The R Number in Hull 1921

 24th August 1921. The Official Communique of the UK Air Ministry read as follows;

"The Air Ministry regret to announce that an accident occurred to the R38 (Airship) while flying over Hull at about 5.45pm today which led to the ship crashing into the river. The cause of the accident is unknown and owing to the fact that there are no RAF personnel stationed in the vicinity of the scene of the disaster great difficulty is being expressed in obtaining immediate official information" 

Air Ministry representatives were instructed at once to proceed to Hull.

The R38 was, at the time, the largest rigid airship in the world at a length of 695 feet (212 metres). It had been built at Shorts but with the final specification and design features being the responsibility of the Air Ministry. The structure was in Duralumin, a hardened aluminium which had been championed for its qualities of lightness and strength and when matched up to a powertrain of six V-12 engines each producing 350 bhp the craft was at the cutting edge of airship technology. 

The impact of German Zeppelins on warfare had been very effective in spite of a very poor performance and safety record. The British airship programme in the aftermath of the First World War was seen as a major new direction for the RAF but yet, in 1921, the R38 was deemed surplus to requirements and had been sold to the American Governmnent to be re-named the ZR8. 

The ill fated flight in the August of 1921 was part of a familiarisation exercise with, amongst the crew of 48 a detachment of 17 Americans. The schedule was to fly from Howden Airfield in East Yorkshire to Pulham in Norfolk for final tests leading up to the impending actual long haul journey across the Atlantic. The weather was poor for August and the R38 had to remain out over the North Sea. Further test runs involved 20 minute intervals on the forward engines, a further 20 minutes on four engines and then completion of the hour on all six. These took place as the airship was making its way back following the line of the Humber Estuary at an altitude of 1000 feet and approaching the large regional City of Kingston Upon Hull. A wireless message sent to Howden expressed complete satisfaction that everything was running in fine condition, There was to be a Formal Dinner and Dance that evening in Hull and all on  board must have been anticipating celebrating a successful induction flight.

In spite of low clouds a large crowd of around 1000 had gathered to see the technological, lighter than air machine and many of these assembled around the Victoria Pier just on the fringe of the Old Town and City Centre. 

In a rapid manouevre the R38 attempted a turn in front of those watching but to their horror the huge cigar shape began to distort, crumple and break up as it fell in flames into the murky waters of the river. A series of explosions could be heard for miles around. A Hull woman was reported to have died from the shock of witnessing the accident. Others in the crowd were blown off their feet. Fragments and debris rained down. It was all over very quickly and mangled wreckage on a sandbank and in the water was all that was left for rescuers to approach in a frantic search for survivors. Witnesses claimed to have seen the deployment of parachutes but there were only 5 crew who were recovered alive. The Gondola which was the control, command and accommodation unit under the gas filled skin was later recovered but was devoid of any bodies. One item which washed ashore intact was the doll which was the mascot of the R38. 

The enquiry into the accident which involved a forensic study of the wreckage cast doubt on the structural integrity of the airframe. Girders were found to be fractured and it was later revealed that earlier concerns had called for bracing and strengthening to be carried out but obviously not of a sufficiency to prevent the tragic crash.

A further catastrophic crash of the R101 in 1930 and other disasters of similar craft in other nations effectively brought an end to large airship manufacture. 

There is a large Memorial to those lost in the Humber in a Hull Cemetery. If you search on You Tube there is also archive footage from contemporary News Reels.