rigidairship

The subject is incorrect. The aircraft shown is classified as an airship not a balloon.

I contacted several experts in airship history. The consensus of opinion is that the aircraft depicted is first British attempt to build a rigid airship. It was called the "Mayfly", official designation HMA-1. The airship never flew on its own although it may have lifted off once while on a tether and did float within the confines of its hangar. It suffered a catastrophic structural failure while on the ground on Sept 24, 1911. References - Hartcup, Guy, "The Achievement of the Airship", David & Charles Inc, 1974, ISBN 7153 6551 7, pp 85-7 www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation history/coming of age/HMA 1 Mayfly.htm NY Times MYSTERIOUS BRITISH AIRSHIP LAUNCHED; Construction of Naval Dirigible Surrounded with Extraordinary Secrecy. May 23, 1911, Tuesday Page 2, 475 words

dannachbar: We've updated the source record to summarize your subject note and correct the subject heading . With appreciation for your gathering of several sources to confirm the identification and dates!

Could you imagine if we used airships for travel today? How cool would that be!

Following in the footsteps of Count Zeppelin and the success of his early rigid airships, in 1908 the British Government agreed a sum of £35,000 which "should be allocated to the Admiralty for the building of a dirigible balloon". This order to build the first British rigid airship was a direct attempt to compete with the German airship programme.. Statistics: Length 512ft Diameter 46ft Speed 42mph (anticipated) Engines 2 x 180hp Volume 663, 518cft Designs were already being submitted and on 7th May, 1909 the award was given to the Vickers company. The original contract had been for a ship to be constructed for £35,000, however Vickers advised that they could construct the ship for £28,000 without goldbeaters skin gasbags and varnished skin outer cover. The Admiralty would be required to provide contractors for this work. Vickers also asked if they could put up a constructional shed, free of cost to the Crown, so that they may have a ten year monopoly on airship construction as they did with the submarine boat agreement they had with the Crown. On May 7th the contract was awarded, but the 10 year monopoly clause was refused. By 1910 the British Government had committed themselves to a similar path of air-weapon development to that taken by Germany. It was originally planned that the ship be used for scouting capabilities. The project to build the first ship had begun, and designated "HMA No. 1" or more commonly known as "The Mayfly". The design team was working on something that could match the current Zeppelins of the time. These could fly 100 miles, carry a crew of 26, and get to 5,400 feet with an endurance of twelve and a half hours. www.aht.ndirect.co.uk/airships/hma1/index.html

worldhistoryproject.org/1921/8/23/zr-2-disaster www.nytimes.com/1921/08/25/archives/the-zr2-disaster.html "The tragedy of the destruction of the ZR-2 in England occurred when hopes were highest that the great dirigible had at last satisfied all tests required before the ship was to be turned over to the United States Government."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship

see also

Cynthia Wenslow Thank you for the links to information about the ZR-2 disaster.

See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship