THE MILLIONTH CHANCE: The Story of the R.101

‘Mr Leasor’s account of a tragedy that ought not to have happened is full and moving.’ The Times

‘Detailed and gripping.’ Evening Standard

‘A strangely gripping biography of an airship… his book is one which everybody interested in the history of British aviation will find worth reading.’ The Aeronautical Journal

The R101 was Britain’s greatest aviation gamble. The largest airship ever built, it was hailed as the future of long-distance travel, a revolutionary aircraft said to be “as safe as houses… except for the millionth chance.”

On the night of 4 October 1930, that millionth chance arrived.

In one of the worst disasters in British aviation history, the R101 crashed in northern France on its maiden voyage to India. Forty-eight people, including the Secretary of State for Air, lost their lives. Only six survived. The catastrophe ended Britain’s dream of commercial airships almost overnight.

Drawing on meticulous research and eyewitness accounts, James Leasor reconstructs the ambition, political pressure and fatal decisions that lay behind the tragedy. Combining the pace of a thriller with the authority of a historian, The Millionth Chance is both a moving account of those who perished and a compelling study of how overconfidence, bureaucracy and political interference can turn technological optimism into catastrophe.