大象传媒

Airships - those leviathans of the skies - are a thing of the past, largely killed off in the 1930s by unsustainable costs and a series of terrible disasters. Or are they? The idea of the airship, capable of flying huge distances and able to stay in the air for days on end, has never wholly gone away. In Britain, a small company is attempting to produce an airship design for the 21st century. Originally it developed the design for the US department of defence, but when the project was cancelled it bought back all the kit and raised millions of dollars through crowdfunding in order to complete the work. Now it is preparing to give its creation its first proper flight. Theo Leggett has been to take a look.

(Photo: Mocked-up image of Airlander over the sea. Credit: Airlander)