Zeppelins !

Ask any schoolboy and you will be told that the Wright Brothers were the first to achieve powered flight at Kittyhawk on December 17, 1903.  The world seems to have forgotten that a German - Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin - obtained a patent for an airship in 1895 and just six years after the Wright Brothers achievement, he had started the worlds first airline and was carrying fare paying passengers between European cities in airships known as " Zeppelins " !

These were massive compared to the first aeroplanes.   They comprised an outer frame of Duralumin, a combination of aluminium and copper, encasing rubberised cotton bags containing volatile hydrogen gas.  These rigid airships were 128 metres ( 420 feet ) long and had a gondola to house crew and passengers.  They were powered by two Dainmler 15 HP engines driving propellers and in 1909 they were a common sight in European skies.  Unfortunately, they were vulnerable to high wind and storms and crashes were frequent.

When the first World War broke out in 1914 the German military became very interested in Zeppelins and ordered a bigger version. These were 158 metres long ( 518 feet ) and contained  22,500 cubic metres of hydrogen gas, giving a payload of 9,100 kilograms.  Its three engines could achieve a speed of 84 kph and it carried a crew of fourteen.

These Zeppelins began to carry out bombing raids on British industry.  The British installed anti aircraft guns and the Zeppelins were forced to fly higher, depleting the accuracy of their bombs and forcing them to change from daylight to night raids.  The British then ordered blackouts and installed search lights.  The fighter aircraft of that day could not fly to the height of the Zeppelins.

This height became a crew hazard.  To avoid anti aircraft fire the Zeppelins often reached 20,000 feet - the height of modern jet liners.  The lack of oxygen at that height could be fatal to those who had not conditioned their bodies by living at high altitudes in preparation and the intense cold meant many suffered frost bite to face, hands and feet and were discharged from service.

The height of the Zeppelins made them safe from most anti aircraft fire and the guns firing in London were mostly to encourage public confidence, despite the steel splinters from air bursts causing leaky roofs.  When aircraft did manage to spray them with machine gun fire the bullets passed through the air bags and left tiny holes from which negligible gas escaped, and which were easily patched by ground crews.

The Zeppelins did serious damage to British cities for most of that war.  It was not unusual for a dozen of these air ships to fly twelve to fourteen hour bombing missions and the combination of oxygen lack and cold caused many crew casualties.  The Zeppelin era ended in 1917 when the British invented the incendiary bullet and in one memorable night three Zeppelins exploded in flames and crashed onto the city below, in full view of their horrified comrades and the euphoric British public.

After the war, Germany was prohibited from building air ships by the Versailles peace treaty, but this recommenced in 1933 when Adolph Hitler became the German Chancellor and disregarded the treaty.   This resulted in the creation of the " Hindenburgh ", perhaps the greatest air ship of all time which made several Atlantic crossings and proudly carried the Nazi Swastika emblem.

At that time, the danger of hydrogen gas could be resolved by its replacement with non flammable Helium, but the only source was America and given the German rearmament in defiance of the peace treaty the Americans refused to sell this gas to Germany.  As a consequence, the Hindenburgh was filled with dangerous hydrogen.

On May 6, 1937 the Hindenberg was making a landing approach to Lakehurst naval aid station near New York during a lightning storm.   A flicker of flame became a huge fireball.  Amazingly, some passengers and crew escaped, but this catastrophe sealed the fate of air ships in competition with fast developing passenger aircraft.

The US navy persisted in developing air ships for fleet recognisance for some years but eventually the air ship fell into disfavour and today it exists as a mere camera platform hovering above major sporting events.