Awful Disasters That Killed the Airship

an excited crowd has gathered to witness something remarkable the trial flights of a new airship the massive aerial Beast lifts off above the ground and hundreds watch on in ore then there's a brilliant flash of light the Airship explodes with a thunderous Roar it seconds the enormous machine is reduced to a twisted pile of Tangled scorched wreckage what went wrong when they were first introduced airships were absolutely Cutting Edge but through a series of horrendous accidents and disasters they came to be seen as dangerous and costly last time we looked at five terrible Airship disasters from the past ladies and gentlemen I'm your friend Mike Brady from Ocean lighter designs and these are the stories of four terrifying Airship disasters forgotten to history [Music] in January 1913 the German Airship L2 was commissioned by the Imperial German Navy as part of a five-year Airship expansion program greenlit by the Kaiser himself who agreed to the construction of the airships on the condition that they were built with the secret capability to bomb England development of this craft was underway quickly and by September of that same year the L2 had begun her test flights in friedrichshafen the hopes were high for the new vessel because upon her acceptance into the German Navy she was meant to be the flagship of the entire new German aerial Fleet this is a really exciting time it was in the years before the first world war and the technology was new and very impressive all seemed to go according to plan and testing proceeded as normal that is until one particularly sunny day in October this was to be the day of the ship's altitude trial at Johannes tile Airfield but things were getting off to a somewhat Rocky start crowds had gathered to Marvel the new and impressive Zeppelin on the day of her trial but once the Airship was removed from its shed it was clear that all was not well one of l2's engines actually refused to start requiring the test to be delayed while repairs got underway and all told the engines were in working order again in about two hours however this was enough time for a much larger and more deadly problem to arise see this was a very warm and sunny day and the exposure to the warmth of the sun caused the hydrogen within the Airship to heat up this expanded the gas and increased the ship's buoyancy by a lot once released the L2 Rose quickly to an altitude of 2000 feet or 610 meters in the air and the crew needed to act quickly in order to slow their ascent the solution was to vent hydrogen from The Vessel through relief valves found along the bottom of the hull however much This ship's design concept was still new and untested and a floor in this design was made abundantly clear when the vented hydrogen was sucked into an engine car which was positioned far too close to the relief valve the incredibly flammable hydrogen was brought into direct contact with the engines near Red Hot components and there could be only one outcome the onlookers who were gathered to watch from the ground could only look up in horror as flames began to spew from L2 and then a massive explosion was heard a result of the detonation taking place within the engine car it's crowd watched the Airship fall from an altitude of 900 feet in a spectacle of flames and metal a second explosion Was Heard and then even more as the Zeppelin finally crashed to the ground explosions one after another ripped through the vessel as fire spread through the massive gas bags each containing around a million cubic feet of flammable hydrogen gas the Flames burned out quickly however and onlookers rushed to the spot where L2 had crashed eager to assist in the rescue of the crew and passengers on board however what they found when they arrived was merely Twisted smoldering scraps of metal and only three apparent survivors who had unfortunately all succumbed their injuries soon after they were removed from the wreckage a disaster had claimed the lives of all on board including seven officers two personal friends of Kaiser Wilhelm II and several high-ranking Naval engineers the Johannes thala air disaster occurred just six weeks after the tragic loss of the airship's predecessor the German Airship L1 which was itself brought down in the Red Sea due to a thunderstorm in what would later be known as the helliger land air disaster talk about that one another day these two accidents put together were responsible for the loss of many members of Germany's high-ranking Airship Crews ultimately it put an end to the plans for the five-year expansion of the country's Airship Force now there are plenty famous disasters in history that we can confidently say that nobody could have ever seen coming Peter due to bad luck bad weather what is bad timing however in the case of the R38 Airship you really have to wonder how they didn't see it coming the alarm Bells were ringing loud and clear but seemed to fall on deaf ears it's a story with an unfortunate end so predictable you'll wonder how they didn't see it a mile away this is the story of the R38 June 1918 the British admiralty ordered an Airship Fleet be built that could Patrol the North Sea for six days with no support as far as 300 miles or about 480 kilometers from home base up to an altitude of say 22 000 feet or 6 700 meters this impressive performance would keep the Airship Untouchable from most aircraft of the time to this design specification the R38 class was to be the answer a total of four airships designed to those admiralty specifications to lead the British Fleet R38 was the class leader followed by R39 40 and 41 however just as wartime brings a jarring end to peacetime routines so too does the end of War spell abrupt changes to Industries across the globe the first world war finally came to an end in November of 1918 so the remainder of the three R38 class ships were canceled and the original Airship was nearly scrapped as well however the United States had been very impressed with the capabilities of the