your web browser may allow you to read and print these files, otherwise you'll need a PDF reader such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader or Foxit Reader.

Last updated on 5 February 2021
Copyright 2004-2021 by Ralph Currell.