The Airship Heritage Trust was set up in 1985 by a group of dedicated enthusiasts and relatives of the original crew members. Over the last few years from its humble beginning the Trust has grown and worked very hard to where it is today, with it's membership spanning many countries, worldwide.

Our Objectives

The three main principal objectives of the Trust are:


• To foster and promote the study of the history of airships and to present this to the public
  
  
• To stimulate public interest in the role of Cardington as an airship base, and encourage the preservation of it's principal buildings
  
  
• To promote the development of a national museum and study centre devoted to the airship
  
  

The work carried out by a dedicated band of enthusiasts can be followed in "Our History" page, which gives the full insight in to a lot of the little known trials and tribulations regarding how difficult the road we have traveled to get where we are today.

The Trust operated with a council of 7 Trustees bringing a broad spectrum of interests and knowlege in lighter than air history and a passion for sharing this for the future. Any AHT member can join the council and we also have non Trustees who can attend the council meetings, and bring their wealth knowledge and experience to the running of the Trust.

Many of the membership do not live in the Bedford area, however still help out in promoting the Trust with lectures and displays in their own locale. We have an extensive photo archive, a large number of display photots and also many materials and artefacts which we can show to a school or societly. We are always looking for new members and volunteers who have an interest in lighter than air history, and so please contact us.

We work alongside the Higgins Museum, Bedford, the Fleet Air Air, Yeovilton to assist with displays and funding for special LTA events, as well as working with Bedfordshire Country Council to assist with local historical knowlege.

Our inhouse magazine "Dirigible" is distibuted free to members worldwide, three times per year, and is also recorded as a science journal by the British Museum, and the Smithonian Mueuem and Library in Washington, USA. The lecture programme is proving very popular, as member undertake lectures to history societies and also other interested organisations, often requesting further talks in to other parts of the British lighter than air history. Along with our magazine, our members recieve regular updates via our newsletters during the year.

We are also very active on our social media pages, so check out our Facebook Airship Heritage Trust Page and Group offer advice on how to find long out of print books, and also reviews of new books.

Due to the CoronaVirus pandemic, we have been unable to reach out to the public as much as we had wanted using traditional methods by talks etc, however we have moved online and our recent addition of a YouTube Channel is a new and popular way of presenting and sharing the knowledge of airship history. We also moved online for all our AGM and talks, but look to combining both physical meetings along with online meetings in the future.

We have set up an office, LTA library and archive which we are using for a digitisation project, to bring as much historical materials online and to be shared with the public. We are more than happy to have visitors to the office and come and see some of the items we have and use the library for research. Please see our Contact Us page for visiting our office.

Our Office Library and Archive

Exterior	Main Office	Scanning area in the archive and library room

The Organisation

Set up in 1985 by the relatives of the 1921-36 airship programme and originally known as F.O.C.A.S (Friends of the Cardington Airship Station).

The Trust has been determined to establish a national airship museum at a suitable location but changes in ownership and use of the airship sheds at Cardington has meant that the Trust has had to look elsewhere for a home.

An alternative venue at the nearby Shuttleworth Collection was explored but proved unsuitable. The Trust is now in active discussions with the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton for some of the Trust's collections to be incorporated into their displays - reflecting the historic links between British airships and the Royal Navy. Throughout this period, the AHT has been supported by the Rope Trust, a charitable organisation linked to the family of Sqn Ldr Michael Rope, a highly talented airship engineer who died on the R101.

With much of the original collection added to over the years, the collection includes many unusual artifact and rare photographs. The AHT records and administers a major source of British airship history.

Since 1987, one of our four principal objects of the Airship Heritage Trust, as set out in it's Articles of Association has been to "stimulate public interest in the role of Cardington as an airship base and in the conservation of the principal buildings thereof". It has not - and never has been - the Trust's role to seek the preservation of the whole of the Cardington site nor to seek the retention of the flying field for current or future airship operations. Following the restoration of the Shorts Building our main aim must be now to try to ensure that the two Cardington Sheds are preserved as historic structures, irrespective of whether they are used for lighter-than-air purpose's in the future. It has been the policy of the Trust over a number of years not to comment on planning applications relating to the Cardington site because these have not, generally, been in conflict with the Trust's principal objects. However individual members of the Airship Heritage Trust have been entirely free to submit comments and objections to the relevant planning bodies if they have wished to do so. Following discussions with both English Heritage and Bedford Borough Council regarding the current planning applications submitted by Fosbern Manufacturing Limited, the Trust's Council has found no reason to depart from this policy in the present case.

Trust has moved it's collection with partnership with the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton with a major part of the Trust's collections to be incorporated into their displays. The Trust's extensive library is housed at Cranfield University Library and is available to members and the public. Today the AHT continues to strive to carry out it's objectives in the promotion of the study and history of airships. Many of our members offer lectures to organisations and along with a mobile display which can be seen at local events. The Trust has close links with the RAF Museum, British Balloon Museum and Library, the Airship Association and many other organisations.

The 2010 R 101 80th Anniversary year showed an extensive display of the some of the collection in the new gallery at the Bedford museum. Details of the display can be found here

Due to the global pandemic, the R 101 90th Anniversary exhibition and commemorations were put on hold and delayed until 2021. We worked with Bedford Creative Arts and the Higgins Museum in Bedford to help assist with the "Airship Dreams: Escaping Gravity" art installation, along with the communities curatorial exhibition open in July 2021 and running until March 2022.

Talks and Lectures

We believe passionately at sharing the story of British airships and their fascinating stories of the people behind the ships, the technology and their place in history, which is often overlooked. If you would like us to come and give a talk to you, then please contact us

We are happy to deliver talks and lectures both online and in person.

The Trust's council and members also offer talks and lectures to history societies and schools, those detailed below are some of the talks in the last few years:

Organisation

Buckden History Society

Buckden Village Hall, Buckden, Cambs

ATC Biggin Hill 2427 Squadron

Local Support

The Airship Heritage Trust realises the importance of local support for history, and so finances the improvement and is committed to the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the R101 memorial tomb, at the St Mary's Church, Cardington. Click here to show the work being undertaken

For the children of Shortstown Primary School, the Airship Heritage Trust financed a display of a model of the R101, with a scale model of the school below the ship to show the true scale of the airship. The Trust also financed the frame display of the R101 tapestry, again on show to the children at Shortstown Primary School. The Trust is also proud to offer financial assistance to the Shortstown Heritage Gateway Project.

The Trust also was instrumental and worked with the Transport Trust to have the Short's Building (also known as the Adminstration Block) recognised for it's historical importance, and had a Transport Trust "Red Wheel" accreditation, placed on the building.