 the Secretary of State for Air, expressed his interest in making a flight to India after travelling as a passenger on the new airship's second flight. However, the R101, as originally built, had insufficient disposable lift to make the flight. Weight-saving measures and efforts to improve lift were initiated and completed in early 1930. R101 made three flights in late June 1930 and, in a report to Scott on 1 July, Irwin expressed concerns over "flapping" of the ship's outer cover, possible malfunctioning of gas valves and "an abundance of holes" in the gas cells due to chafing against girders. In a previous conversation with Squadron Leader Ralph Booth, captain of the R100, on 27 June, Irwin had expressed the opinion that "most of the losses were from the gas valves", due to "excessive pulsing and flapping" of the envelope fabric.
The R101 then returned to its shed for rebuilding with an added section. It came out of the shed on 1 October and departed later that day on what would be its only test flight before departure for India. However, the flight, planned to last 24 hours, was cut short to 16 hours 51 minutes. At the inquiry following the crash Irwin and the other officers were described as "undoubtedly well satisfied with the performance of the ship" but Squadron Leader Booth told the inquiry that he had no reason to think that Irwin had changed his previous view that "more elaborate trials in bad weather would be expedient", and the inquiry report stated that it was "impossible to avoid agreeing" with Booth's opinion.
It was eventually decided that the flight from Cardington to Karachi (then northern British India, now Pakistan) and back, with a stop at Ismaïlia, Egypt, in both directions, would set out on 4 October 1930. Lord Thomson, Director of Civil Aviation Sefton Brancker and other dignitaries would be aboard. Major Scott was in charge of the flight. He had travelled on the R100's trip to Montreal and back in July and August 1930. As he explained his position to a "Flight" correspondent he was "officer in command of the flight" and decided "all such points as when the ship would sail, her course, her speed, her altitude." Irwin was the airship's captain – in charge of the crew and discipline." As James Leasor phrased it in his book "The Millionth Chance", "Scott was in the position of an Admiral in his flagship; Irwin was the flagship captain and responsible for [crew] discipline."
Sources differ on the degree to which Irwin expressed concern as the India flight neared. Leasor quoted Elsie O'Neill, the widow of one of the passengers, to the effect that Irwin "kept on saying 'They're rushing us. We're not ready, we're just not ready'" when she and her husband visited the ship prior to the flight. Moreover, according to the airship historian Giles Camplin, it was "often said" that Irwin "considered stepping down" but was dissuaded from this by "the certain knowledge that others would step forward to take his place."
However, Sir Peter Masefield, another historian of the R101, believed that "Colmore, Scott, Richmond [the ship's designer] and Irwin were all satisfied that the airship was sound and airworthy and that the flight...could be mounted in confidence". Notwithstanding this, both Masefield and the inquiry report observed that the programme of trial flights that Irwin himself drew up in 1929 had not been completed at the time of departure.
Personal life.
Irwin became engaged to Olivia Marjory Macdonald Teacher, daughter of Dr and Mrs Charles C. Teacher of Fareham, Hampshire, and formerly of North Berwick, in early 1925. The couple were married at Holy Trinity Church, Fareham, on 23 September 1926. In Bedford, the Irwins lived at Long Acre, Putnoe Lane; the R101 overflew their house on its final, ill-fated flight.
After Irwin's death, his widow received an annual pension of £100, plus a gratuity of £200. The couple had no children.
Death.
R101's final flight.
Irwin came on duty before 06:00 GMT on 4 October 1930, in preparation for departure later that day; he "had very little rest while shouldering the chief responsibility for the preparations for departure and for the VIP passengers on board." Moreover, although the captain was theoretically not required to stand watch, the presence of only three watch-keeping officers – Irwin, Atherstone, and second officer Maurice Steff – on board meant that "there was no alternative but for...each to take his turn in three-hour shifts." (Atherstone had called this situation "really quite wrong" in his 26 August diary entry.)
