George Herbert Scott
Encyclopedia
Major George Herbert Scott, CBE
, AFC
, (25 May 1888 – 5 October 1930) was a pioneering British airship
pilot and engineer. After serving in the Royal Naval Air Service
and Royal Air Force
during World War I
, Scott went on to command the airship R34 on its return Atlantic crossing in 1919, which marked the first transatlantic flight by an airship and the first east–west transatlantic flight by an aircraft of any kind. Subsequently, he worked at the Royal Airship Works in connection with the Imperial Airship Scheme
and took part in a second return Atlantic crossing, this time by the R100
, in 1930. He was killed later in the year aboard the R100's competitor, the R101
, when it crashed in northern France during a flight to India.
In addition to his achievements as an aviator, Scott made significant contributions to airship engineering, notably in the evolution of the mooring mast
.
, Kent, on 25 May 1888, the eldest son of civil engineer
George Hall Scott and his wife, Margaret Wilkinson. He attended Alton School in Plymouth
; Richmond School
, Yorkshire; and the Royal Naval Engineering College
, then located at Keyham, Plymouth. From 1908 on, Scott was "engaged in general engineering"; immediately before World War I, he worked on the construction of naval vessels at the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval
in Ferrol, Spain.
and RNAS Kingsnorth
in Kent
. Between May 1915 and October 1916, he was based at Barrow-in-Furness; subsequently, he took command of the Anglesey
station, before returning to Barrow in March 1917 as captain of the No. 4, a non-rigid airship
built in 1913 to the designs of August von Parseval
.
Scott was posted to RNAS Howden
, Yorkshire, in April 1917 as captain of HM Airship No. 9r
, the first British rigid airship
to fly. He went on to command the same ship at Cranwell
, Lincolnshire
, and Pulham
, Norfolk
. On the formation of the RAF in April 1918, he was gazetted to the rank of Major.
Scott took charge of the new rigid R34, built by William Beardmore and Company
at Inchinnan
, Renfrewshire
, Scotland
, on its completion in 1919 and was ordered to "prepare for a voyage to the United States of America". Damage to the airship during a trial flight forced a delay in departure, meaning that Alcock and Brown
beat the R34 to the distinction of making the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
The R34 eventually set out from its base at East Fortune
, Scotland, in the early hours of 2 July 1919. Despite "dodging storms and fogs" and running low on both fuel and hydrogen, it landed at Mineola, New York
, on 6 July, after 108 hours and 12 minutes of flying time. The return trip began late on 10 July and ended at Pulham on 13 July, having taken 75 hours and 3 minutes.
Scott received the CBE in honour of his role in the flight.
, in 1920. Although British airship development "initially began to languish" in peacetime, Scott was a member of the "nucleus staff" retained until development was resumed under the auspices of the Imperial Airship Scheme from 1924.
During this period, Scott took part in the trials of the new passenger airship R36. On a 5 April 1921 demonstration flight, the R36 suffered a failure of the top rudder and starboard elevator
during a turning test, which "caused the ship to fall rapidly for about 3000 feet (914.4 m) [and attain] a severe nose down angle". However, thanks to Scott's decision to conduct the tests at altitude, he was able to "trim [the R36] and...bring her safely to earth" by moving crew members about within the hull.
Scott was also involved in the R36's high-profile 14 June 1921 flight over the Ascot Races, with journalists and Metropolitan Police
representatives aboard, to assess the airship's potential role in road-traffic control. However, just a week after the Ascot flight, the R36's career was ended by severe damage to its bows resulting from a landing accident at Pulham, which took place at a time when Scott had taken over command from the ship's captain, Flight Lieutenant Herbert Irwin
(later captain of the R101).
During the same period, Scott also served as a member of the Air Ministry
committee that investigated the loss in 1921 of the R38
.
The R34's sister ship, R33, was employed on test flights to provide data for the design of the new ships; it was commanded by Flight Lieutenant Irwin, former captain of the R36 and later to be captain of the R101. On the night of 16–17 April 1925, the R33 broke from the Pulham mast during a gale and was blown stern-first to the Netherlands before those aboard—led by the first officer, Flight Lieutenant Ralph Booth, who would later command the R100—could regain control. Following the incident, Booth praised the "valuable guidance" that Scott had provided via radio.
