Empire of the Clouds story of the R101 airship, which crashed on its maiden voyage in northern France on 5 October 1930. The song was written entirely by the band's lead vocalist, Bruce Dickinson, who initially intended it to be about "World War I fighter airplanes;" Dickinson abandoned the idea after using the same theme for the song "Death or Glory," also from "The Book of Souls". At the time of recording, Dickinson was reading "a big, sort of encyclopedic crash report" of the R101, entitled "To Ride the Storm", which gave him the idea for the song's eventual subject. Dickinson describes it as
R101 her nose pointing some 30 degrees to the right of its track, was observed by many who braved the rain to watch it pass overhead. An update of the meteorological situation was received at 20:40. The forecast had deteriorated severely, south-westerly winds of up to with low cloud and rain being predicted for northern France, and similar conditions over central France. That this caused concern on board is demonstrated by the request for more detailed information, which was transmitted at 21:19, by which time R101 was near Hawkhurst in Kent. It is possible that an alternative course was being considered.