A NEW HANGAR

KARACHI, Friday 8th October 1926.-

Crowds witnessed the erection today of the first piece of steel of the structural work for the new airship hangar at Karachi.

AIRSHIP ROUTE TO INDIA 1928

The great airship shed which has been completed at Karachi by Sir W G Armstrong, Whitworth and Co., for the Empire Airship Services to India. Its dimensions, 850 ft in length, 180 ft in breadth, and 170 ft in height, place it among the world’s largest buildings. It will be used next autumn.

THE R 101

LONDON, 6 October 1929.

In the event of satisfactory home trials, the – R101, which is still in the hangar, will begin the flight to India before Christmas. The Air Minister, Lord Thomson, will be a passenger for the purpose of investigating the possibilities of the Anglo-Indian service. It is stated that preparations are already afoot at Karachi to moor the airship.

TRAGIC AIR DISASTER

5 October 1930

The giant British airship R101, the largest in the world, crashed against a hill in flames early Sunday morning, near Beauvais, France, after leaving Cardington at 7.30 p.m. on Saturday on her first long experimental flight to Karachi, India. Of the 54 passengers and crew aboard only eight of the crew were saved. The others were burned to death.