The R100 and R101 were finally launched in late 1929. Scott did not himself command either airship (the R100 being commanded by Ralph Booth, who had by now been promoted to Wing Commander
, and the R101 by Flight Lieutenant Irwin) but took an active part in both ships' test flights. Shortly before his death aboard the R101 in 1930, Scott told Flight
magazine that, on the R100 and R101's intercontinental flights, he was "officer in command of the flight" and decided "all such points as when the ship would sail, her course, her speed, her altitude." The airships' own captains were "in charge of the crew and discipline."
In this capacity, Scott (whose title had become Assistant Director of Airship Development (Flying) in January 1930) flew from Cardington to Montreal
and back aboard the R100 in mid-1930. The ship left Cardington in the early hours of 29 July and, despite some encounters with stormy conditions that caused damage to its tail fins, arrived in Montreal early on 1 August, after 78 hours and 49 minutes of flying time. During its stay in Canada, the R100 made a flight of 25 hours and 57 minutes duration over Quebec
and southern Ontario
. The return flight set out on the evening of 13 August and arrived in Cardington on the morning of 16 August after 57 hours and 56 minutes of flying time; the trip was generally uneventful.
and Los Angeles
but eventually abandoned in favour of shorter "stub" masts.) Scott was granted a number of patents relating to the mooring system.
Scott also contributed to the design of airships themselves; with R101 designer Colonel Vincent Richmond
, he was responsible for that ship's novel unbraced transverse frames. In collaboration with Richmond or with the designer's assistant, Michael Rope, Scott was awarded patents for the frame design and for other features of the ship, including the wires that restrained its gasbags, its gas valves and its internally located passenger accommodation.
shipyards. The couple had three daughters and one son. During Scott's time at the Royal Airship Works, the family resided at Cotton End, near the airfield at Cardington. (Many years after Scott's death, in April 1972, the Goodyear blimp
Europa broke away from its mooring mast at Cardington and came to rest, deflated, in a tree in the grounds of the former Scott residence.)
(then Secretary of State for Air
) and other dignitaries would take part. However, extensive modifications, culminating in the lengthening of the airship, were needed to ensure sufficient disposable lift for the trip. The newly lengthened R101 emerged from its shed on 1 October 1930.
Only one test flight was conducted before departure for India; this flight began on the evening of 1 October and was intended to last for 24 hours but was cut to 16 hours 51 minutes. Provision had been made for the flight to be curtailed "if the ship behaved well and if Major Scott was satisfied."
The R101 left Cardington, with Scott and 53 other people aboard, at 18:36 GMT on 4 October 1930, bound for Karachi
with an intermediate stop at Ismaïlia
in Egypt. (Scott had sought to expedite the departure in the hope of avoiding an approaching low-pressure area.) While flying over northern France in stormy conditions around 02:07 on 5 October, the ship entered an uncommanded dive before recovering momentarily, then diving a second time, striking the ground at Allonne, Oise
, (near Beauvais
) and catching fire. Scott and 45 others were killed instantly, and two more individuals died of their injuries shortly afterwards; there were only six survivors. A subsequent inquiry blamed a "substantial loss of gas" for the accident.
Scott's body was never identified. The victims were returned to London via special trains and warships to lie in state
in Westminster Hall prior to a memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral on 11 October; they were then taken by rail to Cardington and buried in a common grave in the churchyard of St. Mary the Virgin.
s obituary, "immediately placed Great Britain at the head of airship construction and achievement". The Dictionary of National Biography
described him as "without doubt the foremost British airship commander of his time" and praised his "cool, alert and expert handling" of the R34 during storms on the outward leg of its transatlantic flight.
Alongside his achievements with the R34 and R100, Flight highlighted his decision to climb before conducting high-speed trials on the R36, thus (as described above) saving the ship from disaster when it experienced elevator and rudder failures. According to Flight, "there would probably have been one less tragedy on record" had similar precautions been taken in the testing of the US Army's Roma
(which struck power lines and burned, with the loss of 34 lives, after experiencing a rudder failure on a test flight in 1922). The same journal predicted that "[i]f airships become...a regular craft either of commerce or of naval patrol, Scott will be ranked with Eckener
as the two greatest among the early airship captains" and likened Scott to "his namesake, Captain Scott
of South Pole fame" as "a gallant gentleman who gave his life in the attempt to solve great problems".