record-breaking R34 which we'll touch on a little bit more later and as such they had expressed interest in the prospect of adding a new Airship to their growing military power a cash-strapped Britain opted to offer the still unfinished R38 to America in October 1919 on the condition that Britain be able to modify the Airship to allow for Mooring and add ballast for counterbalance once construction was completed the modifications were in place it was decided that the ship would undergo a series of airworthiness Trials before being handed over to America now this is where the problems start these trials were notoriously littered with recurring mechanical issues especially pertaining to over balance on control surfaces and numerous problems with girders failing now each time one of these issues was supposedly repaired another one would spring up again concerns began to spread among the engineers experts and even some top British and American Military brass believing the Airship was in desperate need of further testing and design changes however those in charge of r38's construction and trials on both the British and American sides would see the testing schedule rushed for various reasons the British government for example was Keen to dispose of the remnants of their now discarded Airship Fleet and the Americans were eager to get their hands on their brand new toy after a year-long delay now under normal circumstances an Airship would only be considered airworthy after about 150 hours of flight time but due to pressure on both sides to hurry up and complete testing an agreement was made that R38 would be considered airworthy after just 50 hours now obviously this was much to the dismay of many experts who had hoped for a standard or even extended testing schedule especially with so many issues arising in the trials that the Airship had already completed air Commodore Edward Maitland the chief of testing for R38 was disgusted by this and protested but incredibly he was told by the air Ministry not to provide advice unless asked after a penultimate flight despite numerous issues reported and much skepticism raised it was decided that the airship's next trial would be her last before departing on a transatlantic delivery voyage for America after a few weeks of bad weather delaying this final test on August 23 1921 R38 was brought from her shed in Howden destined for Pullum in Norfolk where she would Moor but arriving on Pullum low Cloud was beginning to form on land and the crew found that they couldn't see the ground or the Airfield they were forced to turn back and spend an unexpected night at sea the next day it was decided that instead of Simply Mooring a Pullum where the cloud had not yet fully lifted R38 would return to Howden to land the crew agreed that a few last-minute tests would be conducted on the return trip to Howden such as a speed trial but then a series of turning trials this took place over the town of Hull these turning trials Were Meant to simulate ostensibly rough weather they required rapid changes of the helm or the steering from hard over to hard over on both sides beneath the swiftly maneuvering Airship a crowd had formed in Hull drawn by the sound of the engines it must have been very excited to see an Airship flying so low over their heads now to this day it's unknown why the order was issued the airship's Rudders were being driven hard and fast far beyond what would be required for the trial or even service the rudder which operationally should have only been set to a maximum of 15 degrees was being driven rapidly from one side to the other at 25 degrees each time now this quick waggling of the massive Rudder put a huge amount of strain on the airframe and this was an airframe which was already susceptible to weakness through failing girders the crowd watched From Below as a wrinkle began to form in the hull of the Airship and then unbelievably the massive craft simply cracked in half manned and Machinery rained out from either open to end it must have been a really awful sight to see them plummeting to Earth but then it got exponentially worse because the hydrogen within the gas bags ignited an R38 caught fire it triggered a massive explosion that blew out glass windows throughout the town could be heard up to 25 miles away only five people would survive the crash Maitland who had protested against r38's Rush trials was himself a victim of the crash After official inquiries were held there were as many as three it was agreed that the R38 disaster was primarily caused by the rough maneuvering of the Turning trials that caused too much stress on the hull inquiries also criticized the practice the individuals responsible for the building of the Airship were the same people responsible for determining the ship's worthiness there was no apparent checks and balances in this Arrangement almost no experts had been involved in making any major decisions surrounding the ship's testing schedule 44 lives were claimed in the catastrophe that followed due to neglectful mismanagement and rushed trials on top of it all you simply have to wonder how they didn't see it coming knowing the multitude of structural failures that experienced during previous test flights all in all our 38th story is a master class and the consequences of silencing the experts in a grim reminder that no material object should ever be valued over the safety of human lives for every disaster in which we know exactly what happened down to the tiniest detail there will always be one or two more where we just could never hope to have all of the answers the French Airship Dick's mood is one such story a great disaster shrouded in mystery in which all we can do is speculate on exactly what happened on that tragic day the French Airship Dick's mood began its life as a German Airship designated l-72 upon completion l-72 was built with the intention to bomb New York City but as we now know this never came to pass instead the first world war ended and with it the construction of this