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MarkUK
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Date Posted:06/07/2019 08:27:03Copy HTML

The three months May to July 1919 saw some incredible feats of aviation - the first flight across the Atlantic by a US crew in May, the first non-stop flight by the British in June and in July the first east-west crossing and the first double crossing by the British airship R34.

The R34 was a copy of a German Zeppelin captured intact in 1916 and although by the time the R34 was launched in December 1918 it was outdated it was still the largest airship GB had built at the time - 634 ft long with a volume of 1.95 million cu ft of hydrogen.

A decision was made early in 1919 that it would be the first aircraft to attempt the difficult east-west into the prevailing wind trans-Atlantic flight. Under the command of Maj George Scott with a crew of 29, including a representative of the US Navy, the giant airship took off from East Fortune in Scotland at 0142 on 2 July and headed west. Then 12 hours into the flight when it was over the Atlantic came a huge surprise - there were 31 on board! A stowaway was found hiding high up in the rigging, AC2 William Ballantyne. He had been with the R34 on all of its trial flights but was not included on the trans-Atlantic crew list, so he went on board unnoticed among with the crew and hid himself at the top of the ship. But after 12 hours suffering from cramp and cold plus nausea from the leaking gas bags he descended. Being already over the sea there was nothing Maj Scott could do so Ballantyne made the first cossing after all.

But the discoveries weren't over. a few hours later a second stowaway was found, the kitten Wopsie that had been the ships mascot on the trial flights was discovered, it too made the crossing.

The Newfoundland coast was reached early on 4 July whereupon the R34 turned southwest for New York. The initial plan had been for a flight over the city, but a shortage of fuel meant that the airship headed for Mineola airfield, Long Island where it landed at 0954 6 July (100 years ago today) with just 140 gallons of fuel left. The flight had taken 108 hrs 12 mins. The steep descent of the R34 was captured in a famous photograph below, as were Ballantyne and Wopsie.

Roosevelt_Filed_LIMP_Bridge-1918-1_(2).jpg    _46000523_ballantyne_wopsie_226.jpg


You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #1
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Re:R34

Date Posted:06/07/2019 07:58:07Copy HTML

The first person to arrive in the Americas by air was Maj John Pritchard who parachuted out of the R34 onto Mineola Airfield so he could co-ordinate the ground crew most of whom had never seen let alone handled a rigid airship. 
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:R34

Date Posted:06/07/2019 11:12:52Copy HTML

Letter dropped over N.S. on historic 1919 airship flight unearthed


One hundred years ago, a letter fluttered down from the sky over Selmah, N.S.

It was dropped by the airship R34 as it made its historic flight over the province on its way from Scotland to New York.

The airship would break a number of records on that flight: the first east-to-west transatlantic crossing by air, the first human arrival by air in the U.S. — when someone on board parachuted from the ship to the ground — and the first human and feline transatlantic stowaways.

It would also make the first-ever return flight across the Atlantic when it returned to England a few days later.

The letter, though, remained undiscovered for four months.

On Nov. 8, 1919, one Milton Weldon found it in what was then called Selmah in Hants County (now Selma). He posted it to Halifax, where it was sent on to its destination in Bournemouth, England.

a close up of a piece of paper: The flight, which took place 100 years ago between Scotland and New York, was the first east-to-west transatlantic flight.

Now, that letter is on display at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, Scotland.

"It's a particularly important part of our history," said Ian Brown, the assistant curator of aviation at National Museums Scotland.

"We knew that they'd carried letters on the flight, but we didn't have an example in our collection. So when this came up for auction, we were delighted to have the chance to bid on it and ultimately successfully acquire it for the nation."

Penned by Royal Air Force chaplain George Davys Jones for his sister, the letter describes the great anticipation of the airship's impending flight: "We are all agog," he writes. "It is the greatest event in the history of the Station and all are praying for success…. 

"It will be an historic coup if it succeeds. I shouldn't mind going a bit but they didn't want a chaplain. They are not even taking a doctor."

a close up of text on a white background: The letter was found in Hants County four months after the airship's historic flight.© National Museums Scotland The letter was found in Hants County four months after the airship's historic flight.

Ironically, the packets of mail were dropped by parachute over land in Newfoundland and then Nova Scotia because the crew thought they would arrive at their destinations faster than if they waited to post them when they arrived in New York.

"If they'd carried on to New York and posted it from there, it would have got home probably within a week or two," said Brown.

The museum also possesses Jones's sister's reply, in which she complains about having to pay threepence to receive the letter because her brother forgot to put a stamp on it.

Brown said he doesn't know where the letter was for the last 100 years before it was auctioned off in March. He would not say how much the museum paid for it.

a close up of text on a white background: Chaplain George Davys Jones wrote the letter to his sister in England so she could receive a piece of mail delivered by the airship on its return flight.© National Museums Scotland Chaplain George Davys Jones wrote the letter to his sister in England so she could receive a piece of mail delivered by the airship on its return flight.

The airship, dubbed "Tiny," was anything but: it was nearly 200 metres long and 25 metres at its widest. The intestines of 600,000 oxen were used to make the hydrogen-filled gas bags that carried its crew of 30 across the Atlantic.

The R34 left the airbase in East Fortune, east of Edinburgh, on July 2, 1919, and reached Mineola, N.Y., 108 hours later, on July 6.

The flight was made even more nail-biting than it perhaps already was by electrical storms and dwindling fuel supplies. When the airship arrived at its destination, it only had enough fuel for two more hours of flight.