According to the Times, "[n]one who ever had the good fortune to watch [Scott] handle a big airship in good weather or in bad [would] ever forget his consummate capability." However, some commentators have questioned aspects of Scott's judgement as an aviator. Nevil Shute Norway, better known as the novelist Nevil Shute
, was chief calculator under Barnes Wallis
on the design of the R100 and a passenger on that ship's transatlantic flight. In his 1954 autobiography, Slide Rule
, Shute criticised Scott for his decision to pass through, rather than avoid, a thunderstorm on that flight; according to Shute, "even with the lesser knowledge of those days, Scott should have known better and this decision was a reckless one".
Shute further criticised Scott's judgement in relation to the R101's final flight. According to Shute, given that the R101 had "never flown in bad weather" and had undergone "virtually no trials at all" since its lengthening for the India flight, "it now [1954] appears reckless that Scott should have pressed on" when the weather outlook worsened two hours after departure from Cardington. In mitigation, however, Shute noted that in 1930 "a pilot was expected to be brave and resolute, a daredevil who was not afraid to take risks" and that "to turn back would destroy the whole of [Lord Thomson's] political programme."
In his 1982 history of the R101 project, To Ride the Storm, Sir Peter Masefield stated that Scott "had a reputation...for determination and also for 'ham-handedness' [Masefield's quotes]". Masefield cited a series of landing accidents involving Scott, including the November 1915 collision of the Parseval No. 4 with its Barrow shed in foggy conditions, the June 1921 incident, discussed above, with the R36 at Pulham (when Scott took over control from Irwin and an excessively rapid approach to the mast damaged the ship so badly it never flew again), and an incident in November 1925 when the R33, under Scott's control, hit the shed doors at Pulham. There were also a number of incidents in the R101's early days in which Scott took over control from Irwin during mooring or hangaring operations and made mistakes that resulted in serious delays or, in one case, in damage to the Cardington mooring mast. In another episode, Scott released water ballast without Irwin's knowledge while the latter was conducting a landing. Both Irwin and his first officer, Noël Atherstone, expressed concern over these incidents.
Masefield characterised Scott as "dogmatic, aloof and [at the time of the R101 disaster] ill, reluctant to delegate to the Captains of the ships". However, it should be noted that Masefield believed that, when the final decision to depart for India was taken on 2 October 1930, Irwin, Richmond and Director of Airship Design R.B.B. Colmore, along with Scott, were "all satisfied that the airship was sound and airworthy and that the flight...could now be mounted with confidence".
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, AFC
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
, (25 May 1888 – 5 October 1930) was a pioneering British airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
pilot and engineer. After serving in the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
and Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Scott went on to command the airship R34 on its return Atlantic crossing in 1919, which marked the first transatlantic flight by an airship and the first east–west transatlantic flight by an aircraft of any kind. Subsequently, he worked at the Royal Airship Works in connection with the Imperial Airship Scheme
Imperial Airship Scheme
The British Imperial Airship Scheme was a project to improve communication with the far corners of the British Empire by establishing air routes using airships...
and took part in a second return Atlantic crossing, this time by the R100
R100
HM Airship R100 was a privately designed and built rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop new techniques for a projected larger commercial airship for use on British empire routes...
, in 1930. He was killed later in the year aboard the R100's competitor, the R101
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Ministry-appointed team and was effectively in competition...
, when it crashed in northern France during a flight to India.
In addition to his achievements as an aviator, Scott made significant contributions to airship engineering, notably in the evolution of the mooring mast
Mooring mast
A mooring mast, or mooring tower, is a structure designed to allow for the docking of an airship outside of an airship hangar or similar structure...
.
Background and early life
Scott was born in CatfordCatford
Catford is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-Architecture:...
, Kent, on 25 May 1888, the eldest son of civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
George Hall Scott and his wife, Margaret Wilkinson. He attended Alton School in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
; Richmond School
Richmond School
Richmond School and Sixth Form College, often referred to simply as Richmond School, is a British Comprehensive School. It was created by the merger of three schools, the oldest of which is of such unknown antiquity that its exact founding date is unknown. The first mentions of it in writings,...
, Yorkshire; and the Royal Naval Engineering College
Royal Naval Engineering College
The Royal Naval Engineering College was a specialist establishment for the training of Royal Navy engineers. It was founded as Keyham College in 1880, new buildings were opened in Manadon in 1940 and the old college site at Keyham closed in 1958...
