Britains Giant Airship: R. 101

You can learn more about Bill s book Fatal Flight, The True Story of Britain s Last Great Airship including listening to an audio version for free at or here on youtube (see link below). Fatal Flight brings vividly to life the year of operation of R. 101, the last great British airshipa luxury liner three and a half times the length of a 747 jet, with a spacious lounge, a dining room that seated fifty, glasswalled promenade decks, and a smoking room. The British expected R. 101 to spearhead a fleet of imperial airships that would dominate the skies as British naval ships, a century earlier, had ruled the seas. The dream ended when, on its demonstration flight to India, R. 101 crashed in France, tragically killing nearly all aboard. Combining meticulous research with superb storytelling, Fatal Flight guides us from the moment the great airship emerged from its giant shednearly the largest building in the British Empireto soar on its first flight, to its