Irwin was in charge of the ship's departure from the Cardington mast, which took place at 18:36. According to Masefield, in the conditions prevailing, it would have been "in character" for both Irwin and Atherstone to consider "a temporary and precautionary return to base to await better weather", around 19:00, as the ship completed its departing circuit of Bedford, but also for Scott to be "all for pressing on". Masefield believed the final decision not to turn back was taken at 19:19, with Scott "certainly the final arbiter."
Irwin came on watch at 23:00; about two hours later, he spoke to Harry Leech (a foreman engineer from the Airship Works, who survived the subsequent accident) and William Gent (chief engineer of the R101, who did not survive) in the ship's smoking room but "made no remark about the behaviour of the ship except that the after-engine [which had given trouble earlier] was continuing to run satisfactorily". (During the flight, Irwin and Leech had also discussed the ship's continuing problems with gas leakage.)
At 02:00 on 5 October, by which time the ship was cruising in stormy conditions over northern France (the weather outlook having worsened significantly since departure), Irwin was relieved by Steff and went directly to bed. At this time, he apparently "felt no concern about the progress of the flight or the integrity of R101." However, errors in Irwin's midnight radio message may have reflected the effects of fatigue; moreover, Steff was less experienced than Irwin and, likewise, the coxswains who operated the airship's elevator and rudder controls were less experienced than their counterparts on the preceding watch; also they would not have become accustomed to the "feel" of the ship. Thus, the crew's ability to cope with any crisis that might arise may have been reduced.
Within seven minutes of the change of watch, the R101 entered an uncommanded dive, then recovered slightly before entering a second dive, making contact with the ground at low forward speed, ploughing into the edge of a wood (the "Bois des Coutûmes" at Allonne, Oise, near Beauvais) and catching fire at about 02:09. Of the 54 people aboard, 46, including Irwin and all the other officers of the ship, were killed; two more died later in hospital.
The subsequent inquiry attributed the ship's descent to a "substantial loss of gas".
Funeral.
Irwin and the other victims received "full state honours." The bodies were transported to London via special trains and warships before lying in state in Westminster Hall. Irwin's body was identified in London. Following a memorial service at St. Paul's Cathedral on 11 October, the victims were taken by special train to Bedford for burial in a common grave in the cemetery of St Mary the Virgin, Cardington.
Paranormal claims.
Eileen J. Garrett, an Irish medium, claimed to have made contact with Irwin at a séance held with Harry Price at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research two days after the disaster, while attempting to contact the then recently deceased Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and discussed possible causes of the accident. The event "attracted worldwide attention", thanks to the presence of a reporter. Major Oliver Villiers, a friend of Brancker, Scott, Irwin, Colmore and others aboard the ship, participated in further séances with Garrett, at which he claimed to have contacted both Irwin and other victims. However, Garrett's claims have been questioned by several commentators. Researcher Melvin Harris who studied the case wrote that the information described in Garrett's séances were "either commonplace, easily absorbed bits and pieces, or plain gobbledegook. The so-called secret information just doesn't exist." The magician John Booth analyzed the mediumship of Garrett and the paranormal claims of R101 and considered her to be a fraud.Chef Justin Floyd aims to create elevated, unpretentious food.
But moving to Halifax from Quispamsis six years ago changed his perspective. Going from low-level cooking jobs to working beside sous-chefs Eric Schultz and Joe MacLellan at EDNA pushed him towards becoming a chef.
For the last three years Floyd has worked at Field Guide. He started as sous-chef alongside chef and co-owner Dan Vorstermans, who gave him a greater understanding of how to run a restaurant, from managing staff to creating dishes.
For a little more than a year, Floyd has been the chef at Field Guide and has had creative control of the menu while staying true to the roots of the restaurant: “We’re unique and based around ingredients first.” He scours the farmers’ market every week for new inspiration, and the menu comes together from