Airship Propellor System for The BBC
Hawker Restorations often get involved in unusual and challenging project especially regarding the film and TV industry. A small example of this is the design and manufacture of a propulsion unit for a TV programme called "Matter of Fact". Where they were trying to recreate the first flight of a man-propelled airship that had it succeeded would have been the first airship to fly in the world.
The intension was to recreate this devise to test the theory. This was done in conjunction with Cameron balloons and the theory proved to be successful. The propeller consisted of two canvass sails driven by two large wooden sprockets and around ten foot of specially linked chain that in turn was hand cranked by a team of 3 people.
There are numerous other ventures that Hawkers have been involved with ranging from the manufacture of a 1914 WWI aeroplane, specifically to recreate to an epic flight across the Andes in Chile.
Click on photo for a large image.
