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 (South Africa) Km South of Mokopane, the R101 Road cosigns with the N11 National Route, becoming Thabo Mbeki Drive, up to Mokopane Central . In Mokopane Central, the R101 and N11 meet the R518 Road from Zebediela and cosign with it. At the 2nd junction afterwards, the N11 and the R518 become Nelson Mandela Drive (By way of a left turn), leaving The R101 as the straight road through Mokopane North (Thabo Mbeki Drive). After the Mokopane Game Breeding Centre, the R101 turns eastwards to cross the bypassing N1 Highway at its Mokopane North Off-ramp (Sebetiela Toll Plaza) and follow it North-East