The R34 airship at William Beardmore & Co's works, Inchinnan in Renfrewshire.
At the beginning of the First World War Beardmores were commissioned to build airships for military use. Work started on R34 in 1917. Plans for the airship included bomb racks and gun-houses for Lewis machine guns and Pom-Pom guns. However, the war had ended by the time she was completed. The Admiralty agreed to lend R34 to the Air Ministry for experiments with long distance air travel and, in 1919, R34 became the first ever aircraft to make the return journey across the Atlantic Ocean.
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
airships, First World War, R34, trans-Atlantic flights, William Beardmore & Co
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