Chitty Bang Bang (airship)

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Chitty Bang Bang
Role Semi-rigid airship
National originUnited Kingdom
ManufacturerM. Brighton
First flight1967
Primary userFilming the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Number built1

Chitty Bang Bang [1] [2] was an airship built for the 1968 film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang . It was intended to represent the airship of Baron Bomburst of Vulgaria. Although fictional in inspiration, it was a fully functional flying airship. [2]

Contents

Appearance

Vulgaria, and the airship, is drawn from Roald Dahl's screenplay for the film, rather than Ian Fleming's original book.

Artistic impression of a 1904 Lebaudy airship. Dirigeable lebaudy 0p0968212 0 6682x492x.tiff
Artistic impression of a 1904 Lebaudy airship.

The semi-rigid airship, whose appearance was designed by Ken Adam, was an approximate replica of a 1904 Lebaudy airship. [3] The envelope was symmetrical fore-and-aft and short and deep compared to typical rigid airships, with pointed ends above the centre of the envelope that gave it the distinctive Lebaudy "hooked" appearance. [4] The gondola was a long open truss structure beneath this and a crew basket beneath, with the typical Lebaudy feature of cruciform control surfaces at the rear of the gondola. [1]

The ends of the airship envelope were coloured with bands of the Vulgarian tricolor: black and purple on white. The flanks were adorned with a large black griffin, the arms of Vulgaria. [1]

Actual airship

The airship was built in 1967 by Malcolm Brighton [i] with the assistance of Giles Camplin, [ii] Arthur Eveleigh-de-Moleyns, 7th Baron Ventry [iii] and Anthony Smith. [5] It was only the second British airship to be built post-war, [2] the first being the Airship Club's 1951 Bournemouth . [2] It was also the first British airship to be mainly filled with helium rather than hydrogen, [2] though it was topped up with hydrogen.

The envelope was 112 feet long, with a width of 30 feet and height of 44 feet, giving a volume of 37,000 cubic feet (1,000 m3). A single Volkswagen Beetle engine of 40 hp drove two two-bladed propellers. The small Lebaudy control surfaces made the airship difficult to control in pitch. [2]

On one flight by Malcolm Brighton and Derek Piggott the airship collided with two sets of high-voltage power wires, causing much damage. Soon after it was repaired, a freak storm tore the point of attachment of the mooring ropes, destroying it totally. [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Later the pilot of the trans-Atlantic attempt balloon Free Life .
  2. ↑ Later chairman of the Airship Heritage Trust, The Airship Association and vice chairman of the British Balloon Museum.
  3. ↑ Who had served in the Airship Branch of the Royal Air Force.


  1. 1 2 3 Jane's, Airship Development , p. 93
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ventry, Lord; Koleśnik, Eugeène M. (1976). Jane's Pocket Book of Airship Development. Macdonald & Jane's. p. 115. ISBN   978-0-356-04655-6.
  3. ↑ "Up, Up, And away". Compressed Air. Vol. 73, no. 4. April 1968. p. 13.
  4. ↑ Jane's, Airship Development , p. 29
  5. ↑ Sita Thomas. Airship Dreams: Unboxing with Giles Camplin. Ky6f6Gsvc5U – via YouTube.
  6. ↑ Piggott, Derek (1977). Delta Papa - A Life of Flying. London: Pelham Books. ISBN   0720709792.
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