News of the Week
'R101' ["HE wreck of the airship R101. ' with a loss of
• -L forty-eight out of her company of fifty-four persons has stricken the nation with such a grief as has not been experienced since the War. ' R101 left Cardington last Saturday evening for a flight to India by way of Egypt, and in extremely bad weather about two o'clock last Sunday morning, she struck the ground near Beauvais and was burned. Among the dead were Lord Thomson (Secretary of State for Air), Sir Sefton Braneker (Director of Civil Aviation), Major G. H. Scott (Assistant Director of Airship Development), and several other highly skilled officers who cannot for a long time; if ever, be replaced. We have discussed in a leading article the questions raised by this disaster. Here we must mention the deep gratitude which has been stirred in this country. by the tender care for-the dead and the survivors shown-by the-French 'Governnientand people.
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