Airships in the RAF?

[baffman]

The roundel doesn't seem conclusive either way, since it had been used by the RNAS before. Surely what it indicates is "British military aircraft" of any service.

[mike rondot]

Nose Roundels on RNAS Airships

Baffman

I agree with you, and thanks for adding another protective layer to my beer-backed assertion that the Royal Air Force has never operated a rigid airship.

[Lima Juliet]

Mike

The R32 certainly did fly after the initial trials, here is a quote from the same website:

The ship was then flown up to Howden on 20th March 1920. The ship was put in the hangar for some time whilst the crew got to know her and general airship operations

The Imperial Airship Scheme was for later G Reg aircraft - R32 was definately on the mil register.

LJ

[mike rondot]

Airships.

I spoke to the custodian and author of that website Airshipsonline : Airships : R32. The references and footnotes to the text are a bit thin so I suspect some oral history has crept in to the "facts".

I asked him the same question: Has the RAF ever operated a rigid airship?. He did not know the answer either.

I suspect that R32 was flown under HMG/Admiralty orders/flag to try to generate US interest to retrieve some of the enormous cost of building. By all accounts, the RAF was NFI in rigid airships and wanted nothing to do with them.

TSR2 and other prototype aircraft were given mil register serial numbers, but they were not operated by the RAF.