R31-class airship

R31 class
General information
Type	Fleet defence airship
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Short Brothers
Primary user	Royal Navy
Number built	2
History
First flight	July 1918

The R31 class of British rigid airships was constructed in the closing months of World War I, and comprised two aircraft, His Majesty's Airship R31 and R32. They were designed by the Royal Corps of Naval Constructors – with assistance from a Herr Müller who had defected to Britain, and previously worked for the Schütte-Lanz airship company – and built by Short Brothers at the Cardington airship sheds. The airship frame was made from spruce plywood laminated into girder sections, weatherproofed with varnish, and also fireproofed. These enclosed 21 gas bags.^[1] R31 was the largest British airship to fly before the end of the war, and the class remains the largest mobile wooden structures ever built.^[2]

As the airships were intended for fleet protection operations, they were to be fitted with defensive machine guns on top of the envelope, at the stern and in the gondolas. A 12-pounder gun was to be fitted in a special position centrally below the airship for use against U-boats. In the event, this armament was only fitted to R31, as R32 was only completed after the armistice with Germany.^[3] It had also been intended to fit a bomb load of two 520 lb (240 kg) bombs and four 230 lb (100 kg) bombs. With the end of hostilities, these were never installed on either airship.