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131-529: They produced one experimental and four military Groß-Basenach types, rebuilding each one several times. In all they were not as successful as Major Groß wished. He was one of the sharpest critics of the Zeppelin airships, but the overall superiority and popularity of the Zeppelins doomed his own airships. Even his more successful competitors, Parseval and Schütte-Lanz , could not compete with Zeppelin after

262-408: A Short Empire for Imperial Airways from Foynes to Botwood , Newfoundland and Harold Gray piloted a Sikorsky S-42 for Pan American in the opposite direction. Both flights were a success and both airlines made a series of subsequent proving flights that same year to test out a variety of different weather conditions. Air France also became interested and began experimental flights in 1938. As

393-705: A de Havilland Puss Moth . In 1936 the first woman aviator to cross the Atlantic east to west, and the first person to fly solo from England to North America, was Beryl Markham . She wrote about her adventures in her memoir, West with the Night . The first transpolar transatlantic (and transcontinental) crossing was the non-stop flight  [ ru ] piloted by the crew led by Valery Chkalov covering some 8,811 kilometres (5,475 mi) over 63 hours from Moscow , Russia to Vancouver, Washington from 18–20 June 1937. On 11 October 1928, Hugo Eckener , commanding

524-684: A balloon was the Double Eagle II from Presque Isle, Maine , to Miserey , near Paris in 1978. In April 1913, the London newspaper The Daily Mail offered a prize of £10,000 (£568,000 in 2023 ) to the aviator who shall first cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane in flight from any point in the United States of America, Canada or Newfoundland and any point in Great Britain or Ireland" in 72 continuous hours. The competition

655-558: A bright golden finger, quite small (...) Then there was flashes near the ground—and the shaking noise. It was like Milton —then there was war in heaven. (...) I cannot get over it, that the moon is not Queen of the sky by night, and the stars the lesser lights. It seems the Zeppelin is in the zenith of the night, golden like a moon, having taken control of the sky; and the bursting shells are the lesser lights. The raids continued in 1916. In December 1915, additional P class Zeppelins and

786-410: A combination of Pomeroy and Brock explosive ammunition with Buckingham incendiary ammunition was used in fighter aircraft machine guns during 1916. The British had been concerned over the threat posed by Zeppelins since 1909, and attacked the Zeppelin bases early in the war. LZ 25 was destroyed in its hangar at Düsseldorf on 8 October 1914 by bombs dropped by Flt Lt Reginald Marix, RNAS, and

917-533: A combination of engine failure and high winds, L 3 crashing on the Danish island of Fanø without loss of life and L 4 coming down at Blaavands Huk ; eleven crew escaped from the forward gondola, after which the lightened airship with four crew members remaining in the aft engine car was blown out to sea and lost. At this stage in the war there was no clear doctrine for the use of Naval airships. A single large Zeppelin, L 5, played an unimportant part in

1048-691: A consequence of the RNAS raid both the Army and Navy withdrew from their bases in Belgium. After an ineffective attack by L 10 on Tyneside on 15–16 June the short summer nights discouraged further raids for some months, and the remaining Army Zeppelins were reassigned to the Eastern and Balkan fronts. The Navy resumed raids on Britain in August, when three largely ineffective raids were carried out. On 10 August

1179-479: A continuous patrol of two fighters over Paris at an altitude from which they could promptly attack arriving zeppelins avoiding the delay required to reach the zeppelin altitude. Two further missions were flown against Paris in January 1916: on 29 January LZ 79 killed 23 and injured another 30 but was so severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire that it crashed during the return journey. A second mission by LZ 77

1310-544: A crew of Spanish aviators on board Plus Ultra , a Dornier Do J flying boat; the crew was the captain Ramón Franco , co-pilot Julio Ruiz de Alda Miqueleiz , Teniente de Navio (Navy Lieutenant), Juan Manuel Durán, and Pablo Rada. The first transpolar flight eastbound and the first flight crossing the North Pole ever was the airship carrying Norwegian explorer and pilot Roald Amundsen on 11 May 1926. He flew with

1441-580: A cruising speed of only 188 miles per hour (303 km/h). The 314s had a lounge and dining area, and the galleys were crewed by chefs from four-star hotels. Men and women were provided with separate dressing rooms, and white-coated stewards served five and six-course meals with gleaming silver service. The Yankee Clipper' s inaugural trip across the Atlantic was on 24 June 1939. Its route was from Southampton to Port Washington, New York with intermediate stops at Foynes, Ireland , Botwood, Newfoundland , and Shediac, New Brunswick . Its first passenger flight

