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Skyship was a British flying saucer-shaped airship built at Cardington and completed during April 1975. Intended to be the scale prototype for a much larger series of vehicles, the project never advanced any further. via Bill Rose 1989 April Fool’s Day stunt, which had involved a carefully designed hot air balloon that looked like a UFO. Raphael’s idea was to construct a convincing flying saucer, fly it across an area know to be of interest to the UFO community, and record the effects on local observers. Once the plan had been developed into a realistic proposal, Channel 4 TV was approached to sponsor a sixty-minute docu- mentary with the working title How To Build a Flying Saucer. Impressed by Raphael's idea, Channel 4 commissioned the programme and Chrysalis immediately signed up Cutting Edge Effects Ltd to build and operate a con- across unrefuelled distances of 1,000 miles _ vincing remote-controlled flying saucer. This (1,600km) at speeds of 100mph (160km/h). UK special effects company based at Elstree He hoped it would be ideal for use in devel- Studios, Borehamwood, had been involved oping countries as an inexpensive trans- with many big-budget productions that porter, but there were no takers and the _ stretched from Bond films like Goldeneye to Skyship demonstrator was never developed _ major TV productions such as Band of Brothers. further. Handling the technical side of this flying saucer project were leading industry experts The Channel 4 TV Flying Saucer Hoax Robbie Scott and Nigel Blake. After initially On 16th August 2003 a production company — discussing the project with Raphael, Scott working for Channel 4 Television in the UK agreed to an eight-month development undertook an extremely elaborate flying period and apparently quoted Chrysalis a fig- saucer stunt and it was shown as a docu- _ ure of around £50,000 for the package. Scott mentary called A Very British UFO Hoax on — and Blake had several ideas about the kind of 7th October of that year. The project had craft needed for the project but, after review- begun in late 2002 when Mark Raphael, an _ ing a considerable amount of UFO footage executive producer with Chrysalis TV, came — and studying hundred of images, they settled up with several ideas for an audacious flying _ on a fairly classic flying saucer shape. saucer hoax. It is thought that he was inspired In appearance this design was fairly similar by Virgin boss Richard Branson’s notorious — to John West’s mid-1970s scale-sized demon- strator of his Skyship project. Cutting Edge’s lighter-than-air model would be built around a simple carbon fibre hoop that dismantled into eight separate sections, while two sepa- rate bags of helium would be used to main- tain buoyancy. A skin of lightweight reflective material would then cover the model, hope- fully providing the illusion of a solid vehicle. The craft would have a diameter of about 25ft (7.62m) and a central thickness of between 8ft and 10ft (2.4m and 3.0m). Cameron Balloons Ltd, based in Bristol, were approached to assist with this part of the project and they suggested a Silver Helium envelope to fit the carbon fibre hoop, which gramme to a complete standstill, although there is evidence that limited CIA balloon missions continued throughout the remain- der of the Cold War. Skyship Built at Cardington, England and completed in April 1975, Skyship was a prototype flying saucer-shaped airship with a diameter of 30ft (9.1m). Designed by John West, it was hoped that trials of this substantial model would lead to the commissioning of a much larger 200ft (61.0m) diameter manned craft capable of carrying a 10-ton payload. West believed that the lenticular shape would negate the effects of ground winds and it was ideal for good load distribution. Propulsion would be by means of vectorable, ducted fans. Beyond this West envisaged an even larger Skyship capable of transporting 400-ton payloads The Channel 4 TV Flying Saucer Hoax On 16th August 2003 a production company working for Channel 4 Television in the UK undertook an extremely elaborate flying saucer stunt and it was shown as a docu- mentary called A Very British UFO Hoax on 7th October of that year. The project had begun in late 2002 when Mark Raphael, an executive producer with Chrysalis TV, came up with several ideas for an audacious flying saucer hoax. It is thought that he was inspired by Virgin boss Richard Branson’s notorious Simulation of the Chrysalis flying saucer, built by film industry special effects company Cutting Edge Effects for the TV Production ‘A Very British UFO Hoax’. Bill Rose 116 Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft