1931 Pencil Drawing of the British Airship R101

Title - A Fallen Monarch
 
Date - 11/10/31
 
Medium - Pencil Drawing on paper
 
Signed - Unsigned
 
Picture size - 10cm x 21.5cm / 4" x 8.5"
 
Outside frame size - 23cm x 35cm / 9.25" x 14"
 
Condition - Excellent but with crease down the centre
 
frame - Antique Victorian / Edwardian oak picture frame with period glass
 
Built in Britain in 1929, the rigid airship R101 was designed to fly long distance routes within the British  empire at home and overseas. She was the largest flying machine in the world at 223 meters in length with a crew of around 40 and accomodation for 100 passengers.
On her first maiden flight overseas to Karachi, (then in India but now Pakistan) with a refuelling stop planned in Egypt, R101 crossed the Channel at Hastings in East Sussex on the 4th of October 1930.
The Inquiry established after the crash concluded that R101 suffered a catastrophic failure (reason inconclusive) before diving into the ground and bursting into flames near Beauvais in France killing 46 of the 54 crew and passengers with two more dying later in hospital bringing the total to 48 dead.