Nevil Shute, in his biography Slide Rule, also questioned Scott’s judgment concerning the final flight of the R101. He said “given that the R101 had never flown in bad weather and had undergone virtually no trials at all since being lengthened for the flight to Karachi, it appears reckless that Scott should have pressed on.” However, Shute did note that in the 1930s a pilot was supposed to be a daredevil and risk taker. It may be that by turning back Scott would have destroyed Lord Thompson’s political program.
It is interesting to note that NASA used the R101 disaster as one of its Case Studies in System Failure. Their take on it is that the R101 Airship story is one of political leadership spurring investment in new technology, but at the same time driving that new technology to a premature implementation and subsequent disaster.
Bob C