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The R34 was a British airship built by William Beardmore and Company in Inchinnan, Renfrew making its first flight on the 14 March 1919.
She was delivered to her service base at East Fortune on 30 May 1919 and made her first endurance trip of 56 hours over the Baltic on the 17 to 20 June.
It was then decided to go for the first return Atlantic crossing under the command of Major George Scott. The R34 had never been intended as a passenger carrier and extra accommodation was arranged by slinging hammocks in the keel walkway. Hot food was provided by cooking on a plate welded to the engine exhaust pipe. Leaving Britain on 2 July 1919 she arrived in Mineola, Long Island, United States on 6 July after a flight of 108 hours with virtually no fuel left. As the landing party had no experience of handling large rigid airships, Major EM Pritchard jumped by parachute and so became the first person to reach American soil by air from Europe. This was the first East-West crossing of the Atlantic and was done two weeks after the first non-stop Atlantic crossing by Alcock & Brown. The return journey to Pulham Market in Norfolk was from 10 to 13 July and took 75 hours.
She then returned to East Fortune for a refit before going to Howden, East Riding of Yorkshire for crew training.
On 27 January 1921 she left on what should have been a routine exercise. Over the North Sea the weather worsened and a recall signal sent by radio was not received. Following a navigational error the craft hit the North York Moors in the dark and lost two propellors. She went back out to sea using the two remaining engines and in daylight followed the Humber estuary back to Howden. Strong winds made it impossible to get her back into the shed and she was tied down outside for the night. By the morning further damage had occurred and the R34 was written off.
Specification
General characteristics
- Crew:
- Length: 643 feet / 196 metres
- Diameter: 79 feet / 24 metres
- Hydrogen capacity: 1,950,000 ft³ /55,218 cubic metres
- Gross lift: 59 tons / 53,524 kg
- Disposable lift: 26 tons / 23, 586 kg
- Powerplant: 5 x Sunbeam"Maori" 12 cylinder 275 hp /205 kW
Performance
- Maximum speed: 62 mph
See also
References
- Air Commodore E.M. Maitland, The Log of HMA R34:Journey to America and Back,1997 ISBN 0958369305
- Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik,Airship saga: The history of airships seen through the eyes of the men who designed, built, and flew them , 1982, ISBN 0713710012
- Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dressel, Zeppelin! The German Airship Story, 1990 ISBN 1-85409-045-3
- Ces Mowthorpe, Battlebags: British Airships of the First World War, 1995 ISBN 0905-778-138
- Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik, Jane's Pocket Book 7 - Airship Development, 1976 ISBN 0356-04656-7
"R34"