In the history of airship disasters, the crash of the R101 on 5th October 1930 is right up there alongside the Graf Zeppelin of 1937 in significance. Built by the Air Ministry for the British Government the R101 was the world’s largest Airship at the time and had been intended to be part of a fleet putting airships onto the civil aviation routes around the British Empire. Sadly the R101 crashed over France on its maiden long voyage killing 48 passengers and crew (only 3 people survived). The event sent an angered wave and public mourning around the country and promptly ended the UK’s venture into the Airship race.
As an infamous crash there is plenty of information up on the web all about this fascinating luxury airship and its subsequent crash. The crash itself had been relatively gentle but the airship was destroyed when the hydrogen contained inside exploded. The metal structure of the R101 wreck lay as found for nearly one year before an English Salvage company disassembled and removed it back to the UK where it was melted down and (as the rumour goes) a large part of the Duralumin (an early trade name for hardened aluminium) was sold to the Germans to create the infamous Graf Zeppelin.
Today surviving fragments of the R101 are extremely rare partly because I believe the site was guarded before being disassembled, and mostly because the UK firm who salvaged the wreck were told under strict instructions that because of public mourning over the crash they were not permitted to sell fragments as souvenirs. Instead they used some of the melted down metal to fashion into crafted souvenir items and these do turn up regularly.
This group of genuine pieces were dug directly from the crash site in France a few years ago by a passionate enthusiast who was given full permission by the local French Authority to survey the site (a copy of this is available to the purchaser if desired). What makes these fragments really nice is unlike most crash sites where all that is left are mangled shards of random metal, this crash was so gentle that these pieces remain in very good condition considering. Four of the parts are clearly labelled and or numbered for the Cardington Site which constructed the airship and thus can be identified. We have eyelets which laced the main cover over the frame, part of the metal strapping that wrapped over one tubular strut to hold onto a perpendicular piece (I have a photo of this if interested) , a fragment of aluminium flooring, two jointing ties that I believe held struts together and a larger interestingly shaped steel jointing plate that again I believe allowed two triangular shaped struts to be joined to each other. This airship had to be modified multiple times during its initial construction so bespoke jointing ties and plates such as these were vital to allow the men to easily deconstruct sections and bolt it back together with ease. I have not had a chance to look through the original records for the R101 held at the National Archives but I’m sure they will have the detailed construction plans for the ship which will should allow you to locate the three numbered parts.
These items have been recently framed and please note the incorporated airship image is a modern reproduction. Looking through old auction listings I can only find a few random small fragments of the R101 that have been sold over the last decade and none were as easily identifiable or visually engaging as these items. The collection of pieces offered here were among the most interesting items discovered by the previous owner over several years of surveying the site.
Dimensions of frame: 34cm wide x 44 cm high
