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Airship 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 30 miles (48 km) 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.
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Semi-rigid and non-rigid airships
Willows airships
Willows Numbers 1 to 5 - constructed by Ernest Willows from 1905.British Army airships
British Army Dirigible No 1 - or "Nulli Secundus"; first flight, 10 September 1907. Damaged by high wind, 10 October 1907 and rebuilt with enlarged envelope as Nulli Secundus II. Nulli Secundus II - first flight 24 July 1908. Damaged on 15 August and never repaired "Baby" - 1909, "British Army Airship No.3" Beta - May 1910 (a rebuild of "Baby" with a new envelope) Beta II - 1912 (a rebuild of Beta) No.2A - 1910, 150 feet long, with a gas capacity of 75,000 feet, powered by an 80hp British Green motor. Gamma - February 1910 Gamma II - 1912 (A rebuild of Gamma) Delta - 1912 Eta -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.
Royal Naval airships
Willows No. 4 - His Majesty's Naval Airship No. 2 - purchased in 1912 SS (Sea Scout) class - 60 airships, the first entered service in March 1915, being a rebuild of Willows No. 4 C (Coastal) class - 35 airships, the first entered service in March 1916, being a rebuild of a Franco-Spanish Astra-Torres airship SSZ (Sea Scout Zero) class - 77 airships; entered service from September 1916 SSP (Sea Scout Pusher) class - 6 airships; entered service from January 1917 C-Star class - 10 airships: entered service from February 1918 NS (North Sea) class - 14 airships; entered service from March 1918 SST (Sea Scout Twin) class - 13 airships; entered service from June 1918Post World War II civilian airships
Airship Club Bournemouth - first flight, 1951. Final flight, 16 August 1952 Chitty Bang Bang - first flight, 1967 semi-rigid in period style for the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Santos Dumont (G-BAWL) - first flight at Cardington in 1974. A 72 foot (22 metre) non-rigid airship powered by two 20 hp Wankel engines with ducted fans - a private venture that logged 31 flying hours.Rigid airships
In addition to these airships, there were the following uncompleted projects: Vickers Types I - IV, Admiralty 'Y' Class, R103 and R104