Cardington Airship Hangers - July 2010

Popped over here and had a look with DHL after Bedford Uni

The Cardington Airship Hangers were originally built to house the R101 airship which was intended to be used to ferry cargo and passengers from the UK to India in the 1930s. These airships, as you can tell from the size of the hangers were huge, over 700ft long. Unfortunately on its maiden voyage the airship crashed into a hillside near Beauvais, north of Paris. The crash ignited the hydrogen gas bag and fire quickly engulfed the entire airship. This spelled the end of the British attempt to create lighter-than-air aircraft and the R101′s competitor, the R100, was scrapped despite a safe trans-atlantic trial flight.


A picture of an R101 airship inside the hanger












The scale of this place is amazing! DHL is actually standing at the door on the other end! I couldn't even see him when taking this photo!!

What a cool space! Interior shots almost look like a night sky. Did you use any effects/filters to get the light leaks in the dark ceiling space?
I bet it felt even bigger than the photos suggest? Great work and thank you.

Huge!

These buildings are huge aren't they? You can see these from the main road can't you? I saw these about a month ago on my way back from a Centre Parcs holiday but couldn't find what they were anywhere, now I know I will definitely be making a visit! Any chance you have a postcode or a map location of some sort so we can find it. Thank you!

Triggerhappyali said:

These buildings are huge aren't they? You can see these from the main road can't you? I saw these about a month ago on my way back from a Centre Parcs holiday but couldn't find what they were anywhere, now I know I will definitely be making a visit! Any chance you have a postcode or a map location of some sort so we can find it. Thank you!

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Given the information in this thread alone, surely you can find it yourself? Its not difficult.....


to the OP - Nice pics, was up there myself a coupla weeks back.

Great pics - I am assuming the "safety helmet" signage isn't original but installed by subsequent users? Also, for anyone who has Virgin TV there's a good programme on the R101 in the "On Demand" section.
GDZ

Triggerhappyali said:

Any chance you have a postcode or a map location of some sort so we can find it. Thank you!

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No you wont find exact information like that here sorry.

Triggerhappyali said:

Any chance you have a postcode or a map location of some sort so we can find it. Thank you!

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Not meaning to be nasty in any way but this is quite an amusing request given that these are so mahoosive you can probably see them from space

thepetrolhead said:

What a cool space! Interior shots almost look like a night sky. Did you use any effects/filters to get the light leaks in the dark ceiling space?
I bet it felt even bigger than the photos suggest? Great work and thank you.

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They are much bigger than you would expect! Didnt use anything special at all! It looks quite cool because it has a blue net over the roof to stop whats left of the roof falling in!!

godzilla73 said:

Great pics - I am assuming the "safety helmet" signage isn't original but installed by subsequent users? Also, for anyone who has Virgin TV there's a good programme on the R101 in the "On Demand" section.
GDZ

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I believe it has been used for film sets and things like that. I'm sure I read somewhere that some of the street shots used in the dark night where filmed here

Lost Explorer said:

I believe it has been used for film sets and things like that. I'm sure I read somewhere that some of the street shots used in the dark night where filmed here

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There's been a few films done here : http://www.thestudiotour.com/cardington/movies.shtml

Also Paul McCartney, U2, Rod Stewart and AC/DC have rehearsed/tested stage rigs in there prior to world tours