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On commission
to the British Government, a British crew went down to Rome
to fly her to the UK. The SR1 left Rome in the early hours
of 28th October 1918. It was agreed that a ship of this
size would not be expected to fly non stop back, so a series
of stopovers was planned :
This
was the first flight of any aircraft between Italy and Britain
either way.
It was
not an easy flight, the crew were too busy to sleep as they
had to battle strong headwinds and rain for much of the
trip. The ship had mechanical failures, a fractured oil
line which spewed hot engine oil throughout the control
car. The crew worked franitcally to repair this damage but
turned the control car floor in to slippery platform resembling
a skating rink. Comical though it may sound, in an undulating
control car in the air the crew had to take great precautions
to aviod anybody falling overboard. To further the discomfort
on the flight, at one point the exhaust mainfold fell off
midships engine above the control car, burnt through on
to the petrol tanks below. The red-hot manifold lay in close
proximity to hundreds of gallons of high-octane aviation
fuel and beneath almost half a million cubic feet of equally
inflammable hydrogen. Captain Williams and Petty Officer
Leach lept up a ladder and pushed the burning mass overboard,
at the same time brushing out glowing sparks with thier
hands.
Added to the fact that on two attempts to house the ship
in France, the arrangements had not been put in to place
as it was found at landing ath te pre arranged stop-overed
that the ship was too large for the French hangers which
were provided. The ship had to be housed outside on both
occasions. However, the ship managed to cross the Channel
and landed at Kingsnorth Airship base in Kent, and landed
on 31st October 1918. It was the first time an aircraft
had ever flown from Italy to the United Kingdom.
On 6th
November the was flown to Pulham Airship station where the
unreliably SPA engine was removed. The crew were very aware
of the shortcommings of the power units, and had difficulty
in keeping all three units operations on this filght. With
only 5 days left of the war the SR1 was never used operationally
with the exception of watching U Boats surrender at Harwich.
She flew over London on 2nd July 1919 as publicity for the
war loan and to take part in a peace procession with the
R33. Whilst over London, the SR1 suffered a malfunction
which deprived the ship of all power. The crew were well
versed in the erratic behavior of the ship, and carried
out urgent repairs whilst floating motionless above the
cheering crowds. Then suddenly the SR 1 was caught up in
turbulance and shot upwards in to the clouds and to where
the R33 flew. By good fortune control was suddenly restored
and an accident averted. Power was restored and the ship
returned to Pulham after the 10 hour flight.
A similar flight over South Wales followed on the 6th and
7th July. A final demonstration flight was given in August
for the benefit of visiting regiments from India.
It was
agreed by September 1919 that the SR1 was to be deleted
due to her clearly inferior to contemporary British airships.
The ship was housed and dismanted
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