, then located at Keyham, Plymouth. From 1908 on, Scott was "engaged in general engineering"; immediately before World War I, he worked on the construction of naval vessels at the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval
Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval
From 1909 up until the Spanish Civil War, the naval construction in Spain was monopolized by the Sociedad Española de Construcción Naval - also Spanish Society for Naval Construction was largely owned by the British , and therefore almost all ships were designed after Royal Navy vessels...
in Ferrol, Spain.
Military service
Scott joined the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) in 1914 as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant and trained at Farnborough in HampshireHampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
and RNAS Kingsnorth
RNAS Kingsnorth
RNAS Kingsnorth was a First World War Royal Navy air station for seaplanes and airships, mainly operating as an experimental and training station, but also providing anti-submarine patrols...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Between May 1915 and October 1916, he was based at Barrow-in-Furness; subsequently, he took command of the Anglesey
RAF Mona
RAF Mona is a Royal Air Force station on the island of Anglesey, Wales. It is primarily used as a relief landing ground for RAF Valley. Mona was opened as a Royal Naval Air Service airship base in 1915. During World War II it was used as an air gunnery school, flying Avro Ansons. Today, Mona is...
station, before returning to Barrow in March 1917 as captain of the No. 4, a non-rigid airship
Non-rigid airship
A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...
built in 1913 to the designs of August von Parseval
August von Parseval
August von Parseval was a German airship designer.As a boy, Von Parseval attended the Royal Bavarian Pagenkorps in Munich from 1873 to 1878, where he took the Fähnrichexamen . He then joined the Royal Bavarian 3rd Infantry Regiment Prinz Carl von Bayern...
.
Scott was posted to RNAS Howden
RNAS Howden
RNAS Howden was an airship station near the town of Howden south-west of York, UK. Opened on 26 June 1916 during the First World War, to cover the East Coast ports shipping from attacks by German U-boats. From 1916 to 1918 Howden was a Royal Naval Air Service establishment...
, Yorkshire, in April 1917 as captain of HM Airship No. 9r
No. 9r
|-See also:-References:* 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....
, the first British rigid airship
Rigid airship
A rigid airship is a type of airship in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimps and semi-rigid airships.Rigid airships were produced and...
to fly. He went on to command the same ship at Cranwell
RAF Cranwell
RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force station in Lincolnshire close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. It is currently commanded by Group Captain Dave Waddington...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, and Pulham
RNAS Pulham
RNAS Pulham was an Royal Navy Air Service airship station, south of Norwich, UK. Though land was purchased by the Navy in 1912 the site was not operational until 1915...
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
. On the formation of the RAF in April 1918, he was gazetted to the rank of Major.
R34's transatlantic flight
William Beardmore and Company
William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...
at Inchinnan
Inchinnan
Inchinnan is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just southeast of the town of Erskine.-History:...
, Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire (historic)
Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a registration county, the Lieutenancy area of the Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire, and one of the counties of Scotland used for local government until 1975. Renfrewshire is located in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland, south of the River Clyde,...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, on its completion in 1919 and was ordered to "prepare for a voyage to the United States of America". Damage to the airship during a trial flight forced a delay in departure, meaning that Alcock and Brown
Alcock and Brown
British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. They flew a modified World War I Vickers Vimy bomber from St. John's, Newfoundland, to Clifden, Connemara, County Galway, Ireland...
beat the R34 to the distinction of making the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
The R34 eventually set out from its base at East Fortune
East Fortune
East Fortune is a village in East Lothian, Scotland, located 2 miles north west of East Linton. The area is known for its airfield which was constructed in 1915 to help protect Britain from attack by German Zeppelin airships during the First World War. The RNAS airship station also included an...
, Scotland, in the early hours of 2 July 1919. Despite "dodging storms and fogs" and running low on both fuel and hydrogen, it landed at Mineola, New York
Mineola, New York
Mineola is a village in Nassau County, New York, USA. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a Native American word meaning a "pleasant place"....
, on 6 July, after 108 hours and 12 minutes of flying time. The return trip began late on 10 July and ended at Pulham on 13 July, having taken 75 hours and 3 minutes.
Scott received the CBE in honour of his role in the flight.
