development in the United Kingdom lagged behind that of Germany and France. The first British designed and built airship was constructed by Stanley Spencer, and on 22 September 1902 was flown from Crystal Palace, London to Ruislip, carrying an advertisement for baby food. A series of more practical airships was constructed by Ernest Willows, the "Willows Number 1" making its first flight near Cardiff on 5 August 1905. The Royal Navy realised that airships similar to Ferdinand von Zeppelin's designs could be of great use and in 1909 ordered construction of a rigid airship. This was completed in 1911 but was wrecked while leaving the hangar before it had flown. Meanwhile, the British Army's School of Ballooning, later the Air Battalion Royal Engineers, acquired a small fleet of semi-rigid and non-rigid airships for observation purposes; they were taken over by the Royal Navy on the creation of the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914. A large number of rigid and non-rigid airships were mainly used to counter the U-Boat campaign in World War I. Interest in military airships declined at the end of the war, but some success in the commercial field inspired the Imperial Airship Scheme; however, the disastrous crash of the R101 in 1930 ended serious government and commercial interest in airships. Since the 1970s, there have been persistent efforts to revive a British airship industry, using new designs, materials and technologies.
Two French-built airships, Clément-Bayard II and the Morning Post were operated by the British Army from 1910 to 1914. The latter had been donated by the readers of a British newspaper.
*Airship Industries Skyship 500 - first flight at Cardington, 28 September 1981. Four other Skyships were completed, three of them abroad in the US, Canada and Japan.
*Airship Industries Skyship 600 - first flight at Cardington, 6 March 1984. Two of ten 600s were built at Cardington, the others in the US and Japan.
Advanced Technologies Group airships
*Advanced Technologies Group AT-10 - one prototype completed and flown
*Hybrid Air Vehicles HAV 304 Airlander 10 - 91 metre long, 38,000 cubic metre developmental prototype for the LEMV project. first flight on 8 August 2012 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Sold back to Hybrid Air Vehicles on the cancellation of the project in 2013 and returned to Cardington. Converted for civilian use as the Airlander 10. During a test flight from Cardington on 24 August 2016, the Airlander's mooring line fouled a power cable, resulting in it striking the ground hard, damaging the cockpit. In April 2017, it was reported that repairs and modifications, including the addition of inflatable landing "feet", were complete and that the Airlander was ready to resume test flights. On 18 November 2017, the Airlander broke free from its moorings, activating a safety system that deflated the hull. Subsequently, HAV announced that the prototype would be retired due to "very considerable damage" sustained in the incident, pending the development of an improved replacement.
*Airlander 50 - projected larger development of the HAV304, intended to have a 50 tonne payload.
