R33-class airship

R33-class
R34 landing at Mineola, New York in 1919
Role	Patrol airship Type of aircraft
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Armstrong Whitworth (R33) Beardmore (R34)
First flight	6 March 1919
Primary user	Royal Naval Air Service (to 1918) Royal Air Force (1918 onwards)
Number built	2
Developed from	R31 class airship
Developed into	R36

The R.33 class of British rigid airships were built for the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, but were not completed until after the end of hostilities, by which time the RNAS had become part of the Royal Air Force. The lead ship, R.33, served successfully for ten years and survived one of the most alarming and heroic incidents in airship history when she was torn from her mooring mast in a gale. She was called a "Pulham Pig" by the locals, as the blimps based there had been, and is immortalised in the village sign for Pulham St Mary. The only other airship in the class, R.34, became the first aircraft to make an east to west transatlantic flight in July 1919 and, with the return flight, made the first two-way crossing. It was decommissioned two years later, after being damaged during a storm. The crew nicknamed her "Tiny".^[1]