Abstract
THE report of the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the airship R101 over Beauvais on Oct. 5, 1930, has just been issued (Cmd. 3825. London: H.M. Stationery Office. 2s. 6d. net). It admits that an exact explanation of the immediate happenings leading to the disaster can never be given, owing to the lack of evidence, but by examining various hypotheses the Court has come to the unanimous conclusion that the one presented is the most plausible. This is, that there was a rapid loss of gas from one of the main forward gas bags, added to a heaviness from a gradual leakage of gas due to attrition of the bags, probably greater than was suspected. A heavy down air-current forced the nose down, and at the same time may have either caused or accelerated an existing tear in the outer envelope. The rush of air through this, again, may have either initiated or extended a split in the inner bag. It is known that the wind was variable enough to have buffeted the nose of the ship up and down, and the height coxswain, only just on duty and fresh to the ‘feel’ of the elevators, had possibly over-corrected an upward deflection when the downward one caught him. He then lost height to a dangerous extent while swinging the elevators to the other extreme position, but eventually succeeded in correcting the ship's altitude. The further loss of height following this appears to have been intentional in an endeavour to make a slow landing when it was realised that a crash was inevitable.
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[News and Views]. Nature 127, 563–569 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127563c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127563c0