• Fatal Flight

  • The True Story of Britain's Last Great Airship
  • By: Bill Hammack
  • Narrated by: Bill Hammack
  • Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (82 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Fatal Flight  By  cover art

Fatal Flight

By: Bill Hammack
Narrated by: Bill Hammack
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.95

Buy for $14.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Fatal Flight brings vividly to life the year of operation of R.101, the last great British airship - a luxury liner three and a half times the length of a 747 jet, with a spacious lounge, a dining room that seated 50, glass-walled promenade decks, and a smoking room. The British expected R.101 to spearhead a fleet of imperial airships that would dominate the skies as British naval ships, a century earlier, had ruled the seas. The dream ended when, on its demonstration flight to India, R.101 crashed in France, tragically killing nearly all aboard. Combining meticulous research with superb storytelling, Fatal Flight guides us from the moment the great airship emerged from its giant shed - nearly the largest building in the British Empire - to soar on its first flight, to its last fateful voyage. The full story behind R.101 shows that, although it was a failure, it was nevertheless a supremely imaginative human creation. The technical achievement of creating R.101 reveals the beauty, majesty, and, of course, the sorrow of the human experience.

The narrative follows First Officer Noel Atherstone and his crew from the ship's first test flight in 1929 to its fiery crash on October 5, 1930. It reveals in graphic detail the heroic actions of Atherstone as he battled tremendous obstacles. He fought political pressures to hurry the ship into the air, fended off Britain's most feted airship pilot, who used his influence to take command of the ship and nearly crashed it, and, a scant two months before departing for India, guided the rebuilding of the ship to correct its faulty design. Set against the backdrop of the British Empire at the height of its power in the early 20th century, Fatal Flight portrays an extraordinary age in technology, fueled by humankind's obsession with flight.

©2017 William S. Hammack (P)2017 William S. Hammack
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

More from the same

What listeners say about Fatal Flight

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    17
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    58
  • 4 Stars
    13
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    61
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Probably better in a visual media

My opinion - don't get it audio form.
The book, I felt, was meandering. It jumps from the main story to anecdotes and side stories far to often.
This was compounded by the fact that pacing of the read was way to fast! It felt breathless, just an onslaught of information.
But worst of all was the imperial measurments. I expected more from Bill Hammack. Maybe, if this book was more story/drama oriented book, but this is loaded with technical data. I know this is a general audiance book, and I know it was written in America, and I know 1930s Britain used well... imperial measurments, but it felt wrong and anachronistic to not include metric.

So get this book in hard form, make your self a nice cup of tea, and read it as it should.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Before The Hindenburg

Good read and narration. History of the British venture in to a Zeppelin like odyssey.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

How not to project manage

Lets see here- we start with a concept of dubious merit (tie the empire together with airships!; never mind the long sequence already of disasters),fail to solve the most pressing technical issue (leaky and fragile gasbags), add less relevant and unneeded innovations that are subsequently removed to save weight (weight which wouldn’t be an issue if you hadn’t overbuilt the frame), and leave an alcoholic with a proven record of ill-judgment in a important management position, and add political pressure to get your past deadline moving though the vehicle remains poorly tested. No surprise then if disaster strikes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Cautionary Tale

A well researched tale of why it's necessary to not rush research, design, development of technologies, especially when they're responsible for human lives. Proper diligence must be done at all times to discover and remedy any engineering issues regardless of who's ego is on the line.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Written and read by someone truly passionate

If you like historic books about flight, this is a solid recommendation for me. Written and read by Bill Hammack, of YouTube fame, it details the first and last voyage of R-101 which was the pinnacle and the turning point for the British airship industry.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A fascinating story well narrated by the author.

I enjoyed the detail and perfect narration of Fatal Flight. It did, however, make me want to never fly in an airship.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good read

Awesome, Well read engineering analysis of obscure but interesting history! Bill Hammack is a literary and engineering genius!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great “read”

I really enjoyed this book. If you’re an engineer type like me, don’t be discouraged by the beginning which starts out with the ship already built and sounds like it’s just going to be a summary of events. He moves into the story behind the continued development of the craft from a political and engineering point of view and paints a vivid picture of the designers, operators, facilities, and flights.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A great story

a great story about something not well covered in our al of our history books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • TG
  • 09-02-17

A great story of the people more than the airship

I really appreciate the time spent developing the characters behind the story. thus was much more interesting than talking about just the ship itself. and oh, what characters!

I would have liked to hear a little more about the fatal flight itself - it seemed to come rather quickly in the book.

The ending explains a few things, and contains one very ironic item I did not know.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!