Zeppelins: A Noble History, A Respectable Russian Comeback
From inventorspot.com: “Russia was not the birthplace of the zeppelin, although it may mark the site of its renaissance in the modern age. It was July of 1900 in Germany, when Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, unveiled the world’s first zeppelin before a crowd of disbelieving locals from the town of Friedrichshafen. Although air ships had been flown for almost 50 years, this was the very first ridged airship. (This zeppelin was the very first to have a skeleton built around bags of lifting gas.)
The huge floating cigar-shaped building anchored on Lake Bodensee had been an endless source of ridicule until that fateful summer afternoon. Two years of effort, resources and time spent with a small staff of engineers culminated in the airship named the LZ1. L stood for “luft” which is the German word for air, and Z for the name of its inventor. The first flight of the “crazy count’s” flying machine was only impressive for a few seconds, as almost as soon as the 416-foot long ship made its virgin climb into the air, trouble erupted. Engines weren’t working properly and the frame had been bent in several places. Alas, after only 18 minutes, the ship was once again on the water and towed back to its holding shed.” Zeppelins: A Noble History, A Respectable Russian Comeback
