Welcome to Up Ship! The Airship History Podcast. I’m Nick Rogers and I will be your captain on this long-haul flight through the fascinating history of the most awe-inspiring and ethereal aircraft ever conceived – the airship. 

We will navigate from the earliest days of airships, through the violent days of the First World War into the Golden Age of the great airships of the 1920s and 30s, and beyond.

We’ll fly around the world on the Graf Zeppelin, travel to the North Pole with Roald Amundsen, escort World War 2 convoys in US Navy airships and much, much more. And of course, we will examine in the depth the tragic crashes that bedevilled airship history, such as the Hindenburg Disaster.

On our journey we will encounter courageous pilots, crazy inventors, ambitious politicians, visionary engineers; a whole cast of colourful characters. We’ll look at how airships influenced the way we travel now, and at the companies trying to bring them back into regular use.

Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts to join the adventure as we voyage back to a time when giant airships ruled the skies!

'Out of the softening sunset came the airship; and the manner of its moving was beautiful. Few inanimate objects attain beauty in the pursuance of their courses, and yet, to me, at least, the flight of this ship was far lovelier than the swooping of a bird or the jumping of a horse.'

Giant rigid airships the size of ocean liners once ruled our skies. Crossing continents and transporting passengers in spacious luxury, they seemed to be the future of long-distance air travel. But one fiery moment in 1937 over Lakehurst, New Jersey changed aviation forever and robbed the world of these magnificent, otherworldly aircraft.

Join podcast host Nick Rogers as we look at why large airships are no longer in our skies, why that matters and why you should be interested in airship history.

"Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the earth. It was not mere pleasure, it was perfect bliss. Having escaped from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt that I was answering all in rising above all… On whatever side we looked, all was glorious; a cloudless sky above, a most delicious view around."

Imagine the thrill of being one of the first humans to experience flight. Imagine the courage it must have taken to set foot in a balloon and allow yourself to be transported into the clouds, not knowing what it would be like or whether you would survive the experience. Every time we board an aircraft today, we owe a debt to these brave pioneers.

Join podcast host Nick Rogers for episode 2 as we trace the early days of flight, from Greek mythology to the first manned flights in balloons.