The Biggest Balloon I've ever seen!

[James G]

I spent the weekend revistiting Bedford (UK). I hadn't been back in twenty years.

One of its many attractions, is its proximity to Cardington Sheds, the development centre for Airships in the period between the wars. Research ceased following the R101 disaster, an event similar to the Hindenburg disaster. http://www.airshipsonline.com/airshi...R101_Crash.htm

The 'Sheds' remained and there have been a number of initaitives over the years to redevelop a commercial large airship.

The latest venture is the Airlander, and driving past the sheds I was fortunate to see the largest aircraft I have ever seen. https://www.hybridairvehicles.com/aircraft/airlander-10

It would have been really good to see it flying, but maybe I'll be luckier next time I'm there.

#1 Airlander



#2 you can get a sense of scale from the technician who turned up to do something, walking towards/under the aircraft, bottom right.




#3



#4 Cardington Sheds



C&C welcome

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[Stagecoach]

That sure is a monster but those thrusters look small.

[joebranko]

Very interesting information. What a huge ship!

[IzzieK]

Good exposure on all of them, John...really big and impressive balloon but at this stage, I do not think I will want to fly in it...not yet. I am strictly a ground person after that wind-driven landing we had recently.

[mknittle]

Good exposure on all of them, John...really big and impressive balloon but at this stage, I do not think I will want to fly in it...not yet. I am strictly a ground person after that wind-driven landing we had recently.

One of those big eyes and brown shorts events was it?

[Donald]

That is definitely a big balloon. Take an awful lot of huffing and puffing to fill that with air.

I think the second and third images are particularly strong. The first I think is affected by the foreground and the background clutter. The 2nd and 3rd are much 'cleaner' images. And as for the fourth one - I feel it's case of 'Nice sheds, but so what?'

[AlwaysOnAuto]

We've got some 'sheds' similar to those down in Tustin at the old air station. I think they used to keep blimps in them.
Nice shots, thanks for sharing. That looks like it's about equal to three Goodyear blimps.

[mknittle]

There are several scattered throughout the state so I wouldn't surprise me if they were.

[James G]

I've been following the 'story' of this airship for a few years now. I'd love to see it in commercial service, and if a 'slow' cruise across the Atlantic or across Europe came about I'd be one of the first to sign up... serious photo opportunities!

Airships have a romantic and a certain 'Biggles' appeal to me, something I probably developed in childhood.

It was sheer fluke I was driving past RAF Cardington when the Airlander was out, so I wasted a happy 40 mins finding a couple of spots where I had a reasonable view and let the 'little boy' in me run free.

The first shot is from the road, and Donald is right that it is a cluttered image, but at the time I thought it might be the best I might get.

The second two involved a scramble across the fields to get to the airfield perimiter, and then another scramble across a barbed wire fence to a place where the airfield fence was low enough to let me get an unobstructed view. I felt a bit like my 11 year old self rather than a 'grown up'

The shot of the sheds is a panoramic stitch of 3, and really a record shot which is really of interest mostly to me. I am in total agreement with Donald's comment

it's case of 'Nice sheds, but so what?'

but.... it was great fun and reminds me I should put all my gear in the car when I head out... you just never know what you might see!

[mknittle]

I've been following the 'story' of this airship for a few years now. I'd love to see it in commercial service, and if a 'slow' cruise across the Atlantic or across Europe came about I'd be one of the first to sign up... serious photo opportunities!

Airships have a romantic and a certain 'Biggles' appeal to me, something I probably developed in childhood.

It was sheer fluke I was driving past RAF Cardington when the Airlander was out, so I wasted a happy 40 mins finding a couple of spots where I had a reasonable view and let the 'little boy' in me run free.

The first shot is from the road, and Donald is right that it is a cluttered image, but at the time I thought it might be the best I might get.

The second two involved a scramble across the fields to get to the airfield perimiter, and then another scramble across a barbed wire fence to a place where the airfield fence was low enough to let me get an unobstructed view. I felt a bit like my 11 year old self rather than a 'grown up'

The shot of the sheds is a panoramic stitch of 3, and really a record shot which is really of interest mostly to me. I am in total agreement with Donald's comment

but.... it was great fun and reminds me I should put all my gear in the car when I head out... you just never know what you might see!

You may find this interesting.
http://moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html as far as I know the hanger is still there.

[Wavelength]

Very nice set

[JBW]

That sure is a monster but those thrusters look small.

from the companies home page.

[lindsaywood1991]

wow so huge ship! hopefully to see that in real lol^_^

[bnnrcn]

Nice and interesting series James I haven't seen such a huge one before..

[IzzieK]

One of those big eyes and brown shorts events was it?

Very funny, Mark. Nope! I got dizzy and very uncomfortable but not "that sort of moment.." I guess I used to flying small planes between 0 to 5mph winds. I seldom fly Bill's small-ist airplane and that was what we used then to head to Eureka. It is different when we used the larger of the two as it can go to 30,000 without effort.