A century ago, a huge airship rose into the skies above East Fortune airfield and set off on a journey which would earn its place in the history books.
The 634ft-long airship R34, which had the ironic nickname Tiny, made the first ever east to west air crossing of the Atlantic and completed the first return trip across the ocean.
The Royal Navy aircraft set off from the base, which is now home to the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian, on July 2 1919.
The crossing, under the command of Major George Scott, would set other strange records.
These included the world’s first human and feline trans-Atlantic aerial stowaways: Newcastle man William Ballantyne and Wopsie the cat.
R34’s trip also involved the first arrival in the USA by air when Major Pritchard parachuted from the airship to take charge of the hundreds of ground crew required.
The huge vessel's hydrogen-filled gas bags alone required the intestines of 600,000 oxen to make them.
The airship came under the command of the Navy as it was designed for convoy protection and anti-submarine activities.
HMA R34 arrived at East Fortune in May 1919, after being constructed in Glasgow.
Her main claim to fame came in July that year when she and her crew of 30 set off on the first direct flight between Britain and the USA.
The initial destination was Mineola in Long Island, USA, where rolling grasslands and favourable winds made it a popular choice for aviators including the Wright Brothers.
The R34 reached Mineola at 9.45am on 6 July 1919, 108 hours and 12 minutes after it departed East Fortune, following an adventure- filled journey that was hampered by dwindling fuel supplies, violent squalls and a leak that was repaired with the crew’s entire supply of chewing gum.
The crew were wined and dined in new York before they set off on the return journey, landing in Pulham, England 75 hours later.
Despite being acclaimed in the press at the time, the airship came to a sad end a few years later.
She crashed during a storm in the North Yorkshire moors in 1921 and was too badly damaged to be repaired.
However an exhibition at the National Museum of Flight remembers the record-setting adventure of "Tiny."
It includes a letter which was dropped overboard in Nova Scotia during R34's flight, which eventually made its way back to England.
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