This In Memoriam card commemorates the ill-fated airship that crashed in France, near Beauvais, on its main oversea flight, killing 48 people on board including Lord Thomson, the Air Minister, and Sir Sefton Brancker, the Air Vice Marshall. Those who perished are listed on the back of the card; 6 people survived. The R.101 had been built as part of a Government "Imperial Airship Scheme" to develop airships capable of long-distance flights. The R.101 was designed by the Air Ministry, and a second ship - R.100 - by a Vickers subsidiary, leading to competition between the two. The R.101 had undergone various flights and tests, though there is a suggestion that not all safety checks had been made before its first flight from Cardington to Karachi on the 4th October, 1930. It crashed the following day, leading to Lord Thomson's successor to cancel the British Airship Programme.