Airships XR
Airships XR invites you to discover Bedford’s untold story of innovation, ambition, and flight—through powerful, immersive digital experiences.
In the 1920s, airships represented the future of carbon-neutral air travel. Bedford was being developed by the UK Government as a global hub for a bold new era of aviation.
But in 1930, tragedy struck. The R.101 airship crashed on its maiden voyage from Bedford to Karachi, killing 48 people and and raising questions about Imperial greed that ended the Bedford airship programme virtually overnight. Bedford’s role in global aviation history was silenced.
Now, we’re reawakening that story.
We now invite audiences to explore Bedford’s airship and aviation story through a series of immersive experiences that use Extended Reality (XR) technologies to gather artefacts, archives and stories into one location and reimagine Bedford’s global flight ambitions.
Audiences will be able to:
– Explore a multi-room immersive airship gallery
– Step back in time with Virtual Reality into human scale physical environments
– Interact with 3D models and the stories behind them as Augmented Reality
– Access to a selection of archive, experimental, instructional and generative AI films.
Our experiences have been co-developed and tested with local residents, public history curators, STEAM learners, aviation engineers, and digital artists—celebrating the past while inspiring future careers in innovation, creativity and engineering.
See below for upcoming pop-up events.
Offer for schools
In Autumn 2025 we were thrilled to explore the first phase of the education consultation for this project. Working with Lincroft Academy and Mark Rutherford School, we explored how this project can be meaningful in educational settings and for young people. We also worked closely with student groups from Bedford College and are now delighted to be working in partnership with the college as we move forward and expand the opportunity across secondary schools in Bedford and Central Bedfordshire.
Until July 2026, Bedford College will host the project, enabling secondary school groups to visit the campus and experience the Airships XR project. This will include a workshop with Dr Atif Ghani, which begins with exploring the historical importance of the airships both locally and globally. Students will then be set a series of tasks to find out more about the airships through VR and AR technologies and to develop foundational research skills and team work to analyse the information they are discovering.
We are excited to find out from the students how they experience this innovative and culturally relevant technology and educational experience.
Aviation and aeronautical engineers! Can you help us inspire the next generation?
We’re looking for aviation and aeronautical engineers who can:
- Offer their feedback and advice on the immersive experiences we create
- Help us run pop-up workshops and events with young people and the public
- Deliver talks in VR for public audiences
What’s in it for you?
- Inspire young people into STEM careers
- Learn about immersive technologies such as VR and AR
- Develop confidence in delivering outreach work
- Share stories about your work and your company’s successes
We will provide free training to support your involvement and we can cover some expenses and costs for your time to engage in the project.
Want to find out more? Download our call-out sheet for engineers.
Want to get involved? Email us with your contact details.
This project is a collaboration between BCA and content creation company Hyperactive Developments Ltd alongside our heritage and education partners: Airship Heritage Trust, The Higgins Bedford, The Shuttleworth Collection, RAF Museum (Hendon), Bedford College and the Royal College of Art.
Historic airship images copyright of the Airship Heritage Trust Collection. XR images copyright of HyperActive Developments. Additional images by Andy Willsher.
The project is supported through funding from Arts Council England, Royal Academy of Engineering (Ingenious programme), The Connolly Foundation, The Harpur Trust and private donors.
