Coronavirus: Airship's 'glorious' history project goes online

The R101 flying over Midland Road in Bedford in 1930

A project to celebrate the "glorious" airship industry has had to move online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Airship Dreams, set up by Bedford Creative Arts, will celebrate the town's connection to aviation.

It was centred around the 90th anniversary of the R101, which set off from Cardington, Bedfordshire, on its maiden voyage on 4 October 1930.

The group now wants people to share their stories and memories virtually instead.

The R101 moored to a control tower at Cardington in October 1929 - it crashed the following year

Local women were employed to sew the R100 and R101 airships in the 1920s

Elaine Midgley, the director of Bedford Creative Arts, said airships were engrained in the area's history, as Bedford was "going to be the Heathrow of the airship".

"It was going to be the only place in the country that you could have got on an airship as a passenger."

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Two massive sheds where the airships were built still dominate the skyline in Cardington.

They are now used by the film industry, and the world's longest aircraft Airlander 10 made its maiden flight from Hangar 1 on 17 August 2016.

They were all part of "the glorious heritage of Bedford", she said.

The hangars or sheds were built to house airships with work starting on Hangar 1 (left) in 1916

The interior of the R100 airship in the 1920s

Alastair Lawson, vice chairman of the Airship Heritage Trust (AHT), said: "Covid did us a favour as it forced us to change our approach and seek new ways using digital technology to reach out to members and the public as part of this project."

He said they were looking for people to share "a personal story, a photo, postcard, artefact, books, or a memory".

Ms Midgley said a "major outdoor event" had been planned for October but now everything would be postponed until 2021.

The funding for the project has come from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Harpur Trust and AHT.

The now retired Airlander 10 took off six times from its former base at Cardington

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