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Aviation History
1975
1975 - 0903.PDF
LIBRARY FLIGHT International, IS May 1975 Rr*m Rigid Airships Reardmore R34 When L30-class Zeppelin L33 was shot down over England on September 24, 1916, the Allies obtained a complete Super- Zeppelin structure. They used this to make complete drawings, and obtained further information from L49, a "Height-climber" shot down over France a year later. The British Government decided in November 1916 to order three ships to these designs, two—R33 and R35—to be built by Armstrong Whitworth at Barlow in Yorkshire and one—R34— by Beardmore at Inchinnan on the Clyde. Construction of R34 started in December 1917 and of R33 in June 1918. R35 was cancelled at the end of the war but R33 and R34 were com pleted, flying for the first time on March 6 and 14, 1919, respectively. Although Britain had built a number of rigid airships during the war, they were all rather unsatisfactory copies of earlier German designs. R33 and R34 were also inferior to their German prototype of 1916—particularly in their power units— but they were by far the best airships built in Britain up to that time. R33 was the longest-lived British rigid and flew a total of about 800hr before being scrapped in 1928. R34 had a shorter life but greater fame. Between July 2 and 13, 1919, with a crew of 31 under Major G. H. Scott, this airship made the first East- West-and-return flight across the North Atlantic (East Fortune in Scotland to Mineola, New York, in 108hr and back to Pulham in Norfolk in 75hr). It was scrapped after colliding with high ground on January 28,1921. Type: Armstrong Whitworth R33 (Admiralty 33 class) Manufacturer: Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth 4 Co Ltd First of type built: Barlow, Yorkshire Number of type built: 2 Chief Designer: C. I. R. Campbell Main structural material: Duralumin Design start: November 1916 First flight of type: March 6, 1919 Powerplant: Five 250 h.p. Sunbeam Maori IV Dimensions: Gas capacity (100% inflation): 55,460m3 Overall length: 196m Max diameter: 24m Spacing of main frames: 10m Fineness ratio: 5-03 Number of gasbags: 19 Number of main longitudinals: 13 (+ 12 intermediate longitudinals) Weights: Empty weight: 36,900kg Typical gross lift: 64,400kg Max fuel tankage: 17,500kg Number of crew: 23, passengers: Nil Performance: Max speed: 26-8m/sec Max range: 7,750km at speed of 20-6m/sec Static ceiling: 4,000m Price: £350,000 (£1,600,000 in 1974 values) Number ten in a series of fifteen.
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