Airships
AIRSHIPS
This article is not intended to be a history of airships. Even with the UK involvement in airships a large book would be needed to cover the subject. It is instead an overview, which I hope will encourage others to delve into the subject. And, if they do, they will not be disappointed. It really is a fabulous story in so many respects, now sadly mostly ignored and forgotten.
In the very early days airships were basically balloons with a cradle suspended beneath with an engine and propeller. Normally just with one of each, both of which were very inefficient. This said the British did persevere, and in fact built an Airship facility at FARNBOROUGH.
The next major development was to construct an airship with a solid structure, which allowed a far larger vessel to be built. Without any doubt the Germans, led by Count Zeppelin, showed the way forward.
Incredible though it might now seem, before WW1 the DELAG airline in Germany, was flying airships across routes in Germany on pretty much a scheduled basis. And, they never lost the life of a passenger. Which of course contrasts starkly with the reputation of fixed wing airliners after WW1.
WORLD WAR ONE
By and large mostly forgotten about today, is the history of airships defending the coastal waters around the UK. These were the S.S. Class non-rigid airships, (Submarine Scout - Sea Scout). Some 60 S.S. examples were built, but in total it seems 158 manufactured when the S.S.P., S.S.T. and S.S.Z. versions are added.
The basic design didn't alter - it had an aircraft fuselage with an engine and propeller.
They were based all around the UK, often with one main base and two mooring-out Stations. For the crews this must have been a most disheartening experience, as it seems only one submarine was sunk by one these airships during WW1. But of course the concept of a deterrent was unheard of. And yet, after WW1, it seems that German U-boat Captains testified to just how effective these airships really were. Easily seen from a distance, this enabled the U-boat to submerge and cancel any ideas about an attack.
In so many ways a mirror to the RAF 'V' bomber force after WW2. So much effort and expense spent on the basis it would never be used. If looked at from afar, say from Mars, I suppose the antics of humanity would be impossible to make any sense of? By and large over the last fifteen thousand years, mostly dedicated to killing each other. At least since WW2 some of us have decided that this is not a sensible option.
THE HIGH AND LOW POINT FOR AIRSHIPS
After WW1 the airship reached its zenith in terms of development. And, in those days it was regarded as being the future for long-haul flight. On the 2nd July 1919 the R.34 airship left EAST FORTUNE in Scotland to cross the Atlantic from east to west, taking around four and a half days. It then flew back. But is this incredible achievement celebrated today? No!
There were two main contenders in the airship arena after WW1 for promoting long-haul pasenger travel. Germany and the UK. Both of which countries suffered disasters which ended the airship concept for long-haul travel for ever. And both of which have a largely untold story to be told.
For example, the British R.101 was basically untested before departing for India. Today it is very easy to blame the Captain for allowing the flight to depart, but he had immense pressure from above, up to government level, to go ahead. One aspect was that he had the Viceroy of India on board, who insisted on loading a vast amount of baggage, much of which it appears was to please his mistress in India, which over-loaded the airship. All this story can be gleaned elsewhere.
On the 5th October 1930, on its maiden voyage to India, it crashed into a hill near Beauvais in northern France. It appears that the British government were determined, regardless of risk, to make sure that their airship had to make this flight. Despite the fact that the privately built R.100 was an altogether better airship, which it appears, would have been the much better choice. The R.101 disaster resulted in the airship becoming null and void in the UK.
GERMANY KEPT GOING
The German airships, setting standards of luxury similar to ocean liners, were making tours across the Atlantic to both north and south America. And of course in 1929 a Zeppelin airship completed an around the world flight.
One aspect needs to be explained here. Everybody in the 'airship business' knew that helium was the much preferred gas to use. But the USA had a monopoly and they would not make it available to other countries. Or so the story goes.
The end of the long-haul era for airships came about on the 6th May 1937 when, on docking at the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey, the Zeppelin LZ129 'Hindenburg' burst into flames. Film crews, press and radio presenters where on the scene.
