The Achievement of the AIRSHIP
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Characteristics
| Book cover finish | Sewn paperback, Hardcover ( rounded spine binding ) |
| Special features | Dust jacket |
| Condition | Very Good |
| Number of pages | 296 |
| Published date | 1974 |
| Language | English |
| Size | 14 x 22 x 2 cm |
| Author | Guy Hartcup |
Description
A history of the development of rigid, semi-rigid, and non-rigid airships.
For about 200 years, man has sought means to fly. Although for over a century the free balloon was the only successful pioneer form of aircraft it was not until the development at the end of the nineteenth century of the internal combustion engine that manned flight became more predictable and less dependent on favourable winds. From the balloon came the airship, which, although developed during the first two decades of the present century alongside what became conventional heavier-than-air winged craft, seemed at the time to be a potential rival to the ocean liner. Despite some success in military use during World War I as observation and bombing craft, the ponderous, slow moving airship presented a good target to ground forces and was clearly at a dis-advantage compared with more manouverable and faster aeroplane. With its long range potential the airship came into limited commercial use between the wars, but accidents, the ever present threat of fire and explosion where hydrogen was used, vulnerability to bad weather, uncertain viability, and, above all, the emergence of the conventional aircraft as the more practical machine, ...