This movie has some very impressive miniature sequences depicting a fictional raid by a German airship during World War One.
The dirigible of the title is based on the R33, a British class of rigid airship based on the German LZ76. The airship was represented by a large model, 37 feet (11.3m) in length for close shots and a second half size again model for longer shots at 18 feet (5.5m) long.
The models were filmed at the large Malta film studios water tank.
There is also a model ship briefly featured which was more than likely originally built for another film but modified with a Zeppelin docking mast seen here.
Wally Veevers was the special photographic effects supervisor with Cliff Culley photographing the matte paintings and Charles Staffel doing the process photography. Cliff Richardson was in charge of the special effects which would have included the fiery destruction of the zeppelin at the climax.
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| While these hangars look like a matte painting they actually exist. They are the historic R100/R101 airship hangars at Cardington in Bedfordshire England. |
