Today in 1921: Crash of Airship R-38 / ZR-2

On this day in 1921, the British-built airship R-38 — intended for U.S. Navy service as ZR-2 — broke up in the air near Hull and crashed into the waters of the Humber estuary where its hydrogen ignited, killing all but five of the 49 men aboard.

R-38 First Flight

R-38 Control Car

 

6
Leave a Reply

avatar
3 Comment threads
3 Thread replies
108 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
5 Comment authors
Captain Cape MayJames WentworthPeter Hoarmark rosindaleDagmara Lizlovs Recent comment authors
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
James Wentworth
James Wentworth

If the ZR-2 / R.38 had survived, at least long enough to have made her delivery flight to the U.S., what was the U.S. Navy planning to name her? (The names of the U.S.S. Shenandoah and the U.S.S. Los Angeles [and later, the U.S.S. Akron and Macon] had been chosen… Read more »

mark rosindale
mark rosindale

Hello, I have a piece of this R38 that my grandmother collected as she lived in HULL at the time of the crash, she collected it from the crash site and I have some old photos to go with it.

Captain Cape May
Captain Cape May

I’d love to see the artifact. The U.S. Navy had constructed a huge hanger in Cape May to house the ZR-2. Of course, it was never used and was then destroyed in a hurricane during the 30’s. The rails embedded in the concrete floor are still in existence. I assume… Read more »

Dagmara Lizlovs
Dagmara Lizlovs

Dan:

According to Neville Shute Norway, the same team that build the R-38 was also the same team that worked on the R-101. How correct is that?

Peter Hoar
Peter Hoar

Certainly they were part of the team. Norway was horrified by their lack of any qualifications when they built the R-38.

James Wentworth
James Wentworth

I recall reading (I forget which book it’s in, but it’s an old one) that the engineers who designed the R.38 simply scaled-up the sizes of the girders from those in a wartime Zeppelin design, without performing stress analyses on them. During the post-R.38 accident investigation, the officials (including other… Read more »