In the 1920s, the idea of long-distance transport using large airships was generally supported, especially in two European countries, Germany and Great Britain. In the UK, the construction of large transport airships was initiated by a government document elaborated by Sir Charles Dennistoun Burney in 1922, which proposed to provide future air transport within the British Empire by airships, the development of which was to be funded by the government and the manufacture of which was to be entrusted to a division of Vickers. After the development and construction of airships program became a political issue, the Imperial Airship Scheme was formulated by Lord Thomson a year later.
As a result, among other things, the production of two experimental airships R100 and R101 was commissioned. It is noteworthy that while the development and production of the R100 was entrusted to the private Airship Guarantee Company, a subsidiary of Vickers, the R101 was to be built under the direct supervision of the Air Ministry. The crucial difference was that while the R100 had to be built at a pre-determined fixed price, the "government" R101 team was not particularly constrained.
This is why the R100 was sometimes nicknamed the "capitalist airship" and the R101 was known as the "socialist airship".
The privately designed R100 was completed in late 1929 and made its first flight on the 16th of December that year. The airship covered the 5,300-kilometre route in 78 hours at an average speed relative to the ground of 68 km/h. During its stay in Canada, the R100 made a number of flights with passengers on board, visiting Ottawa, Toronto and flying over Niagara Falls. She returned to the UK on 13 August and the trip was considered a great success overall.
The competing R101 crashed during a flight to India, with the disaster occurring in Beauvais (northern France) on the 5th of October 1930. As a result of the disaster, 48 people on board died (two of whom died of their injuries later in hospital), including the Minister of Aviation, Lord Thomson. This disaster spelled the end for the entire project and it was eventually decided that even the successful R100 would be scrapped in 1931.
From today's perspective, these two projects are a very interesting demonstration of how a private company can spend its resources much more efficiently and complete a project earlier than a state-owned manufacturer.