World's largest aircraft is unveiled in England

The world's largest aircraft has been unveiled in a hangar in Bedfordshire.

The Airlander is a cross between a plane, an airship and a helicopter and it's not small either, the vehicle is as long as a football pitch and as tall as six double decker buses.

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So it's no wonder that it's been dubbed the biggest aircraft in the world.

The Airlander made its debut flight in the UK on Monday, floating in a hangar at Cardington Airport in Bedfordshire.

The hybrid aircraft needs to clock up 200 hours of flying time before it's deemed air worthy by the Civil Aviation Authority and the European Aviation Safety Agency

But it's makers, Hybrid Air Vehicles, believe it may well be the aircraft of the future. They say the £25 million aircraft is capable of carrying heavier loads than a jumbo jet while producing far less noise and emitting no pollution.

The company reportedly plans to build 12 Airlanders every year by 2018, some of which could even be used for passenger travel.

The strength and ability of planes these days is consistently impressive and earlier this year we reported on Qantas plane that took off with an extra engine.

The plane was in fact acting as a delivery vehicle, taking the fifth engine to Johannesburg, South Africa.

On their website Qantas said: "We're undertaking this rare task to get our customers and our aircraft on their way as quickly as possible – rather than shipping the engine across by boat or chartering a freighter aircraft."