The world's largest aircraft has taken to the skies for a successful maiden voyage

The 302ft-long (92-metre) Airlander 10 - part plane, part helicopter, part airship - loomed overhead at Cardington airfield in Bedfordshire as the sun started to set on Wednesday evening.

Photographers and plane spotters baked in the sun as they waited to see the aircraft, whose bulbous exterior has earned it the less-than-glamorous nickname "the flying bum", take off.

Crowds clapped and cheered as the craft soared above them during its first outing from the First World War hangar where it was revealed in March after undergoing "hundreds" of changes by Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) over two years.