These days, it seems, airships aren’t used to carry passengers. Indeed it only takes mention of the word “airship” and what springs to mind is that famous film footage of the Hindenburg bursting into flames in New Jersey in 1937.

Although the Hindenburg disaster brought the golden age of airship travel to an abrupt halt, it wan’t the end. In fact, 50 years later, Watford launched itself into what the Observer of April 25, 1986, called “aviation history” when the first fare paying passenger airship for nearly 50 years took pff from Leavesden Aerodrome. I’ll let that week’s paper take up the story.

“Skyship 500 rose from the airfield on Wednesday morning [April 23, 1986] carrying four passengers on a £100 bird’s eye view of London that lasted just under an hour.

“Aviation minister Michael Spicer was one of the passengers on the maiden flight.

“British Caledonian Airways is sponsoring the project to the tune of £150,000.

“The inaugural flight passenger list also included Mr Alan Birchmore, managing director of Airship Industries, the company’s founder and technical director Mr Roger Munk and Sir Peter Masefield, a well-known aviator.”

Sir Peter Masefield, who died in 2006 at the age of 91, was rather more than just a “well-known aviator”, being one of the leading figures in Britain’s post-war aviation industry and chairman of the British Airports Authority from 1965 to 1971.

Anyway. Back to the 1980s.

“The Airship Industries Skyship,” the article continues, “will be making four flights a day from Leavesden Aerodrome over the next eight weeks and there are already more than 1,000 people on the waiting list.

“A spokesman for the company said: ‘The similarity between the old airship ends at the concept that it is lighter than air. The main difference is the lifting gas, which is helium and is totally inert.” The Hindenburg, of course, was filled with the rather more potentially dangerous hydrogen.

The article continues: “The first flight did not reach London on Wednesday because of adverse weather conditions but that was the only setback. On their return, the passengers agreed the flight was enjoyable and more like riding in a sailing boat than flying. It travelled at about 30 knots powered by three-litre twin Porsche engines.

“The aviation minister predicted the sightseeing passenger service over London would be economical and popular with the public if the £100 fare is reduced.

“A set of special stamps were produced for the event and a one-day only pictoral postmark bearing the Leavesden Aerodrome, Watford, address was included.

“The second airship flight on Wednesday took on a nostalgic meaning when the only surviving member of the first transatlantic airship flight climbed on board at midday.

“Wing Commander Anthony Evenden, now 93, piloted the successful non-stop R34 airship crossing to America in 1919 and was invited to Leavesden to fly in Skyship 500.

“Looking back on his famous flight nearly 70 years ago, he said: ‘The R34 was filled with hydrogen gas and it took us 108 hours to cross over from Ireland to just outside New York. There were 31 people on the ship and that includes a stowaway who was discovered during the flight.”

According to Grant Peerless and Richard Riding’s book on Leavesden Aerodrome, 45 people complained to Watford Borough Council about noise and invasion of privacy due to the low altitude of the flights but, the book says, that didn’t alter the flights’ popularity and when they stopped, on June 28, 1986, there were 3,500 on the waiting list.