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1572-552: A fairly small externally-mounted gondola for passengers and crew beneath the frame. This space was never heated, because fire outside of the kitchen was considered too risky, and during trips across the North Atlantic or Siberia passengers were forced to bundle in blankets and furs to keep warm and were often miserably cold. By the time of the Hindenburg several important changes had made traveling much more comfortable:

1703-424: A faster postal service between Europe and the United States. In 1931 W. Irving Glover, the second assistant postmaster, wrote an article for Popular Mechanics on the challenges and the need for a regular service. In the 1930s, under the direction of Juan Trippe , Pan American began to get interested in the feasibility of a transatlantic passenger service using flying boats. On 5 July 1937, A.S. Wilcockson flew

1834-404: A fire which despite the attendance of 22 fire engines caused over half a million pounds of damage: Mathy then turned east, dropping his remaining bombs on Liverpool Street station . The Zeppelin was the target of concentrated anti-aircraft fire, but no hits were scored and the falling shrapnel caused both damage and alarm on the ground. The raid killed 22 people and injured 87. The monetary cost of

1965-607: A floating assembly-hall or hangar in the Bay of Manzell near Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance (the Bodensee ). The intention behind the floating hall was to facilitate the difficult task of bringing the airship out of the hall, as it could easily be aligned with the wind. The LZ 1 (LZ for Luftschiff Zeppelin , or "Zeppelin Airship") was 128 metres (420 ft) long with a hydrogen capacity of 11,000 m (400,000 cu ft),

2096-462: A larger carrier aircraft, using the combined power of both to bring the smaller aircraft to operational height, at which time the two aircraft would separate, the carrier aircraft returning to base while the other flew on to its destination. The Short Mayo Composite project, co-designed by Mayo and Shorts chief designer Arthur Gouge, comprised the Short S.21 Maia , ( G-ADHK ) which was a variant of

2227-525: A lecture given to the Union of German Engineers gained their support. Zeppelin also sought support from the industrialist Carl Berg , then engaged in construction work on the second airship design of David Schwarz . Berg was under contract not to supply aluminium to any other airship manufacturer, and subsequently made a payment to Schwarz's widow as compensation for breaking this agreement. Schwarz's design differed fundamentally from Zeppelin's, crucially lacking

2358-597: A massive balloon of 725,000 cubic feet (20,500 m ) called the City of New York to take off from Philadelphia in 1860, but was interrupted by the onset of the American Civil War in 1861. Powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle 360 hp engines, the Vickers Vimy flown by British aviators Alcock and Brown made the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919. The first successful transatlantic flight in

2489-483: A mortgage of Count von Zeppelin's wife's estate, and a 100,000 mark contribution by Count von Zeppelin himself allowed the construction of LZ 2 , which made only a single flight on 17 January 1906. After both engines failed it made a forced landing in the Allgäu mountains, where a storm subsequently damaged the anchored ship beyond repair. Incorporating all the usable parts of LZ 2, its successor LZ 3 became

2620-418: A navigational error caused by high winds and poor visibility. The commander judged it proper to land the airship to demonstrate that the incursion was accidental, and brought the ship down on the military parade-ground at Lunéville . The airship remained on the ground until the following day, permitting a detailed examination by French airship experts. In 1909, Count Zeppelin founded the world's first airline,

2751-533: A proving flight for the development of passenger-carrying services. This was the first landplane to fulfil this function and marked a departure from the British and American reliance on flying boats for long over-water routes. Operators of the Fw 200 focussed on other routes, though. In the 1930s a flying boat route was the only practical means of transatlantic air travel, as land-based aircraft lacked sufficient range for

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2882-482: A scheduled service between cities, but generally operated pleasure cruises, carrying twenty passengers. The airships were given names in addition to their production numbers. LZ 6 first flew on 25 August 1909 and was accidentally destroyed in Baden-Oos on 14 September 1910 by a fire in its hangar. The second DELAG airship, LZ 7 Deutschland , made its maiden voyage on 19 June 1910. On 28 June it set off on

3013-715: A sense of national pride regarding his work, and spontaneous donations from the public began pouring in, eventually totalling over six million marks. This enabled the Count to found the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH (Airship Construction Zeppelin Ltd.) and the Zeppelin Foundation . Before World War I (1914–1918) the Zeppelin company manufactured 21 more airships. The Imperial German Army bought LZ 3 and LZ 5 (a sister-ship to LZ 4 which

