page_title: R100
section_title: Transatlantic Voyage to Canada
hierarchical_section_title: R100 / Operational history / Transatlantic Voyage to Canada
caption_attribution_description: His Majesty's Airship R-100, over the Canadian Bank of Commerce, the tallest building in the British Empire (Toronto, Canada)
context_page_description: His Majesty's Airship R100 also known as Emperor of Canada was a privately designed and built British rigid airship made as part of a two-ship competition to develop a commercial airship service for use on British Empire routes as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. The other airship, the R101, was built by the British Air Ministry, but both airships were funded by the Government.
  R100 was built by the Airship Guarantee Company, a specially created subsidiary of the armaments firm Vickers-Armstrongs, led by Commander Dennis Burney. The design team was headed by Barnes Wallis, later famous for his invention of the bouncing bomb. The design team also included Nevil Shute Norway as the senior stress engineer.
  R100 first flew in December 1929. It made a series of trial flights and a successful return crossing of the Atlantic in July–August 1930, but following the crash of R101 in October 1930 the Imperial Airship Scheme was terminated and R100 was broken up for scrap.
context_section_description: Shortly before R101's flights in June 1930, the Cardington engineers tentatively suggested that the long flights to Canada and India might be postponed until 1931 on the grounds that neither of the two airships was fit to make a lengthy flight at their current developmental stage. The R100 team replied that their airship was perfectly capable of flying to Canada, and that the Canadian flight was a part of their contract. R100 departed for Canada on 29 July 1930, reaching its mooring mast at the St-Hubert, Quebec Airport (outside Montreal) in 78 hours, having covered the great circle route of 3,300 mi (5,300 km) at an average ground speed of 42 mph (68 km/h). The airship stayed at Montreal for 12 days with over 100,000 people visiting the airship each day while it was moored there, and a song was composed by La Bolduc to make fun of the people's fascination with R100.
  It also made a 24-hour passenger-carrying flight to Ottawa, Toronto, and Niagara Falls while in Canada. The airship departed on its return flight on 13 August, reaching Cardington after a 57½ hour flight. Nevil Shute later suggested in Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer that the success of R100's Canadian flight indirectly led to the R101 disaster. Prior to the transatlantic flight, the Cardington team could suggest that neither airship was ready for a performance of such duration. However, when R100 returned in triumph they had to either make the flight to India or admit defeat – which would have meant discredit with the consequent danger of losing their jobs. He said that his team "guessed that their ship was a bad airship, but did not realise" (because of secrecy at Cardington) "how bad the other ship was."
caption: R100 over Canadian Bank of Commerce building in Toronto, Canada, then the highest building in the British Empire (August 1930).  The rippling of the airship's skin is visible.
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