So I've reflected on Empire a bit and I'm kind of torn on it. First off it's still a few minutes too long. I haven't changed my mind about that. But here's what confounds me. Bruce is an aviation buff, and has a very keen interest in airships; professionally and presumably personally as well. I'm not going to question his knowledge about the subject matter. At the same time my recollection of the R101 disaster is a bit different than the song portrays. From what I recall there wasn't really a storm, per se, but rather a steady rain towards the end and a steadily increasing wind. The cause of the accident, based on my recollection of their speculation, was that it was a combination of a strong, buffeting wind and the failure of an engine that made fighting the wind difficult. Combined with being slightly overweight it overstressed the airframe. I might be completely wrong, or maybe they simplified it to a common storm for artistic reasons. I figure they wanted a storm sequence in the song, which is their style and they did a fine job of it. At the same time, a steadily increasing wind and the sudden failure of an engine would have been awesome elements for a song if you're looking for dramatic themes to use. Having the over-long storm section steadily increase in pace would have been a wonderful touch and quite possibly more accurate. Hearing musically the "3000 horses" fall silent even better.
Eh, probably me just nitpicking, but still, it makes me wonder.
What isn't nitpicking, though is the SOS part. I'm pretty sure that the R101 never sent any SOS. I think the people on the ground were surprised to hear that it crashed. Moreover, why would they have sent an SOS immediately after takeoff but before the storm? It seems clear that Maiden put a great deal of effort into painting a nice, musical picture of their story, and in many ways they succeeded quite nicely, but that part just makes no sense. When I first heard the SOS I thought "hey, that's a good idea," but int retrospect it just doesn't make much sense to me.