100 years on.. remembering airship victims
Stories emerge on disaster that killed 44
TOUCHING stories and artefacts have emerged a century on from an airship disaster which killed 44 people.
The R.38/ZR-2 exploded midflight and crashed into the Humber at Hull in front of thousands of onlookers on August 24, 1921.
Just five of its 49-strong British and American crew survived.
A crowdsourcing project to create an online archive of materials relating to the disaster has led to people coming forward with documents, photos and stories.
Built in Cardington, Beds, the airship was based at Howden, East Yorks, for its final test flights before being sold to the US Navy.
While returning to Howden on August 24 1921, a final test of extreme movements on its steering to simulate bad weather caused the light structure to break apart. Among stories of the tragedy is that of Richard Withington, who parachuted from the falling airship only to drown in the Humber as he could not swim.
His great-nephew Ian Simpson contacted the Carnegie Heritage Centre, where volunteers are cataloguing contributions, with a telegram about Mr Withington’s death, the order of service from a memorial and invitations to the unveiling of the R.38 Memorial at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London in 1925. Sonia Potts, granddaughter of survivor Walter Potter, told the project her grandfather’s family wanted him to leave the forces – but he joined the R.101’s crew and was killed when that airship crashed in France in 1930.
Witnesses included John Piercy, who was playing football when he saw the airship split in two and ran to Victoria Pier, where he saw two of the survivors come ashore, and 13-year-old GE Hatfield, who was playing in the street when he heard the explosion. His father, George Hatfield, was master of a vessel which took two of the bodies aboard. Souvenirs shared include a pair of candlesticks salvaged from the airship and a small wheel in a bracket – thought to be part of its controls.
Keith Emerick of Historic England, behind the project, said: “These illuminating documents, photos and stories will provide a long-lasting public legacy.”
These stories will provide a lasting legacy
KEITH EMERICK
OF HISTORIC ENGLAND