This astonishing newsreel footage records the maiden flight of the ill-fated R101 airship - then the largest flying craft in the world - from the Royal Airship Works in Cardington, Bedfordshire, into the heart of the capital and back again, in October 1929. The R101 symbolised advances in technology, but one year later, despite repeated test flights and modifications, the ship was not fully prepared for its maiden overseas voyage to India. Of 54 people on board, only 6 survived when the ship crashed near Beauvais in northern France on 30 October 1930.

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