3144-510: A short career, first flying on 30 March 1911 and becoming damaged beyond repair when caught by a strong cross-wind while being walked out of its shed on 16 May. The company's fortunes changed with the next ship, LZ 10 Schwaben , which first flew on 26 June 1911 and carried 1,553 passengers in 218 flights before catching fire after a gust tore it from its mooring near Düsseldorf. Other DELAG ships included LZ 11 Viktoria Luise (1912), LZ 13 Hansa (1912) and LZ 17 Sachsen (1913). By

3275-533: A testing ground for postwar commercial services by airship (see Imperial Airship Scheme ), and it was the first flight to transport paying passengers. The R34 wasn't built as a passenger carrier, so extra accommodations were arranged by slinging hammocks in the keel walkway. The return journey to Pulham in Norfolk , was from 10 to 13 July over some 75 hours. The first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic

3406-476: A third raid on 4 May ended with it being brought down by anti-aircraft fire. The crew survived but were taken prisoner. When Romania entered the war in August 1916, LZ 101 was transferred to Yambol and bombed Bucharest on 28 August, 4 September and 25 September. LZ 86 transferred to Szentandras and made a single attack on the Ploiești oil fields on 4 September but was wrecked on attempting to land after

3537-465: A voyage to publicise Zeppelins, carrying 19 journalists as passengers. A combination of adverse weather and engine failure brought it down at Mount Limberg near Bad Iburg in Lower Saxony, its hull getting stuck in trees. All passengers and crew were unhurt, except for one crew member who broke his leg when he jumped from the craft. It was replaced by LZ 8 Deutschland II , which also had

3668-538: The Daily Mail prize for the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in "less than 72 consecutive hours". There was a small amount of mail (3lb) carried on the flight making it also the first transatlantic airmail flight. The two aviators were knighted one week later by King George V at Windsor Castle . The first transatlantic flight by rigid airship , and the first return transatlantic flight,

3799-601: The Argos , a Dornier Wal flying boat. In the early morning of 20 May 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field , Mineola, New York , on his successful attempt to fly nonstop from New York to the European continental land mass. Over the next 33.5 hours, Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis encountered many challenges before landing at Le Bourget Airport near Paris , at 10:22 p.m. on 21 May 1927, completing

3930-571: The Battle of the Dogger Bank on 24 January 1915. L 5 was carrying out a routine patrol when it picked up Admiral Hipper 's radio signal announcing that he was engaged with the British battle cruiser squadron. Heading towards the German fleet's position, the Zeppelin was forced to climb above the cloud cover by fire from the British fleet: its commander then decided that it was his duty to cover

4061-504: The Canary Islands and Spain to Stuttgart , Germany. From December 1935, Air France opened a regular weekly airmail route between South America and Africa. German airlines experimented with mail routes over the North Atlantic in the early 1930s, with flying boats and dirigibles. In August 1938 a Deutsche Luft Hansa Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor long-range airliner flew non-stop from Berlin to New York and returned non-stop as

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4192-665: The Fall of France in June 1940, and the loss of much war materiel on the continent, the need for the British to purchase replacement materiel from the United States was urgent. Airbases for refuelling were built in Greenland and Iceland , which were occupied by the United States after the German invasion of Denmark (1940) . The British and United States Governments hurried a secret agreement before Britain declared war on Germany in 1939 for

4323-526: The Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (640 miles off Cape Hatteras , North Carolina ), which began serving both Imperial Airways, subsequently renamed British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and Pan American World Airways (PAA) flights from the United States in 1936, but began exploring the possibility of using it for transatlantic flights from 1937. PAA would begin scheduled trans-Atlantic flights via Bermuda before Imperial Airways did, enabling

4454-719: The Pathfinder Force , led the first delivery flight in November 1940. In 1941, MAP took the operation off CPR to put the whole operation under the Atlantic Ferry Organization ("Atfero"), which was set up by Morris W. Wilson, a banker in Montreal . Wilson hired civilian pilots to fly the aircraft to the UK. The pilots were then ferried back in converted RAF Liberators . "Atfero hired the pilots, planned

4585-624: The R101 disaster in October 1930, the British rigid airship program was abandoned and the R100 scrapped, leaving DELAG as the sole remaining operator of transatlantic passenger airship flights. In 1936 DELAG began passenger flights with LZ 129 Hindenburg , and made 36 Atlantic crossings (North and South). The first passenger trip across the North Atlantic left Friedrichshafen on 6 May with 56 crew and 50 passengers, arriving at Lakehurst on 9 May. The fare

