Researched
Zeppelins & Rigid Airships
Count Zeppelin's LZ 1 flies on 2 July 1900; from 1910 his airships carry the first paying air passengers, until the Hindenburg fire of 1937 ends the passenger airship era.
Open in the interactive tree →Henri Giffard flew the first engine-powered airship, 27 km, in 1852; Zeppelin's rigid design added an aluminium-alloy frame, hydrogen gas cells and several petrol engines. DELAG, the first airline in revenue service, carried 10,197 passengers on 1,588 flights before World War I. In the war Zeppelins made 51 raids on England, killing 557 people. In 1937 the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg burned while landing at Lakehurst, killing 35 of the 97 people aboard.
Prerequisites
- Balloon Flight1783Lifting gas bags, now steerable and with a rigid frame
- Internal Combustion Engine1876Petrol engines drive the propellers
- Hall-Héroult Process (Aluminium)1886Aluminium alloy gives a light, strong frame
Sources
More in Transport & Mobility · Machine Age
- Airplane1903
- Gyrocompass & Autopilot1908
- Pallet & Forklift1917-1945
- Motorways & Interstates1924-1956
- Helicopter1936-1942
- Turbojet Engine1937