R.33 s under the airship before the test, 26 October 1926 R.33 first flew on 6 March 1919, and was sent to
RAF Pulham in
Norfolk. Between then and 14 October, R.33 made 23 flights totalling 337 hours flying time. One of these, a flight promoting "Victory Bonds", included a brass band playing in the top machine gun post. and in July she appeared in the
Hendon Air Pageant. In September 1920, the British government cancelled all future airship development for financial reasons. Military airships were scrapped, but as a civilian airship R.33 was mothballed instead; she remained in her shed at
Cardington, Bedfordshire for nearly four years. The reconditioned R.33 emerged from the Cardington shed on 2 April 1925. On the night of 16 April 1925, the R.33 was torn from the mast at Pulham during a gale and was carried away with only a partial crew of 20 men on board. Her nose partially collapsed and the first gas cell deflated leaving her low in the bow. The crew on board started the engines, gaining some height, and rigged a cover for the bow section, but the R.33 was blown out over the
North Sea. A Royal Navy vessel was readied and left the nearby port of
Lowestoft in case the R.33 came down in the sea. The local lifeboat was launched, but was driven back by the weather conditions. Late in the evening R.33 was able to hold her position over the Dutch coast, hovering there until 5 o'clock the next morning. She was then able to slowly make her way back home, arriving at the
Suffolk coast eight hours later and reaching Pulham at 13:50 hrs, where she was put into the shed alongside the
R.36. For their actions the airship's first officer, who had been in command, Lieutenant Ralph Booth was awarded the
Air Force Cross, the
coxswain, Flight-Sergeant "Sky" Hunt, was awarded the
Air Force Medal, four other crew members were awarded the
British Empire Medal and the other crew members were presented with inscribed watches. (
Hendon), 2008 On 5 October 1925, following repairs, R.33 emerged from her shed for the first time since April. She was used for pressure experiments to provide data for the construction of the new
R101 airship. Once these were finished, she was used for trials launching a
parasite fighter, using a
DH 53 Hummingbird light aircraft. After two failed attempts in October, a successful launch and recapture was achieved in December of that year. This was the last flight of the R.33 for over ten months, as she returned to her shed for an overhaul. On 21 October 1926, she launched a pair of
Gloster Grebes weighing about a ton apiece, the first of which was flown by
Flying Officer Campbell MacKenzie-Richards. Two more Grebes were launched from R.33 on 23 November 1926. R.33 was then returned to her shed at Pulham where she remained until 1928; following an examination of her framework that revealed severe metal fatigue, she was dismantled and scrapped. The forward portion of R.33's control car is currently on display at the
Royal Air Force Museum London at
Hendon.
R.34 R.34 made her first flight on 14 March 1919 and was delivered to her service base at
RAF East Fortune near
Edinburgh on 29 May after a 21-hour flight from Inchinnan. R.34 had set out the previous evening, but thick fog made navigation difficult, and after spending the night over the North Sea the airship was unable to moor in the morning due to fog. After cruising as far south as Yorkshire R.34 returned to East Fortune to dock at about 3 p.m. The airship made her first endurance trip of 56 hours over the Baltic from 17 to 20 June. It was then decided to attempt the first return
Atlantic crossing, under the command of Major
George Scott. R.34 had never been intended as a passenger airship and extra sleeping accommodation for the crew were added by slinging hammocks along the keel walkway. Tables and wash basins were installed along with lightweight curtains to help stop the drafts in the interior of the ship. The bomb racks were removed and replaced with lockers for food and water. A metal plate was welded to an engine exhaust pipe to allow for the preparation of hot food which included
beef stew, ham, eggs and potatoes. 24 additional fuel tanks were placed along the keel, increasing the total fuel capacity to around 6,000 gallons (22,712 liters). The crew included Brigadier-General
Edward Maitland and Lieutenant Commander
Zachary Lansdowne as the representative of the US Navy. William Ballantyne, one of the crew members scheduled to stay behind to save weight, stowed away with the crew's mascot, a small tabby kitten called "Whoopsie" (or "Wopsie"); they emerged at 2.00 p.m. on the first day, too late to be dropped off. As with traditional stowaways, Ballantyne was made to work for his passage, as the airship's cook and assist in pumping the fuel by hand into the tanks. Ballantyne was not allowed to make the return flight and was sent home to England by ship; he was suspended from flight duty for one year. in
East Yorkshire in January 1921 R.34 left
East Fortune, Scotland, on 2 July 1919 and arrived at
Mineola,
Long Island,
United States, on 6 July after a flight of 108 hours, with only a few gallons of fuel remaining. R.34 was the first aircraft of any type to carry passengers across the Atlantic. As the landing party had no experience of handling large rigid airships,
Major E. M. Pritchard jumped by parachute and so became the first person to reach American soil by air from Europe. This was the first East-West aerial crossing of the Atlantic and was achieved weeks after the
first transatlantic aeroplane flight by British aviators
Captain John Alcock and
Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown in a modified First World War
Vickers Vimy. The return journey to RNAS Pulham took place from 10 to 13 July and took 75 hours. Returned to East Fortune for a refit, R.34 then flew to
Howden,
East Yorkshire, for crew training. On 27 January 1921 R.34 set off on what should have been a routine exercise. Over the North Sea the weather worsened and a recall signal sent by radio was not received. Following a navigational error the craft flew into a hillside on the North Yorkshire Moors during the night, and the ship lost two propellers. She went back out to sea using the two remaining engines and in daylight followed the
Humber Estuary back to Howden. Strong winds made it impossible to get her back into the shed, and she was tied down outside for the night. By the morning further damage had occurred and R.34 was officially decommissioned and scrapped. ==Operators==