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- July 6, 1919
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.
Pulham Pig
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.
Tiny
The only other airship in the class, R.34, became the first aircraft to make an east to west transatlantic flight in July 06, 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”