The dreams of British airship designers literally went up in smoke when the R.101 crashed, killing 48 onboard, including the Air Minister Lord Thomson and Sir Sefton Brancker, the legendary Director of Civil Aviation. After taking us through the development of the British airship programme, Peter Davison & Giles Camplin discuss the R.101 development programme, the run up to the airship’s departure on 4 November 1930 and their view of the events that happened in the early hours of 5 November.

Peter Davison & Dr Giles Camplin addressed a meeting of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Historical Group on 4 November 2010 and the podcast was edited by Mike Stanberry FRAeS.