The Imperial Airship Scheme

XXXI

In the late 1920s, the British Air Ministry launched what it called "The Imperial Airship Scheme," the idea of which was to link London with the rest of The Great British Empire via airship. To do this, the Air Ministry imagined two airships to begin with, the R-100 and the R-101.

R-100 was meant to fly from London on a transatlantic route to the east coast of Canada. Ultimately R-100's route was to be expanded to the Canadian Pacific coast.

R-100 was privately built by a British aircraft manufacturer, and was known as "The Capitalist Ship." Although she suffered numerous construction delays and cost overruns, she was revolutionary for her time, containing all operational compartments within the hull.

R-100 could carry a crew of 35 and 65 passengers. She was 720 feet long and 133 feet in circumference. Her frame design was radically different than other airships (note her prominent ribs), and though her numerous test flights showed that the frame design had its inherent weaknesses, it also showed that the ship as a whole had significant long-distance durability. R-100 easily flew between London and Canada, and inaugurated "The Imperial Airship Scheme" to great acclaim in the summer of 1930.