Abstract
THE Report of the R101 Inquiry, to which reference was made in NATURE of April 11, represents the unanimous finding of Sir John Simon and his two assessors, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon and Prof. C. E. Inglis. It is a remarkable document, in that it contains probably all the available relevant knowledge of the various phases of airship work, culled from a variety of sources, and presented in the form of a logical and reasoned argument that bears the obvious imprint of Sir John Simon's unbiased legal mind. The witnesses called before the court were, roughly, of three types, namely, those professionally concerned with the design and construction of the airship, who dealt with their own specialities; eyewitnesses of the disaster, mostly non-technical, whose evidence served to confirm or disprove certain theories; and other airship experts who came forward with suggestions of their own to assist the court. These matters are dealt with in one part of the Report. Another section is devoted to the question of assessing the responsibility for the existence of the general state of affairs that led to the undertaking of the flight to India at that time.
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The Loss of the Airship R101*. Nature 127, 617–619 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127617a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/127617a0