Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 38

aviation history The Airship: Part Two After the Hindenburg, Air Travel Looks to Get Back on Track By Bill Bath The R101, prep ped and ready for flight. I n the previous issue of Jetrader, I wrote about how the Hindenburg’s ballonets were filled with fl ammable hydrogen instead of inert helium due to the United States administration having embargoed its export to the Third Reich. There have been dozens of books and documentaries about its fiery end at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937, and there is no need for that story to be repeated in this column. But one question remains: why the embargo? The German National Socialist Party, with Adolf Hitler as its leader, gained a majority in the parliamentary elections of January 1933, and he became the chancellor of the Reichstag. On February 27, a suspicious fire destroyed the Reichstag; Hitler, along with his immediate supporters—many of whom he would have executed shortly afterwards—blamed it on a communist plot. The aged president, Field Marshal von Hindenburg and head of the Republic, was forced to resign and the Third Reich was born with Hitler as its absolute ruler. With the repudiation in 1935 of the Versailles terms imposed by the allies after the defeat of Germany in 1918 and rearmament now at full speed, the U.S. expressed concern but, like Britain and France, took no action other than banning the shipment of war materials to belligerents. With an extension of the list of materials in 1936 and 1937, which included helium, the fate of the Hindenburg was sealed. A Tale of Two Vessels In 1930, the British government’s sponsored R101 rigid airship was completed at Cardington and ready for its one and only test flight before setting off for Karachi, which was still part of India. In 1924, the government had commissioned two— the R100 built by Vickers, who had experience in their construction from WWI, and the new Labour government’s mandated design known as the R101. It was to be a competition between private and public industry, with the latter getting full support from the public purse. There were two notable engineers working at Vickers on the 38 The official publication of the International S ciety of Transport Aircraft Trading pu on the International Socie International Societ rnatio al Society Transport Aircraft Trading ran o Aircraft Trading nsport nsp

Jetrader - September/October 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - September/October 2009

Jetrader - September/October 2009
A Message from the President
Contents
Calendar/News
Q&A
Reaching for the Sky
Processing Paris
Looking Long-Term at Global Aviation
From Trashed to Treasure
Jetliners Parked and Available
Aircraft Appraisals
From the ISTAT Foundation
Aviation History
Advertiser Index
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Jetrader - September/October 2009
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Cover2
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - A Message from the President
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 4
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Contents
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 6
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Calendar/News
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Q&A
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 9
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 10
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 11
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Reaching for the Sky
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 13
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 14
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 15
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Processing Paris
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 17
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 18
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 19
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Looking Long-Term at Global Aviation
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 21
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 22
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 23
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 24
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 25
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 26
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - From Trashed to Treasure
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 28
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 29
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Jetliners Parked and Available
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 31
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 32
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Aircraft Appraisals
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 34
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 35
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 36
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - From the ISTAT Foundation
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Aviation History
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 39
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 40
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Advertiser Index
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - 42
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Cover3
Jetrader - September/October 2009 - Cover4
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