potentially devastating Airship was Holden she would sit incomplete for some time until ultimately it was decided that the Airship would be handed over to the French as part of War reparations making a first test flight in July of 1920 she was officially christened in dixmood so named in honor of Fallen French soldiers in the Battle of izaire at the Belgian town of dixmerd in the first world war now the French however were evidently not yet prepared for the airship's arrival photos taken of the Airship near her shed clearly show that the shed was still under construction even after France had attained the vessel but crucially the hydrogen generating plant was reportedly not yet in service either Dick's mood would sit deflated for another three years until an attempt was finally made to reinflate our gas bags and this attempt would reveal the ship's gas bags had deteriorated so much while the ship was mothballed they could no longer safely hold hydrogen they'd need to be entirely replaced now while replacement gas bags could have been sent for Dick Smith's Commander Lieutenant Jean du plessis de Clementon convinced the French navy to design and Implement their own now this process would wind up taking another two years meaning that Dick's mood spent the first five years of her life in various states of disrepair with only four flights under her belt with long period of disuse would finally come to an end in August 1923 and the hydrogen bags were finally installed and after a couple of short test flights Dick's mood was sent on a much longer 24-hour round trip when this was completed satisfactorily she was sent on length of flights of 50 then over 118 hour long Journeys it was clear that dixonood was no slash it was capable of long-haul flights with the best of them she was even paraded around on a publicity trip where she was shown off to excited onlookers in cities like Toulouse Bordeaux and Leon they're all eager to see this powerful new French airship in action however despite the air of confidence surrounding the Airship a success was not to last in December 1923 Dick's mood took off on a planned long duration flight Bound for in Salah an oasis located in the Sahara Desert on the fourth day of her flight the Airship encountered some rather strong winds that were powerful enough to blow the Airship back toward the African Shore the crew fought to keep their Airship on course or simply ride out the storm but fuel was running low there was only enough power for intermittent wireless communication by all estimates the Dick's mood would only have enough fuel to last approximately two days the crew fought bravely against strong winds thunderstorms and an Airship with dwindling fuel supplies while the commander searched desperately for a place to land final communication from Dick's mood states that they were reeling in their radio antenna due to the turbulent weather and seven hours later the Dick's mood would be spotted falling from the sky by rail workers whose attention had been caught by a sudden flash that lit up the night sky reports of the airship's demise however were initially dismissed by French officials who were not keen on admitting the loss of their grandiose new craft stories began to spread through the Press of the Airship having been spotted in different locations by eagle-eyed Sky Watchers and hope remained high for the eventual arrival or recovery however on December 26th three days after the final radio communication from Dick's mood the body of her commander duplessi was recovered by a fisherman on the coast of Sicily there could be no more denying it the Dick's mood had gone down taking the lives of all 50 Souls aboard her only small fragments were ever recovered two small fuel tanks some scraps of fabric and then some lightweight fragments of aluminum girders that floated on the ocean's surface four months later another body was found identified through papers as the radio man Antoine guillon but they were the only two members of dixonood's compliment ever found it was never determined exactly what had caused the disaster whether it was taken down due to the storm ran out of fuel or had some other mechanical failure regardless of the mystery surrounding the ship's demise it's still considered one of the largest and most deadly Airship disasters in history and as a result France abandoned all interests in building up their Fleet of rigid airships the loss of Dick's mood and all her crew and passengers had ultimately been too high a price to pay finally we turn to Tuesday 15th of July 1919. in the Royal Air Force non-rigid Airship and S11 is out on mine hunting Patrol duties over the North Sea it's early morning and the locals of the nearby Village of clay next the sea drawn outside by the sounds of low-flying Airship engines off the coast suddenly the sounds of the engine change they begin to sound labored and troubled soon after the crowd look on in horror as the once Grand Airship ns-11 falls from the sky in a mass of flames after being seen flying blow a peculiar greasy black cloud the exact circumstances behind the airship's demise remain a mystery to this day however is it possible that this odd and Sinister cloud formation seen by the residents was in some way responsible for the loss of ns-11 and all lives aboard what I answer this let's start from the very beginning ns-11 started her life in 1918 as a member of the North Sea class of airships this class of British non-rigid airships or blimps were the largest in the fleet they were renowned for breaking flying records over their cousins the rigid airships the difference being that the rigid airships have an aluminum airframe over which the skin is stretched whereas the blimps were simply large balloons at the time Britain wasn't a fan of the airships produced by their rigid Airship program so it was decided instead that a class of non-rigid airships would be ordered instead there were planned to be more weather-worthy than traditional rigidaire ships but still capable of long endurance