Royal Airship Works
Scott retired from the RAF in October 1919, subsequently joining the technical staff of the Royal Airship Works at Cardington, BedfordshireCardington, Bedfordshire
Cardington is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford in Bedfordshire, EnglandPart of the ancient hundred of Wixamtree, the settlement is best known in connection with the Cardington airship works founded by Short Brothers during World War I, which later became an RAF training station...
, in 1920. Although British airship development "initially began to languish" in peacetime, Scott was a member of the "nucleus staff" retained until development was resumed under the auspices of the Imperial Airship Scheme from 1924.
During this period, Scott took part in the trials of the new passenger airship R36. On a 5 April 1921 demonstration flight, the R36 suffered a failure of the top rudder and starboard elevator
Elevator (aircraft)
Elevators are flight control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...
during a turning test, which "caused the ship to fall rapidly for about 3000 feet (914.4 m) [and attain] a severe nose down angle". However, thanks to Scott's decision to conduct the tests at altitude, he was able to "trim [the R36] and...bring her safely to earth" by moving crew members about within the hull.
Scott was also involved in the R36's high-profile 14 June 1921 flight over the Ascot Races, with journalists and Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
representatives aboard, to assess the airship's potential role in road-traffic control. However, just a week after the Ascot flight, the R36's career was ended by severe damage to its bows resulting from a landing accident at Pulham, which took place at a time when Scott had taken over command from the ship's captain, Flight Lieutenant Herbert Irwin
Herbert Carmichael Irwin
Flight Lieutenant Herbert Carmichael "Bird" Irwin, AFC was an Irish aviator and athlete. During World War I, Irwin joined the Royal Naval Air Service , where he commanded non-rigid airships...
(later captain of the R101).
During the same period, Scott also served as a member of the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
committee that investigated the loss in 1921 of the R38
R38
The R38 class of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of World War I, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea...
.
The Imperial Airship Scheme
Proposals for an airship network connecting Britain with its colonies and dominions worldwide emerged in the years following the R34's transatlantic flight, although political and economic difficulties slowed their progress. The Imperial Airship Scheme, providing for the construction of two competing prototype passenger airships (R100, built by the Vickers-controlled Airship Guarantee Company at Howden, and R101, built by the state-owned Royal Airship Works at Cardington), was instigated in 1924. In the same year, Scott assumed the position of Officer in Charge of Flying and Training in the Air Ministry's Airship Directorate.The R34's sister ship, R33, was employed on test flights to provide data for the design of the new ships; it was commanded by Flight Lieutenant Irwin, former captain of the R36 and later to be captain of the R101. On the night of 16–17 April 1925, the R33 broke from the Pulham mast during a gale and was blown stern-first to the Netherlands before those aboard—led by the first officer, Flight Lieutenant Ralph Booth, who would later command the R100—could regain control. Following the incident, Booth praised the "valuable guidance" that Scott had provided via radio.
The R100 and R101 were finally launched in late 1929. Scott did not himself command either airship (the R100 being commanded by Ralph Booth, who had by now been promoted to Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
, and the R101 by Flight Lieutenant Irwin) but took an active part in both ships' test flights. Shortly before his death aboard the R101 in 1930, Scott told Flight
Flight International
Flight International is a global aerospace weekly publication produced in the UK. Founded in 1909, it is the world's oldest continuously published aviation news magazine...
magazine that, on the R100 and R101's intercontinental flights, he was "officer in command of the flight" and decided "all such points as when the ship would sail, her course, her speed, her altitude." The airships' own captains were "in charge of the crew and discipline."
In this capacity, Scott (whose title had become Assistant Director of Airship Development (Flying) in January 1930) flew from Cardington to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and back aboard the R100 in mid-1930. The ship left Cardington in the early hours of 29 July and, despite some encounters with stormy conditions that caused damage to its tail fins, arrived in Montreal early on 1 August, after 78 hours and 49 minutes of flying time. During its stay in Canada, the R100 made a flight of 25 hours and 57 minutes duration over Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and southern Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. The return flight set out on the evening of 13 August and arrived in Cardington on the morning of 16 August after 57 hours and 56 minutes of flying time; the trip was generally uneventful.