4716-513: The RAF before they could begin civilian operation with the onset of World War II . Meanwhile, Pan Am bought nine Boeing 314 Clippers in 1939, a long-range flying boat capable of flying the Atlantic . The "Clippers" were built for "one-class" luxury air travel, a necessity given the long duration of transoceanic flights. The seats could be converted into 36 bunks for overnight accommodation; with

4847-558: The Short "C-Class" Empire flying-boat fitted with a trestle or pylon on the top of the fuselage to support the Short S.20 Mercury ( G-ADHJ ). The first successful in-flight separation of the Composite was carried out on 6 February 1938, and the first transatlantic flight was made on 21 July 1938 from Foynes to Boucherville . Mercury , piloted by Captain Don Bennett , separated from her carrier at 8 pm to continue what

4978-529: The United Kingdom . The whole journey took 23 days, with six stops along the way. A trail of 53 "station ships" across the Atlantic gave the aircraft points to navigate by. This flight was not eligible for the Daily Mail prize since it took more than 72 consecutive hours and also because more than one aircraft was used in the attempt. Four teams were competing for the first non-stop flight across

5109-480: The United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all forms of rigid airships . Zeppelins were first flown commercially in 1910 by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), the world's first airline in revenue service. By mid-1914, DELAG had carried over 10,000 fare-paying passengers on over 1,500 flights. During World War I ,

5240-466: The airship Graf Zeppelin as part of DELAG 's operations, began the first non-stop transatlantic passenger flights, leaving Friedrichshafen , Germany, at 07:54 on 11 October 1928, and arriving at NAS Lakehurst , New Jersey , on 15 October. Thereafter, DELAG used the Graf Zeppelin on regularly scheduled passenger flights across the North Atlantic, from Frankfurt-am-Main to Lakehurst. In

5371-429: The benzole plant at Skinningrove and three set off to bomb London: two were forced to turn back but L 13, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy reached London. The bomb-load included a 300-kilogram (660 lb) bomb, the largest yet carried. This exploded near Smithfield Market , destroying several houses and killing two men. More bombs fell on the textile warehouses north of St Paul's Cathedral , causing

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5502-440: The 24-hour trial flight ended when LZ 4 had to make a landing at Echterdingen near Stuttgart because of mechanical problems. During the stop, a storm tore the airship away from its moorings on the afternoon of 5 August 1908. It crashed into a tree, caught fire, and quickly burnt out. No one was seriously injured. This accident would have finished Zeppelin's experiments, but his flights had generated huge public interest and

5633-490: The 6  m/s ( 21.6 km/h (13.4 mph) ) velocity attained by the French airship La France . Despite this performance, the shareholders declined to invest more money, and so the company was liquidated, with Count von Zeppelin purchasing the ship and equipment. The Count wished to continue experimenting, but he eventually dismantled the ship in 1901. Donations, the profits of a special lottery , some public funding,

5764-539: The Army and the Navy. At the war’s outset, the Army assumed control of the three remaining DELAG airships, having already decommissioned three older Zeppelins, including Z I. Throughout the war, the Navy primarily used its Zeppelins for reconnaissance missions. Although Zeppelin bombing raids, especially those aimed at London, captivated the German public’s imagination, they had limited material success. Nevertheless, these raids—along with later bombing raids by airplanes—led to

5895-433: The Atlantic were made by Empire flying boats, with 15 crossings using FRL's aerial refuelling system. After the 16 crossings more trials were suspended due to the outbreak of World War II. The Short S.26 was built in 1939 as an enlarged Short Empire , powered by four 1,400 hp (1,044 kW) Bristol Hercules sleeve valve radial engines and designed with the capability of crossing the Atlantic without refuelling. It

6026-549: The Atlantic. They were Australian pilot Harry Hawker with observer Kenneth Mackenzie-Grieve in a single-engine Sopwith Atlantic ; Frederick Raynham and C. W. F. Morgan in a Martinsyde ; the Handley Page Group, led by Mark Kerr; and the Vickers entry John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown. Each group had to ship its aircraft to Newfoundland and make a rough field for the takeoff. Hawker and Mackenzie-Grieve made

6157-465: The British 3rd Light Cruiser squadron which was in the area. HMS  Yarmouth launched its Sopwith Pup , and Sub-Lt. B. A. Smart succeeded in shooting the Zeppelin down in flames. The cause of the airship's loss was not discovered by the Germans, who believed the Zeppelin had been brought down by anti-aircraft fire from ships. At the beginning of the conflict, the German command had high hopes for

