TWO world-renowned actors are set to take to the skies on the big screen with the help of an Oswestry-based balloon manufacturer.

Lindstrand Technologies won a £250,000 contract to make a Victorian-style balloon to be flown and filmed for the new Amazon film The Aeronauts.

Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne and Oscars Best Actress nominee Felicity Jones are set to feature in the film after working together in the Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything.

Hot air balloons featuring in the film have been manufactured in Oswestry, adding another link between Shropshire and the film’s storyline.

In 1862, James Glaisher and co-pilot Henry Tracey Coxwell took off in Wolverhampton for a mammoth flight, during which they are believed to have reached heights of up to 29,000ft, before landing in a field near Brown Clee Hill in Shropshire.

Per Lindstrand, founder of Lindstrand Technologies, said he is very proud to see his company win the contract.

“Amazon put a bid in for the script for the film and after placing what turned out to be the winning bid, they contacted us to be responsible for the balloons that are to feature," he said

“We put in a bid and agreed on a price to build one full balloon that will take flight, along with other separate ones that will be used for filming in the studios.”

Mr Lindstrand welcomed the two film stars when they came to visit the company to see the balloon, and said they were pleased with the results.

He said: “Eddie, Felicity and everyone else who visited were very impressed.

“Being able to print multiple copies of old images and researching with historians about what it was like in 1862, we were able to make it identical to the original one.

“I’m very proud of our company and the people we have here – not many people are able to make an exact replica that is as historically correct as we have managed to.”