Today In History:  15 July  [1919]   --  RAF Airship explodes over the North Sea

The British Royal Air Force Airship NS.11 explodes over the North Sea during a mine-hunting patrol and crashes in a ball of fire off Cley next the Sea, Norfolk, killing all nine members of her crew.

NS11 was one of 14 North Sea-class airships ordered by the Royal Navy for the Royal Naval Air Service, but by the time NS11 was delivered in September 1918, the Royal Naval Air Service had been amalgamated with the Royal Flying Corps to form the RAF. Prior to the accident, she had made voyages of more than 1000 miles (1600 km) over the North Sea, setting a world record for non-rigid airships.[

PHOTO: Model of a North Sea Class Non Rigid Airship on display at the Chatham Historic Dockyard, Kent, England


Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia. MilborneOne - Own work