Dirigibles

Dirigibles, Lighter Than Air Ships


I love dirigibles. One day I'd like to build one. This is as likely as Leyton Orient winning the FA Cup, or put another way, as likely as the elephants of which I am so fond building one. In other words, unless I make billions of dollars soon, it will remain a dream. But what a dream!

Rigid airships, such as the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin , or the Navy's Akron , Macon , and Los Angeles , were operational chiefly during the 1920's and 1930's, when their remarkable abilities caught the imagination of the public, which was still enthralled with the basic notion of flying. A series of mishaps and disasters ended the use of these hige vessels, and, since the loss of the Hindenburg , which exploded and burned on May 6, 1937, no comperable craft has flown.
The picture below is of the fine U.S. Navy dirigible, U.S.S. Macon , which flew from late 1933 until her crash into the Pacific Ocean on February 12, 1935. The Macon was a successful design, in spite of the crash. She carried three fighter aircraft which she was able to launch and recover, making her one of three rigid airships ever built capable of carrying airplanes. The major problem with these lighter than air craft was their unreliability in difficult weather, and this factor caused the Macon to crash into the sea with the loss of 2 crewmen, in February of 1935.

U.S.S. Macon, U.S. Navy Airship

Airship Links:

    These people have done an amazing job of compiling lots of information about airships, and I will not even attempt to match their efforts. Instead I refer you to their splendid pages:
The Airship Net Webpage

Airships

(this page will be re-written and revised at some point in the near future due to the shabby writng and lack of pictures, which, hopefully, will be added also)

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