§ THE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY asked His Majesty's Government whether they can give any information regarding the tests of the airship R 100. The noble Marquess said: My Lords, at this late hour I should not think of inflicting a speech on the House, but, as the question is of some importance not only for the Secretary of State for Air to make a statement on the subject, but in order to give the public information which they are very anxious to get and the absence of which may give rise to suspicions which are quite unfounded, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name.
§ LORD THOMSONMy Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Marquess for giving me the opportunity of replying to his Question. I thoroughly appreciate she motives which inspired it. Three sets of tests have to be carried out on R 100. One set has been already carried out. Those tests are the shed trials (for gas lift and trim) and shed engine tests. The other two sets of tests have not been carried out for the reason that the R 100 has never been taken out of her shed. The reason why this airship has not been out of the shed is that the shed fits very closely to the ship. There 1190 is not a great clearance. The clearance of the Howden shed is less than 9 feet on each side, and only 5 feet 4 inches on top. When you are moving a great body like a gas bag of that size, getting out of a shed with so small a clearance is a matter of very great difficulty, and demands what is practically a flat calm.
I may point out for the information of your Lordships, however, that this is not the permanent shed of R 100. There are two sheds at Cardington, one for R 100 and one for R 101, where the clearance is far larger, and where it will be possible to get R 100 in and out without the same difficulty. There is, moreover, the mast, and, of course, the mast has made a great difference in these experiments. The R 101 was at the mast during some of the wildest weather we have had for years in this country without ever going into the shed at all. The analogy is not very close, but it is fairly close when I say that the shed is something like the dry dock of a ship, whereas the mast is like the ordinary dock. I cannot give your Lordships any information about the future tests of R 100 until she has gone through the second set. The second set will be those that have been carried out by R 101 already—namely, flying trials, four in number, increasing from not less than three hours' to not less than forty-eight hours' flight.
§ House adjourned at five minutes before eight o'clock.