flights ns-11 was a prime example of this being the 11th iteration of the design the development of these ships had come a long way since their Inception ns11 was a record breaker having set an endurance record in February of 1919 when she flew for a hundred hours straight her Captain the proud and seasoned Commander warnford was popular with his colleagues and was known to be an Adept and efficient Airman he was undoubtedly proud of the recorded set and the capabilities of his crew and his ship an S11 and her men were a force to be reckoned with but there was one man willing to do just so in July of 1919 with the crew of ns-11 present Airship R34 on the command of George Herbert Scott landed at pulham Airship station having just set the new endurance record of 108 hours in the air it was never a celebration of course this was a Triumph for all in aviation however it was only natural that commander warnford and the crew of ns-11 felt a bit of taste in their mouths while congratulating Commander Scott and his crew who just claimed the record that warnford and his men had worked so hard to attain now while there wasn't really any actual Bad Blood between the two men and thought that this set of circumstances might have played a role in the events to come early in the morning of July 15 1919 and S11 set off from Pullum on a routine mine hunting mission at first all seemed well with the ship Wireless Transmissions were being sent and received with no issue or apparent delay the crew aboard reported no issues and after the ship had been Aloft for about 10 minutes Communications ceased it was thought by The Operators at Pullum station there was simply nothing to report 15 or 20 minutes later an S11 was seen to be moving quite slowly over the village of clay next the sea residents awakened by the clatter of the engines poked their heads out of their homes to Marvel at the Airship floating above it was at this time the witnesses claimed to have seen a dark quote greasy Cloud hovering above the airship ns11's engines then reportedly began sounding of normal as though there was some trouble with them Witnesses then described the Airship disappearing into the clouds the loud clamor of the engine slowly fading away and then not long after the Airship was seen headed back toward the village when she suddenly and violently burst into flames in an explosion bright enough to light up the night sky flaming wreckage rain from the sky and Rescuers were immediately sent out in lifeboats to attempt to assist any survivors although tragically none were found Fulham station for their part remained blissfully unaware of the whole ordeal until they were contacted by the Press who were asking for a statement on the loss this phone call through the entire team into a frenzy as they scrambled to piece together the situation that was already being reported on by the Press investigations were ordered into the cause of the accident and the eyewitness reports of the Sinister greasy black cloud were brought up claiming that a rogue lightning strike may have been responsible for bringing down the Airship but this was dismissed however as it was discovered that the origin of the popular greasy black cloud claim was actually just from one witness and it was uncorroborated others who saw the event claimed the weather was actually clear that night and storms didn't roll in until after the disaster despite this without fail the infamous greasy black cloud is always mentioned in discussions on the demise of the ns-11 to this day the official findings of the investigation into the ns-11 disaster would ultimately frustratingly be inconclusive however there might be more at work here remember that Commander warnford was disappointed that his endurance record had just been taken from him right in front of his eyes there's evidence pointing to warn for bringing extra Fuel and one fewer men on board than anticipated for the journey that morning many believe that warmford was out to settle the score under the guise of a mine hunting mission was actually looking to reclaim the endurance record that he felt was rightfully owed having not got official clearance to attempt this feat however that would shine a bad light on the Royal Air Force if this fact became public knowledge rather than admit to warmford going rogue and attempting missions without permission the RAF reportedly swept the whole thing under the rug calling the findings inconclusive and leaving more questions than answers at the end of the day we may never know what warmford's intentions truly were when he set off that morning at the helm of ns-11 but whether it be due to negligence poor weather or some other horrific unforeseen circumstance an s11's endurance flying days would be tragically cut short just a few hours later with so many accidents and incidents it's no wonder that rigidaire ships didn't last long into the 20th century as a serious form of Passenger transport or military craft join me again next time as we uncover still more tragic and mysterious Airship disasters from history ladies and gentlemen it's your friend Mike Brady from ocean liner designs thank you so much for watching this video If you enjoyed it please leave a comment below don't forget to subscribe to the channel because we get new videos out weekly if you want to support my work and get really cool perks like behind the scenes and Early Access please visit my patreon in the link in the description below or sign up as a YouTube member come and join the crew as always stay safe stay happy I'll see you again next time

Channel: Oceanliner Designs

Views: 126,697

Keywords: great ocean liners, maritime history, ocean liners, famous oceanliners, ships documentary, history of ships, engineering, history, ships, documentary, origins explained, world history project, animated history, open educational resources, titanic, shipwreck, sinking, boats, ocean, disaster, tragedy

Id: lixf2x1gC5U

Length: 23min 54sec (1434 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 24 2023