Technical contributions
In the immediate post–World War I years, Scott occupied the post of chief experimental officer at Pulham. He conducted research on airship mooring, and the first high mast in Europe, 120 feet (36.6 m) high, was constructed at the site. The mast, which was erected in July 1919, was initially tested using the obsolescent rigid airship R24, which remained moored for periods of three to six weeks at a time. R33 and R36 later used the Pulham mast, and the R100 and R101 used high masts (at Cardington and, in the R100's case, Montreal) throughout their short lives. (The system was also adopted by the US Navy for the ShenandoahUSS Shenandoah (ZR-1)
USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. It was built in 1922-1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September 1923. It developed the Navy's experience with rigid airships, even making the first crossing of North America by airship...
and Los Angeles
USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
The second USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, that was built in 1923-1924 by the Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it was originally designated LZ-126...
but eventually abandoned in favour of shorter "stub" masts.) Scott was granted a number of patents relating to the mooring system.
Scott also contributed to the design of airships themselves; with R101 designer Colonel Vincent Richmond
Vincent Crane Richmond
Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Crane Richmond OBE B.Sc., A.R.C. F.R.A.S was an Englishengineer and airship designer. He served first with the Royal Naval Air Service then the Royal Air Force...
, he was responsible for that ship's novel unbraced transverse frames. In collaboration with Richmond or with the designer's assistant, Michael Rope, Scott was awarded patents for the frame design and for other features of the ship, including the wires that restrained its gasbags, its gas valves and its internally located passenger accommodation.
Personal life
In 1919, Scott married Jessie Campbell, eldest daughter of Archibald Jack Campbell, general manager of Beardmore's DalmuirDalmuir
Dalmuir is an area on the western side of Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.-Location:It is neighboured by the village of Old Kilpatrick, the Mountblow and Parkhall areas of Clydebank, as well as the town centre...
shipyards. The couple had three daughters and one son. During Scott's time at the Royal Airship Works, the family resided at Cotton End, near the airfield at Cardington. (Many years after Scott's death, in April 1972, the Goodyear blimp
Goodyear Blimp
The Goodyear Blimp is the collective name for a fleet of blimps operated by Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for advertising purposes and for use as a television camera platform for aerial views of sporting events...
Europa broke away from its mooring mast at Cardington and came to rest, deflated, in a tree in the grounds of the former Scott residence.)
Death
After the R100's successful trip to Canada, attention turned to plans for a similar flight to India by the R101, in which Lord ThomsonChristopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson
Christopher Birdwood Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson PC was a British Army officer who went on to serve as a Labour minister and peer...
(then Secretary of State for Air
Secretary of State for Air
The Secretary of State for Air was a cabinet level British position. The person holding this position was in charge of the Air Ministry. It was created on 10 January 1919 to manage the Royal Air Force...
) and other dignitaries would take part. However, extensive modifications, culminating in the lengthening of the airship, were needed to ensure sufficient disposable lift for the trip. The newly lengthened R101 emerged from its shed on 1 October 1930.
Only one test flight was conducted before departure for India; this flight began on the evening of 1 October and was intended to last for 24 hours but was cut to 16 hours 51 minutes. Provision had been made for the flight to be curtailed "if the ship behaved well and if Major Scott was satisfied."
The R101 left Cardington, with Scott and 53 other people aboard, at 18:36 GMT on 4 October 1930, bound for Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
with an intermediate stop at Ismaïlia
Ismaïlia
-Notable natives:*Osman Ahmed Osman, a famous and influential Egyptian engineer, contractor, entrepreneur, and politician, was born in this town on 6 April 1917....
in Egypt. (Scott had sought to expedite the departure in the hope of avoiding an approaching low-pressure area.) While flying over northern France in stormy conditions around 02:07 on 5 October, the ship entered an uncommanded dive before recovering momentarily, then diving a second time, striking the ground at Allonne, Oise
Allonne, Oise
Allonne is a village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.-History:The R101 British airship crashed during the night on October 5, 1930, in Allone during its maiden overseas voyage, between London and Karachi, killing 48 people....
, (near Beauvais
Beauvais
Beauvais is a city approximately by highway north of central Paris, in the northern French region of Picardie. It currently has a population of over 60,000 inhabitants.- History :...
) and catching fire. Scott and 45 others were killed instantly, and two more individuals died of their injuries shortly afterwards; there were only six survivors. A subsequent inquiry blamed a "substantial loss of gas" for the accident.
