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R.36 was a British airship designed during World War I, but not completed until after the war. When she first flew in 1921, it was not in her originally intended role as a patrol aircraft for the Royal Navy, but as an airliner, the first airship to carry a civil registration (G-FAAF). The R.36, along with a second ship the R.37 were to be a stretched version of the L49, getting more lift by adding another gas bag. Two of her five engines were German Maybach engines, recovered from the downed LZ 113.

Construction began before the end of the war, but the design was altered to include accommodation for 50 passengers. This was more than twice the number carried by the two German airships LZ 120 Bodensee and LZ 121 Nordstern built for passenger carrying.

Unlike the L49 Type U, the control car was not suspended below the hull but directly attached to it, and formed the forward section of the elongated passenger compartment. The engines were housed in five engine cars, one pair (containing the Maybach engines) on either side of the hull forward of the control car, a second pair either side of the passenger compartment and the fifth on the centreline in front of the tail surfaces. Unlike previous British airship designs, the fins and horizontal stabilisers were cantilevered structures, with no external bracing. Late the following day she flew on to RNAS Pulham in Norfolk.

On 5 April it left Pulham at 07:25am bound for London. After making its appearance over the city it proceeded to Salisbury Plain, where it climbed to 6,000&nbsp;ft (1800&nbsp;m) and began manoeuvring trials. Starting a fast turn of 130 degrees it encountered windshear, which overstressed the rudder, collapsing the top rudder and starboard elevator. This made the ship adopt a nose down attitude and rapidly lose height, but it was brought under control at around 3,000 feet . Emergency repairs were made to the damaged control surfaces and the ship limped home on her one remaining rudder and elevator, using differential engine control to help with directional control, reaching Pulham at 9.15pm. In the light of her age and condition she was scrapped in 1926. The total flying time achieved by R.36 was less than 100 hours when she was broken up in June 1936.

|eng1 kw=260<!-- --><!-- prop engines -->

|eng1 hp=350<!-- prop engines -->

|eng2 number=2

|eng2 name=Maybach <!-- what type?? -->

|eng2 kw=190<!-- --><!-- prop engines -->

|eng2 hp=260<!-- prop engines -->

|max speed kmh=105<!-- -->

|max speed mph=65

|range km=1181

|range miles=734

|range note=longest flight

|endurance=29 hours 54 minutes

|ceiling m=1829

|ceiling ft=6000

|ceiling note=highest attained

Notes

References

  • Brooks, Peter W. Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893-1940Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C., 1992 .
  • Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik,Airship saga: The history of airships seen through the eyes of the men who designed, built, and flew them , 1982,
  • Manfred Griehl and Joachim Dressel, Zeppelin! The German Airship Story, 1990
  • Higham, Robin. The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931. Henley-on-Thames: Foulis, 1961.
  • Ces Mowthorpe, Battlebags: British Airships of the First World War, 1995
  • Lord Ventry and Eugene Kolesnik, Jane's Pocket Book 7 – Airship Development, 1976
  • <cite id=aht36>The Airship Heritage Trust R36 Page</cite>