The Great Grey Ghost Airship R101

(4.6 stars; 7 reviews)

The Great Grey Ghost Airship R101 Rewind remembers the tragedy of the R101 with a documentary called The Great Grey Ghost. It tells the story of the airship through the voices of five of the six crash survivors, along with men who were involved in the planning and construction of the airship.  The R101 was a model of luxury and comfort. Known as "the giant of the air," it was bigger than most ocean liners of the day. It was the result of an ambitious plan by the British government to build a series of airships - huge cigar shaped dirigibles - to transport both passengers and mail from Britain to the countries of the empire, primarily Canada, India and Australia. It happened seven years before the Hindenburg. It was called the R101, and on October 5, 1930 it crashed in northern France on its maiden voyage, killing 48 out of 54 people on board. Among the dead were Lord Christopher Thomson, Secretary of State for Air in the British government. Many other senior government officials also perished, as did nearly all the designers of the dirigible.  What caused the disaster? No one is likely to know for sure, but one contributing factor seemed to be the weight of the ship. Not only was Captain Carmichael worried about the ship's low altitude on the night of the disaster, but the Captain of the R100 had the same concerns when he had taken the ship out for a test flight. At 113 tons, she weighed much more than the intended 90 tons, and her disposable lift was only 148 tons instead of the specified 156 tons. A contributing factor to the excessive weight was the engines. Instead of using standard petroleum engines, the R101 employed significantly heavier railcar-type diesel engines. The Great Grey Ghost was produced by the brilliant CBC documentary maker Len Chapple and originally aired on CBC Radio in 1966. The survivors of the R101 heard in Len Chapple's documentary The Great Grey Ghost are Joe Binks, Arthur Bell, Harry Leech, Alfred Crook, and Arthur Disley. Also heard were the voices of the Captain and First Officer of the R100, Designer Dr Barnes Wallis, The Director of the Airship Guarantee Company, Commander Sir Dennistoun Burney, members of the R101 design and construction group. The widows of First Engineer William Rose Gent, Air Ministry Duty Officer Sir Morris Dean, meteorologist Colonel Ernest Gold, chemist J.W.W. Dyer were also heard briefly.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.