R101 TRAGEDY.—Early on the morning of October 5, 1930, R101, the largest airship in the world which had set out from Cardington, England, on a flight to India the day before, met with disaster near Beauvais, in France, There were fifty-four people on board, comprising a crew of 42 officers and men and 12 passengers among whom were Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation, and other high air officers. Only eight members of the crew were saved, and of these two died later. On left, the wrecked airship. On right, British air experts examining the wreckage in an effort to ascertain the cause of the disaster. In centre, a general view of the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall, London, the people filing past the coffins, which are covered with Union Jacks, while officers and men of the Royal Air Force keep vigil.

Taranaki Daily News, 14 November 1930, Page 5

R101 TRAGEDY.—Early on the morning of October 5, 1930, R101, the largest airship in the world which had set out from Cardington, England, on a flight to India the day before, met with disaster near Beauvais, in France, There were fifty-four people on board, comprising a crew of 42 officers and men and 12 passengers among whom were Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, Sir Sefton Brancker, Director of Civil Aviation, and other high air officers. Only eight members of the crew were saved, and of these two died later. On left, the wrecked airship. On right, British air experts examining the wreckage in an effort to ascertain the cause of the disaster. In centre, a general view of the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall, London, the people filing past the coffins, which are covered with Union Jacks, while officers and men of the Royal Air Force keep vigil.