Scott's body was never identified. The victims were returned to London via special trains and warships to lie in state
Lying in state
Lying in state is a term used to describe the tradition in which a coffin is placed on view to allow the public at large to pay their respects to the deceased. It traditionally takes place in the principal government building of a country or city...
in Westminster Hall prior to a memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral on 11 October; they were then taken by rail to Cardington and buried in a common grave in the churchyard of St. Mary the Virgin.
Reputation
Both before and after his death, Scott was hailed for his achievements as an aviator, most notably the R34's Atlantic crossing, which, according to the TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
s obituary, "immediately placed Great Britain at the head of airship construction and achievement". The Dictionary of National Biography
Dictionary of National Biography
The Dictionary of National Biography is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published from 1885...
described him as "without doubt the foremost British airship commander of his time" and praised his "cool, alert and expert handling" of the R34 during storms on the outward leg of its transatlantic flight.
Alongside his achievements with the R34 and R100, Flight highlighted his decision to climb before conducting high-speed trials on the R36, thus (as described above) saving the ship from disaster when it experienced elevator and rudder failures. According to Flight, "there would probably have been one less tragedy on record" had similar precautions been taken in the testing of the US Army's Roma
Roma (airship)
- References :NotesBibliography* Tampa Times, February 22, 1922. Page 1.* New York Times, February 22, 1922. Page 1....
(which struck power lines and burned, with the loss of 34 lives, after experiencing a rudder failure on a test flight in 1922). The same journal predicted that "[i]f airships become...a regular craft either of commerce or of naval patrol, Scott will be ranked with Eckener
Hugo Eckener
Dr. Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and was commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history...
as the two greatest among the early airship captains" and likened Scott to "his namesake, Captain Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
of South Pole fame" as "a gallant gentleman who gave his life in the attempt to solve great problems".
According to the Times, "[n]one who ever had the good fortune to watch [Scott] handle a big airship in good weather or in bad [would] ever forget his consummate capability." However, some commentators have questioned aspects of Scott's judgement as an aviator. Nevil Shute Norway, better known as the novelist Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
, was chief calculator under Barnes Wallis
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE FRS, RDI, FRAeS , was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II...
on the design of the R100 and a passenger on that ship's transatlantic flight. In his 1954 autobiography, Slide Rule
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer
Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1954. Slide Rule concentrates on Nevil Shute's work in aerospace, ending in 1938 when he left the industry....
, Shute criticised Scott for his decision to pass through, rather than avoid, a thunderstorm on that flight; according to Shute, "even with the lesser knowledge of those days, Scott should have known better and this decision was a reckless one".
Shute further criticised Scott's judgement in relation to the R101's final flight. According to Shute, given that the R101 had "never flown in bad weather" and had undergone "virtually no trials at all" since its lengthening for the India flight, "it now [1954] appears reckless that Scott should have pressed on" when the weather outlook worsened two hours after departure from Cardington. In mitigation, however, Shute noted that in 1930 "a pilot was expected to be brave and resolute, a daredevil who was not afraid to take risks" and that "to turn back would destroy the whole of [Lord Thomson's] political programme."
In his 1982 history of the R101 project, To Ride the Storm, Sir Peter Masefield stated that Scott "had a reputation...for determination and also for 'ham-handedness' [Masefield's quotes]". Masefield cited a series of landing accidents involving Scott, including the November 1915 collision of the Parseval No. 4 with its Barrow shed in foggy conditions, the June 1921 incident, discussed above, with the R36 at Pulham (when Scott took over control from Irwin and an excessively rapid approach to the mast damaged the ship so badly it never flew again), and an incident in November 1925 when the R33, under Scott's control, hit the shed doors at Pulham. There were also a number of incidents in the R101's early days in which Scott took over control from Irwin during mooring or hangaring operations and made mistakes that resulted in serious delays or, in one case, in damage to the Cardington mooring mast. In another episode, Scott released water ballast without Irwin's knowledge while the latter was conducting a landing. Both Irwin and his first officer, Noël Atherstone, expressed concern over these incidents.
Masefield characterised Scott as "dogmatic, aloof and [at the time of the R101 disaster] ill, reluctant to delegate to the Captains of the ships". However, it should be noted that Masefield believed that, when the final decision to depart for India was taken on 2 October 1930, Irwin, Richmond and Director of Airship Design R.B.B. Colmore, along with Scott, were "all satisfied that the airship was sound and airworthy and that the flight...could now be mounted with confidence".