If you care to look into exactly how this disaster came about, you will find a huge debate still going on. What sems to be clear is that having hydrogen as the cause, is far from being proven.
AFTER WW2
I could well be mistaken, but I think the first airship to appear in the UK was the Goodyear sponsored 'Blimp' in the late 1960s. Or was it the early 1970s? I well remember seeing one overflying my grandparents house in Burnt Oak, in north-west London.
In May 2020 Mr Graham Frost kindly contacted me to say that the first airship in British skies after WW2 was almost certainly the T.A.C. (Bournemouth) Ltd, non-rigid airship G-AMJH. Registered on the 15th May 1951 and named 'Bournemouth' it was withdrawn from use on the 16th August 1952 and ended its days at CHRISTCHURCH (HAMPSHIRE).
Since then, but much later, non-rigid 'Blimps' have made quite an impact in the U.K., especially in the south east of England. Although small in number they have been used for both advertising and for filming major sports and cultural events.
PERHAPS THE BIGGEST ADVANCE?
In July 2000 I was invited to attend the Zeppelin centennial celebrations at Friedrichshaven on the northern banks of Lake Constance, (Aka the Bodensee), on behalf of Truck & Driver magazine. The reason being that Zeppelin had formed the ZF company to produce reliable gearboxes for their airships and this company, largely due to sponsorship by the Nazi party before and during WW2, had survived and prospered after producing gearboxes, (and other components), especially for trucks and buses.
ZF then decided , in the early 1990s, (perhaps before?), that the time had now come to form a new Zeppelin company, Zeppelin Luftschifftecknick GmbH at Friedrichshafen. The result was the Zeppelin NT which first flew in September 1997. When demonstrated at the centennial celebrations it was sensational, flying more like an aircraft than an airship.
Also, Zeppelin had solved the biggest problem regarding airships - the need to have a large number of ground crew to grab hold of mooring lines. They had devised a method using a truck mounted mast whereby only a handful of people where required. Perhaps sadly, the only commercial use envisaged was for conducting pleasure flights, especially in noise sensitive areas, such as around the Alps.
One unique aspect was the formation flight of four airships over Lake Constance. (They had hoped to have five, but the fifth couldn't be released from contractual obligations. I hired an aircraft to photograph this, and made two flights, obtaining many unique pictures of the formation from above. All the rest were buzzing around around at the same level as the airships.
What I do very vividly remember, is when coming in to land, I had four airships in view, also approaching the airport, more or less in line-astern, on a reciprocal heading to the runway. And that I do believe is an unique experience for any pilot!
THE FUTURE?
As might well be imagined, at this event, I was surrounded by people, all of whom saw a great future for airships. One project was 'CargoLifter' also based in Germany, to construct massive airships to move large indivisible loads then being moved by road. It was all totally believable to so many, but turned out to be, in effect from I could make out, the biggest scam ever foisted onto the German stock-market.
I was one of the few sceptical people to question the wisdom of such a project. Simply because the weather and wind-speeds in northern Europe seemed to dictate that heavy-haulage vehicles would remain far more reliable. But of course I was both a truck-driver and pilot, which I suspect few if any others were.
A MUCH BETTER FUTURE
Since my visit to Freidrichshaven in 2000 so much in the world has changed, including how airships can be developed. Other priorities such as keeping to set schedules have gone by the board. Quite rightly too.
In the UK we have the Airlander 10 project which can easily be expanded, the Lockheed LMH-1 in the USA, and the Flying Whales LCA60T co-funded by investments from France and China. These are all highly imaginative design programmes making full use of the latest technological advances in so many regimes.
Let us hope they succeed.
AN OVERVIEW
Nothing can match the sight of an airship, its stately progress across the sky has no equal. For over a hundred years the concept has foundered for various reasons. Can it be that now, in the 21st century, the true potential of the airship can now be realised?
