The opulent socialist airship was rushed to flight, even amid a variety of problems. It took off, en route to British India, just as its capitalist competitor set off for Canada. The government airship sagged and crashed into the French countryside just a day into its voyage, killing 48 of the 54 onboard—including the aviation minister—while the private airship conducted a celebrated tour of Montreal and Toronto before heading back to London.
Most airships of the day took off using the highly flammable hydrogen—thanks mostly to an American monopoly on helium, its nonflammable alternative. The USS Akron carried out several successful flights across the continent, but it was ultimately pushed down by strong winds in and crashed into the Atlantic , killing 73 people on board and two rescuers.
President Franklin D. But it was the Hindenburg disaster, made famous by the newsreel footage of the zeppelin bursting into a ball of flames as it tried to dock at the Lakehurst air base in New Jersey, that really scuttled the industry.
The U. Navy used its small fleet for anti-submarine warfare and reconnaissance in World War II, but the airship industry was effectively dead.
It would stage a comeback, in a limited way, some decades later, when Goodyear opted for nonrigid airships—blimps—for its advertising campaigns. Airship Industries came around in the s, promising a return of the dirigible. The airships of earlier in the century had immense metal structures inside, allowing them to carry more.
These new nonrigid ships were made famous by Bond villains , Pink Floyd , and, later, by Ron Paul supporters.
Fame aside, the blimps had little use for commercial air travel or cargo transport. The niche purpose of the blimps meant Airship Industries was hemorrhaging money, and it shut down by the end of the decade. As with many other commercially nonviable products, airships later found a home in the U. There was a hope that the dirigibles, which are capable of taking off and staying aloft for prolonged periods of time, would be ideal for persistent aerial surveillance. The contract was axed a year later.
Notably, a high proportion of these quests have ended unceremoniously in costly, and often fatal, failure. At the turn of the 20th century, airships were touted as the ideal conveyance for Polar travel and, indeed, the Italian semi-rigid airship Norge flew over the North Pole in — but later flights ended in tragedy. During the First World War, airships were trialled extensively in many military applications by both sides but, ultimately, their vulnerability led to development being abandoned in favour of aeroplanes.
Between wars, the Empire State Building in New York was completed with a dirigible mooring mast forming its now famous spire in anticipation of regular Zeppelin trans-Atlantic passenger services. The scheme never materialised due to safety concerns. The US military were the only armed forces to make use of airships in the Second World War, establishing a programme that included convoy support, surveillance and cargo transport. The programme was continued by the US Navy after the war, with airships forming part of the early warning systems of the Cold War, but was shut down in The s were the heyday of modern airships, as Goodyear built its famous blimps that floated above stadiums and major events across the world, employed as filming platforms, advertising space and for occasional passenger pleasure flights.
The advent of drones, which are now more commonly used to film aerial shots, dealt the final death blow. Today there are fewer than 10 commercial airships flying worldwide and contracts are scarce. Having failed to find its forte in everything from border patrols to whale watching, it would seem the age of the airship is decisively dead. Yet, search the internet today and you will find dozens of concept designs for space-age dirigibles, from behemoth transporters shaped like static manatees, to planetary orbiters resembling airborne spinning tops.
Why, seemingly against all reason, does the aviation world refuse to give up on airships? Peter Buckley is one of the most experienced airship pilots in the world, having accumulated more than 22, hours in command. He is acutely aware of the deficiencies and complexity of airship design, but is equally confident it would be a mistake to ignore advantages promised by dirigibles.
In the past, the only people who could afford to invest in airship design were the military. No one in commercial industries would put in that kind of money unless it was a proven concept and shown to work, even if they could see the potential. Given the failure of successive attempts to make airships profitable, it could be argued that investors are right to be cautious.
The company specialises in hybrid airships, craft that are lighter-than-air, but also benefit from aerodynamic lift. To many, this inauspicious start might be a sure sign that the Airlander is doomed to the familiar dirigible fate but Mike Durham, technical director at HAV, believes the hybrid nature of Airlander offers something different.
Floating things create engineering problems. They are susceptible to wind shifts and weather. Tensions with its home country, Germany, were rising in the West, technological trends were heading toward heavier-than-air planes, and DZR scrapped its metal in While there have been sporadic attempts to revive the industry , they've emerged as a niche at best.
Instead, the scientists focus on the less-exciting, but more crucial, industry of cargo transportation. Airships could play a role in fighting global warming, they say. This is backed up by statistics. Around a quarter 23 percent of the world's carbon dioxide emissions stem from transportation. In the U. At home and abroad, boats represent around 3 percent of transportation emissions.
Jet streams are meandering air currents within the Earth's atmosphere that move all across the planet. While their meandering nature means they go in all directions, scientists track them reliably. Lanteigne, who has written extensively about airships, said building such colossal craft would be an enormous challenge. But Prentice expressed confidence that, as airships grow more popular, regulators and investors will change their minds. That could happen soon.
Airships are enjoying a bit of a revival, as manufacturers develop helium blimps for surveillance , luxury travel and shipping. Hydrogen airships are further off, though some firms are working on components for the craft. For example, Moscow-based RosAeroSystems has developed a chemical additive that renders hydrogen less flammable. Buoyant Aircraft is developing gas bags fit for storing the gas.
Prentice said he thinks investors, regulators and the public will eventually come around to hydrogen.
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