§ LORD NEWTONMy Lords, before we adjourn may I ask the Minister for Air if he has any further statement to make with regard to past and prospective flights in the airship R101? I should like to take the opportunity of thanking the noble Lord for the extreme care and attention with which his visitors were treated last Saturday. Although I presume the noble Lord, like everybody else, was deeply disappointed, yet I am sure that nobody regretted their visit but considered their time on the whole to have been extremely well spent. With regard to the entertainment provided for us, it was of so generous a nature that I am perfectly certain that, if the visitors had been polled, they would have unanimously agreed to face the situation, however alarming it might appear.
It would be very presumptious for me to express an opinion on what I saw in a short visit, but one thing perplexed me enormously. I cannot understand why the noble Lord and his friends set to work to build two of these airships simultaneously. One of the minor results is that, in view of the fact that a second airship is being built, no further flight is possible this year in R101. It will not be possible, in fact, to take a flight before next year, and I venture with some diffidence to suggest a definite date to the noble Lord. I would suggest, if he will allow me, in a friendly manner 688 that he should select April 1 for his next excursion of this nature. If he will adopt my suggestion, he will have nothing whatever to complain of, because everybody, including himself, will be prepared for any eventuality that may arise.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR AIR (LORD THOMSON)My Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Lord for raising this question, and I will make a note of the date. Atmospheric conditions for airships are said to be very good about the beginning of April. There are two airships for the reasons that were given by me in 1924 in a very long oration on the subject of airships. Two sorts of design are concerned, and the difference between the two airships is very marked indeed. For example, R101 has a Diesel engine which marks a completely new departure in aircraft engines; R100, on the other hand, has an ordinary petrol engine. There are other differences. The contract was given to the Airship Guarantee Company in order that the company might be rewarded, and its chairman in particular, Sir Dennistoun Burney, for having kept airships alive during the period of neglect and depression which they suffered for several years subsequent to 1921.
I can only conclude by expressing regret that those very gallant visitors on Saturday had such bad luck. In sixteen days only two were unsuitable for airship navigation. They happened to be the two days selected. I tremble now at fixing any date. Visitors impressed the air staff at Cardington enormously by their cheerfulness and their appetites. I do not think that anybody was the least bit ill, and I may say that the conditions under which the ship was riding were somewhat remarkable. I do not know what people expect from a brand new device like this, but on that same day the British battleship "Malaya" was held up for thirty hours from getting into Plymouth harbour and was described by one newspaper as being in a state of insecurity. That was at one end of the country. All along the south and east coasts shipping was held up, and a great 20,000 ton liner, which has crossed the ocean many times, was weatherbound at Liverpool. Football matches were abandoned, bookmakers ceased to quote the odds, and, in fact, we were living under conditions so abnormal that I think 689 the noble Lord and his friends may consider themselves extremely lucky that they were not blown away. The highest compliment that could be paid to the strength of R101 is that she is still there and that the noble Lord, I am glad to say, is with us also to-night. I will 690 note his date for the next flight, but I am not going to fix a definite date, if I can possibly help it, for the flight of Members of Parliament ever again.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past six o'clock.