The Zeppelin Airship in War and Peace
When one hears the term airship, two images typically are conjured up: The German "Zeppelin" Airship which attacked England so mercilessly in bombing raids during World War I and the incredible explosion on the American shores of the Hindenburg in 1937 (Walker, 1973). Although the Zeppelin is the best known of these airships, it is merely one part of a larger definitional class called "aerostats" which includes balloons, blimps, dirigibles, airships of both rigid and non-rigid construction (Walters, 1979, 92).
This analysis will trace the invention and design of the Zeppelin airship by dealing in turn with the following: definitions, history, design strengths and flaws, military uses, peacetime uses, future uses, and conclusions.
An "aerostat" is any lighter-than-air craft and consists of three basic elements: (a) a balloon-shaped bag (round, oval or cylindrical) made of natural cloth or lightweight metallic cloth, (b) a gondola, or cabin, connected to the balloon for the purpose of carrying people or equipment, and (c) some system of steering (Lahm, 1911). The balloon is filled with any one of a number of gaseous substances (hot air, helium, hydrogen) and when a certain volume is reached, the balloon lifts the gondola off the ground (Lahm, 1911; Sinclair, 1934, 22-44).
Many people confuse hot air balloons as being part of the air ship category. They are not. What separates the balloon from the airship is one critical element: the ability to "pilot" or "fly" the machine. Now that that is clear, hot-air balloons will be dismissed from this discussion of aerostats and the full concentration will be on the airships themselves (Lahm, 1911).
There are three basic kinds of airships: the non-rigid, the semi-rigid and the rigid (Appendix 1). The non-rigid, typically called the "blimp" can come in many shapes and the form and shape of its "envelope" (balloon bag) is created by...