R27 (airship)
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R27 was a British R23X class rigid airship of World War I.
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[edit] Design and construction
With the experience gained from the HMA No.23 class, further improvements were passed on to the new HMA No. 23X class ships. Gas capacity was slightly increased by redesigning the bow and stern. The radical change, instituted by Constructor-Commander Campbell, was the elimination of the external keel corridor. This was intended to achieve a considerable saving of weight without causing any significant loss of strength and also to improve turning. An internal corridor allowing the crew to travel between the cars was formed by inverted U-shaped ribs positioned above the two lowest longitudinal girders. The corridor also gave access to the ballast and fuel tanks. The fuel tanks were linked by a new system of pipes, allowing faster filling or jettisoning of fuel. The engine arrangement was similar to that used originally for the 23 class ships, with two swivelling propellers in the forward gondola and two engines driving fixed propellers in the midship car. However the aft car now contained a single engine and propellor, instead of twin swivelling propellers and twin engines. Four of the class were originally planned, with numbers running consecutively from R27 to R30, but following the downing of the Zeppelin L33 viturally intact, the British were able to re-think the programme and caused R28 and R30 to be cancelled in order to concentrate resources on the new R33 class.
[edit] Specification
- First Flight: June 8, 1918
- Length: 539 ft (164 m)
- Diameter: 53 ft (16 m)
- Volume: 990, 000 ft³ (28 000 m³)
- Payload: 8.5 tons (7,700 kg)
- Speed: 57 mph (92 km/h)
- Engines: 4 x Rolls Royce 300 hp (224 kW)
[edit] History
R27 was constructed by William Beardmore and Company at Inchinnan, and commissioned on June 29, 1918. She flew 89 hours in total under Major Ommaney, including one voyage of over 23 hours duration. Unfortunately R27 was destined for a premature and spectacular end. On August 16 she was in the hangar at Howden at the same time that some American riggers were helpfully trying to assemble a new airship by attaching a spare SS Zero car to a disused envelope. While completing the job some petrol was spilt in the car. This was ignited a little later during tests of the radio equipment. The flames, fed by both fuel and gas, expanded within seconds into a fire ball that totally destroyed the makeshift blimp, R27, SSZ38 and SSZ54. The hangar itself survived, although badly damaged. An aircraft spotter on the roof who failed to get out in time died.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dressel, Zeppelin! The German Airship Story, 1990 ISBN 1-85409-045-3
- J.E. Morpurgo, Barnes Wallis - A Biography, Longman , 1972 ISBN 0-582-10360-6
- Ces Mowthorpe, Battlebags: British Airships of the First World War, 1995 ISBN 0-905778-13-8
- Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik, Jane's Pocket Book 7 - Airship Development, 1976 ISBN 0-356-04656-7
- Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik, Airship saga: The history of airships seen through the eyes of the men who designed, built, and flew them , 1982, ISBN 0-7137-1001-2
