T'he airship R101 was built at Cardington in Bedfordshire in 1929, well that’s when she was completed, it took 3 years to design & build. Most people have heard of the R101, it was the largest lighter than air airship at the time. The R101 and her slightly smaller sister-ship, the R100 were the start of the great Imperial Airship Scheme.
The R100 was built by the private sector, the Airship Guarantee Company at Howden (a subsidiary of Vickers) while the R101 was government sponsored and built by the Royal Airship Works. On her maiden flight, just under eight hours after leaving her mooring mast at Cardington she suffered a drastic loss of hydrogen gas and came down just outside Beauvais in France. The escaping gas caught light, and was consumed in fire. Eight of the fifty-four on board managed to escape, but two of the initial survivors did not recover from their injuries and died, one the day after, and the other, two days after, bringing the total deaths to forty eight. Of the fifty four on board at the time, approximately thirty one (possibly thirty-two) were members of the Order, including Lord Thomson of Cardington, of those that perished, either twenty four or twenty eight were members. The reason for the difference in opinion is due to differences in reports at the time, if you read the October Grand Lodge report of 1930 it states twenty four died, however the report of the November 1930 memorial service states twenty eight. Their remains were returned to London where they laid in state until 11th October 1930. They were brought to Bedford by train and a procession then took them to Cardington village where they were laid to rest in a communal grave in Cardington cemetery almost to the hour that they departed the Saturday before.
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