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Shute (Right) in the Navigators Cockpit above and behind the nose of R100. Shute, to
quote him, looks "as pleased as a dog with two tails." Alongside him is Felix Gaye, one of the R100's engineers. ( TD / DH ) |
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1930
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| January 1930 : Shute now has a Singer Coupe car. |
| In the Autumn of 1929 Shute is promoted to Deputy Chief Engineer of R100. By January 1930 he has bought a Singer Coupe. This is a modern photo of a vintage Singer Coupe. |
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| Early 1930 : Hessell Tiltman joins the R100 design staff from de Havillands. |
| June 1930 : R100s tail is cut off to correct a minor design fault. |
| Summer 1930 : Shute becomes engaged to Frances Mary Heaton. Frances is a doctor at York Hospital. |
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Sir Denistoun Burney (left) with Major Scott. Scott was in overall charge of flying operations on R100 and R101. (Photo: The Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust) |
| Nevil Shute's R100 ticket from Canada to England. In the 1980's, John Minogue, owner of an antique shop in Dublin was presented with a small fibre suitcase found in the rubbish by a couple of dustmen. Inside was an old navigators wrist watch, some personal letters and the ticket. How these articles got to Dublin is a mystery. |
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| July 29 1930 : R100 leaves for Canada and arrives in Montreal in 78 hours with an average speed of 42mph for 3,300 miles. |
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R100 at the St Hubert Mast in Montreal, Canada. A short video of R100 Mooring at St Hubert is viewable at the Airships Online website ( AO ) |
| R100 flying over Queen's Park Toronto | 
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| "The R100" song sheet music. Recorded twice and sung in English, "The R100", and the rather jauntier French song "Toujours L'R100", were both written and broadcast in honour of R100's visit to Canada. The visit was major sensation in Quebec. ( JC ) |
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Here are two cuttings from The Times of 14th and 15th August 1930 about the return of R100 from Canada.
They were donated by John Gallimore. They are necessarily small to fit onto the page, but can be viewed in larger scale by clicking the links at the bottom of each. |
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| August 16 1930 : (Saturday) R100 returns to Cardington and is put back in its hangar never to fly again. |
| October 03 1930 : Shute is warned by Sir Dennistoun Burney that the Airship Program may not go ahead. Two days later this prophecy is vindicated. |
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Major G. H. Scott travelled to Canada and back as a passenger in R100. Later, in command of R101, he was killed when R101 crashed at Beauvais, France. ( OU ) |
| Sunday October 05 1930 at 0210 : The Government's R101 crashes in flames at Beauvais, France. The airship program is now doomed. |
| The R101 crashes and burns at Beauvais, France on early on Sunday October 05 1930. ( OU ) |
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Two days after the R101 crash Eileen Garret, a psychic, reputedly speaks in deep technical detail to the deceased captain and other crewmembers in a seance. ( OU ) |
| October 1930 : Shute waits hours in London streets with 500,000 others to see the R101 dead pass by. The R100 team is not invited to the funeral. |
| November 01 1930 : Shute and all the R100 staff are given 1 months notice. The airship program is being abandoned. |
| Autumn 1930 : Shute and Tiltman discuss forming an aircraft company. |
| December 11 1930 : R100 is deflated and "hung" in the shed at Cardington. |
| This picture shows the nose cone of R100 being dismantled | 
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| Winter 1930 - 1931 : Shute starts writing "Lonely Road" in the St Leonards Club, York. |
| Winter 1930 - 1931 : Shute looks for backers for Airspeed. |
| A Water Tower and some nearby derelict buildings that once accommodated Barnes Wallis while he worked on R100 are all that remain of the once considerable infrastructure that would have been seen in this view at the Howden Airship Station site. The foundations of the main sheds are now covered by a golf course. Before the golf course was built, the outlines of the demolished sheds were quite distinct in a 1970 aerial photograph. The 18 or so mooring rings that still dot the area were never used by R100 which flew straight to Cardington and never returned to Howden. (Photo: RM 2003) |
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These men, RL Deverell and C Broughton, seen here with the Cardington Airship Sheds behind them, are featured in an article the Times of August 22 1966 on their imminent retirement. The article describes them flying to Canada on R100 with Shute and they spoke of Shute doing aerobatics over Howden. Also recalled was that Shute had a black Labrador dog called Nero. One day, Mr Deverell found Nero in a ditch, shot by some farmers, and when Nero subsequently died, Shute broke down and sobbed. It seems reasonable to assume that the much loved Nero was later revived in fiction to be killed again in "Most Secret" and yet again in "Requiem For A Wren". |