The following is a short biography about Luffships’ founder and technical head, Charles Luffman. If you would like more information, please send him a message using our contact form.
- Charles was born mid 1949 in Weston-super-Mare, UK.
- Eldest of 7 children, he was raised near and in Birmingham from age 3 to 19.
- Graduated from Salford University in 1972 with a BSc in aeronautical engineering.
- Completed apprenticeship in 1973 after 5 years with Hawker Siddeley Aviation, near Chester.
- Worked mainly as an aircraft and general industry structural design and stress engineer from 1973 onwards.
- Joined Airship Industries (AI – London & Cardington) in late 1981. Head of Structures when AI closed in 1990.
- Became a full member of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1987.
- Awarded ‘Chartered Engineer’ status in 1988.
- Continued airship work with AI’s former partners Westinghouse until end 1993, which shortly afterwards concluded all airship business in the UK.
- Reverted to general aircraft work early 1994 to end 1998 and developed own airship ideas privately.
- Worked for CargoLifter in Germany from end 1998 until it closed (31 July 2002). Ended as the CL75 AirCrane project’s Chief Engineer.
- Set up LTA Solutions in 2002 to work privately as an aircraft consultant working from home, also developing own designs as well as new Buoyant Aircraft (BA) types (Luffships).
- Fulfilled various contracts for BA & non-BA types in general industry companies as a structural design and stress engineer from 2002 onwards.
- Founding partner in Skylifter Pty Ltd (AU) from 2008 (closed 2017) and Luffships Limited (LSL) in the UK from 2010. Responsible for various types designed through LTA Solutions, produced and flown.
- From fully taking over LSL in 2018, he continues to pursue BA developments and his strategy for industry success.
Note: Luffships Buoyant Aircraft Ltd (LBA), which Charles founded in 2024, is being repurposed as a subsidiary of LSL.
More about Charles
Fit and able, he is interested in a broad range of pursuits concerning transport, energy systems and architecture. He helped bring back useful airships, now pursuing BA generally to help the industry with easier sustainable, affordable and reliable types serving routinely anywhere.
These designs include the infrastructure (hangars, mooring systems, maintenance and shipping equipment) as well as special systems for net-zero power, propulsion and control (such as new: solar, H2 IC motor or fuel-cell, electric drive, cycloidal propellers, autonomous and R/C systems).
He also has written numerous papers/articles and given lectures about BA plus wrote a book about the technology and future possibilities.
He still lives in Germany with interest to use his skills/talents generally for everyone’s benefit. Apart from that and family life, his main hobbies include dance and choral singing.