Hybrid Air Vehicles

Hybrid Air Vehicles stands at Cardington Airfield in Bedfordshire. The company occupies part of the old Royal Airship Works site where British airships once took shape. Cardington’s hangars still dominate the flat Bedfordshire landscape, their steel frames built in the early 20th century. The airfield is surrounded by fields and the River Great Ouse, giving it a quiet, open feel. Bedfordshire’s gentle hills rise in the distance, framing the wide sky above the runway. The company’s workshops sit beside the main hangar, where engineers work on new designs. The company’s story is one of persistence and adaptation. Roger Munk founded Hybrid Air Vehicles in 2007 after earlier firms had folded. In 2009 it won a US$500 million contract with Northrop Grumman to build the Long Endurance Multi-intelligence Vehicle. The HAV 304, later renamed Airlander 10, became the world’s largest flying aircraft when it first flew in 2014. Heavy metal singer Bruce Dickinson invested in the project and planned a round-the-world flight. Though the Airlander 10 was damaged twice and later written off, the company continues to develop new concepts like the Airlander 50. Visitors to Cardington Airfield see the vast hangars where the Airlander 10 was built and repaired. The main hangar still holds tools and workbenches from earlier decades. Outside, the runway stretches across the flat airfield, flanked by grass and low hedges. The River Great Ouse runs nearby, its banks lined with reeds and willows. The site feels both industrial and historic, where modern aviation meets the legacy of British airship pioneers.