"Considering it took them 108 hours to get there, it really was … just making it by the skin of the teeth almost," said Brown.

a black and white photo of a plane: The R34, seen here in East Fortune, Scotland, was nicknamed 'Tiny.'© National Museums Scotland The R34, seen here in East Fortune, Scotland, was nicknamed 'Tiny.'

Stress may have peaked when part of one of the engines broke during the flight. But the engineer concocted a makeshift plan to fix it — with chewing gum.

"The engineer and half the crew were rapidly chewing all the chewing gum that they had on board to basically produce enough adhesive to stick this part back together," Brown said.

When the airship finally arrived, the crew was wined and dined in New York before departing on July 10 and arriving in Pulham, England, on July 13.

Airships were used to patrol the coast, protect convoys and target submarines during the First World War, and many believed they would one day become the future of air travel.

The R34, alas, did not survive to meet that fate. It was scrapped in 1921 after it flew into a hillside and lost two propellers.

The letter will be on display until Oct. 31 at the museum, along with a piece of the linen fabric from the airship's cover, part of one of the gas bags and a bottle of brandy taken on board for medicinal reasons.


MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #3
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Re:R34

Date Posted:10/07/2019 05:50:02Copy HTML

Three days after landing at Mineola the R34 was ready for the historic return flight. It took off just before midnight on 9 July with 31 on board, the stowaway Ballantyne was not included (the cat Wopsie did make the return journey though), the US representative was changed and one of the radio operator was replaced by two engineers to deal with the troublesome engines. 

The eye-catching flight over New York initially intended for 6 July could now go ahead. Shortly after midnight the R34, lit by searchlights, cruised over the city, the first rigid airship in the Americas, before heading east for home. The return journey was uneventful and the R34 landed at Pulham airship base, Norfolk at 0657 13 July after a flight of 75 hrs 3 mins and the first double crossing of the Atlantic.

You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:R34

Date Posted:11/07/2019 09:45:34Copy HTML

Did you notice Mark that the flight back took a lot less time that the flight over. It's all because of the prevailing winds that blow from west to east in North America. In other words they had tail winds pushing them on the way back. An example would be to fly by commercial jet to Edmonton from Toronto takes 4hrs-30 mins. To fly from Edmonton back to Toronto only takes 4 hrs. So you can see it not only affect air ships but modern aircraft of today.

On the R34 with the tail winds the return trip was 33 hrs-9 mins faster or a whole day and 9 hrs faster.

If Lindbergh had started his flight in Europe and tried flying to the States he wouldn't have made it because he would have a had head winds all the way and run out of fuel.


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Re:R34

Date Posted:12/07/2019 07:50:11Copy HTML

That explains why the early trans-Atlantic flights by the US Navy and the British airmen in May/June 1919 were in the "easier" direction. The first by aeroplane east-west wasn't until 1928. The outward flight of the R34 was unusually long in time and distance because it flew first to Newfoundland in good time, but then turned south for Long Island thus turning it into a four day journey.
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Re:R34

Date Posted:12/07/2019 05:29:10Copy HTML

They also took the same route back Major and the Jets of today do the same think when crossing. They try and stay over or as close to land as long as they can. During 9/11 that's why all the in bound flights from Britain and Europe landed in Newfoundland instead of going on to their destinations in the States.

When we flew from Cold Lake to Germany in a 707 acting as a re-fueler for the four fighters with us we first stopped in Goose Bay Labrador and then flew across the Labrador Sea to the coasts of Greenland, Iceland and the UK before crossing over to Germany. Ship took the same North Atlantic route.

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Re:R34

Date Posted:12/07/2019 05:40:13Copy HTML

The R34 took a more southerly route back. Inbound it flew via Newfoundland and Nova Scotia approaching Long Island from the north east. Outbound, after the detour over New York, it flew directly out to sea and next crossed land over Ireland.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:R34

Date Posted:14/07/2019 07:02:45Copy HTML

It would still have to fly in a north eastern direction to reach Ireland. It would fly south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. The same route in reverse that the Titanic was taking. If they flew directly east from NY they would hit the Acores islands and then Morocco or Portugal. They probably had both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in site but didn't fly directly over them.

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Re:R34

Date Posted:14/07/2019 07:22:51Copy HTML

It said the letter was dropped over Selmah, N.S. Which doesn't seem to exist on the map. Their is a place called Selma NS which is roughly 12 kms from Truro NS on Cobequid Bay which is part of the Minas Basin which is an extention of the Bay Of Fundy. If you look on google maps if they crossed over Newfoundland and across Selma NS it's almost a straight line to Long Island NY.

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Re:R34

Date Posted:15/07/2019 07:31:15Copy HTML

A word on the fate of the R34. Within two years of the historic trans-Atlantic double crossing it was lost in a storm. In January 1921 on a routine exercise it was forced down into a hillside losing two propellors, luckily there was no fire and it bounced into the air, But the damage made it almost impossible to control in the high winds and having failed to return to its base at Howden it came down in the open and had to be moored out overnight. The storm continued and the airship was wrecked, no-one was killed or injured.

Of the 34 men who made the 1919 flight (either one way or both) six were to die in airship crashes - three in the R38 in 1921, one in the US Navy Shenandoah in 1923 and two in the R101 in 1930.

You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
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Re:R34

Date Posted:16/07/2019 05:52:31Copy HTML

Would there ever be a practical use for an airship in today's world? Tourism maybe.

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Re:R34

Date Posted:16/07/2019 07:27:51Copy HTML

Tourism, sightseeing, pleasure cruises certainly; but also some countries are looking at airships for surveillance, heavy lifting use etc. We'll never see true rigid airships again, current models are semi-rigid or non-rigid types.
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