Why did airships disappear?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

I study the topic of airships along the way. It is very interesting and obscenely understandable why, in the light of the PZ, in 1937 they were recognized as "unreliable" and practically ceased to be built. The reasons become apparent when one learns about the phenomenal achievements of this mode of transport (and exploration) from the very early stages. Judge for yourself:

By 1929, airship technology had advanced to a very high level; the airship Graf Zeppelin in September and October began the first transatlantic flights. In 1929, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin made its legendary round-the-world flight with three stopovers. In 20 days, he covered more than 34 thousand kilometers with an average flight speed of about 115 km / h.

And here is what they write today about the advantages of airships over other aircraft:

• Large carrying capacity and range of non-stop flights.

• In principle, higher reliability and safety is achievable than that of airplanes and helicopters. (Even in the largest disasters, airships have shown high human survival.)

• Less than that of helicopters, specific fuel consumption and, as a result, lower cost of the flight per passenger-kilometer or unit of mass of the transported cargo.

• Indoor spaces can be very large.

• The duration of being in the air can be measured in weeks.

• The airship does not require a runway (but it does require a mooring mast) - moreover, it may not land at all, but simply "hover" above the ground (which, however, is feasible only in the absence of a strong crosswind).

It is also noteworthy that although the decline of airship construction is attributed to the late 1930s, information can be found that … "in the late 1950s, the US Navy received the ZPG-3W - the largest soft airship in history. It was used to fill the radar gap between ground radar stations in the North American early warning network during the Cold War. The ZPG-3W is a rare example of the use of the inner space of an airship - a huge radio antenna was located inside a helium balloon. Four such airships were delivered to the US Navy. The first flight of the ZPG-3W took place in July 1958. The casing of the airship was used as a fairing for a 12.8 m radar antenna, thereby ensuring the aerodynamic properties of the airship. The airship was over 121.9 m long and almost 36.6 m high. The airship could be in flight for many days. -3W were the last airships built for the U. S. Navy and were decommissioned in November 1962 when the U. S. Navy ceased or the use of airships."

Thus, it turns out that the rejection of airships was not due to the disaster with the "Hindenburg" in 1937 or the high cost of helium (which the United States had in large quantities), less dangerous than hydrogen, but after the famous speech by General Bird on the topic of Antarctica and "the vast continent behind the South Pole" …

Draw your own conclusions …