6288-705: The Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft (German Airship Travel Corporation), generally known as DELAG to promote his airships, initially using LZ 6, which he had hoped to sell to the German Army. Notable aviation figures like Orville Wright offered critical perspectives on the Zeppelin; in a September 1909 New York Times interview, Wright compared airships to steam engines nearing their developmental peak, while seeing airplanes as akin to gas engines with untapped potential for innovation.The airships did not provide

6419-407: The German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and as scouts . Numerous bombing raids on Britain resulted in over 500 deaths. The defeat of Germany in 1918 temporarily slowed the airship business. Although DELAG established a scheduled daily service between Berlin , Munich , and Friedrichshafen in 1919, the airships built for that service eventually had to be surrendered under

6550-527: The Kaiser, Z X (LZ 29), LZ 35 and the Schütte-Lanz airship SL 2 set off to bomb Paris : SL 2 was damaged by artillery fire while crossing the front and turned back but the two Zeppelins reached Paris and dropped 1,800 kg (4,000 lb) of bombs, killing only one and wounding eight. On the return journey Z X was damaged by anti-aircraft fire and was damaged beyond repair in

6681-618: The M class L 3, did not enter service until May 1914: in the meantime, Sachsen was hired from DELAG as a training ship. By the outbreak of war in August 1914, Zeppelin had started constructing the first M class airships, which had a length of 158 m (518 ft), with a volume of 22,500 cubic metres (794,500 cu ft) and a useful load of 9,100 kilograms (20,100 lb). Their three Maybach C-X engines produced 470 kilowatts (630 hp) each, and they could reach speeds of up to 84 kilometres per hour (52 mph). During World War I, Germany’s airships were operated separately by

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6812-669: The Royal Air Force, and the Darrell's Island airport, which the Royal Air Force took over for trans-Atlantic ferrying of flying boats such as the Catalinas , which were flown there from United States factories to be tested before acceptance by the Air Ministry and delivery across the Atlantic, usually on direct flights to Greenock , Scotland . RAF Transport Command flights, such as those flown by Coronados , also utilised

6943-514: The Short Empire flying boat was less than that of the equivalent US Sikorsky "Clipper" flying boats and as such was initially unable to provide a true trans-Atlantic service. Two flying boats ( Caledonia and Cambria ) were lightened and given long-range tanks to increase the aircraft's range to 3,300 miles (5,300 km). In the US, attention was at first focused on transatlantic flights for

7074-421: The Short Empire only had enough range with enlarged fuel tanks at the expense of a passenger room, several pioneering experiments were done with the aircraft to work around the problem. It was known that aircraft could maintain flight with a greater load than is possible to take off with, so Major Robert H. Mayo, Technical general manager at Imperial Airways , proposed mounting a small, long-range seaplane on top of

7205-843: The United States Government to covertly assist the British Government before the United States entry into the Second World War as mail was taken off trans-Atlantic PAA flights by the Imperial Censorship of British Security Co-ordination to search for secret communications from Axis spies operating in the United States, including the Joe K ring , with information gained being shared with the Federal Bureau of Investigation . The range of

7336-833: The United States to establish a base in Bermuda. Ultimately, the agreement would be expanded to include a United States Naval Operating Base , containing a Naval Air Station serving anti-submarine flying boats, on the Great Sound (near to the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda , Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda that had been operated for the Royal Navy with the rest of the Fleet Air Arm at its original location in HM Dockyard Bermuda until 1939 by

7467-867: The Vickers plane took off from Lester's Field, in St John's, Newfoundland . Alcock and Brown flew the modified Vickers Vimy, powered by two Rolls-Royce Eagle 360 hp engines. It was not an easy flight, with unexpected fog, and a snow storm almost causing the crewmen to crash into the sea. Their altitude varied between sea level and 12,000 feet (3,700 m) and upon takeoff, they carried 865 imperial gallons (3,900 L) of fuel. They made landfall in Clifden , County Galway at 8:40 a.m. on 15 June 1919, not far from their intended landing place, after less than sixteen hours of flying. The Secretary of State for Air , Winston Churchill , presented Alcock and Brown with

7598-407: The Vimy for the long flight, replacing its bomb racks with extra petrol tanks. Shortly afterwards Brown, who was unemployed, approached Vickers seeking a post and his knowledge of long-distance navigation convinced them to take him on as Alcock's navigator. Vickers's team quickly assembled its plane and at around 1:45 p.m. on 14 June, while the Handley Page team was conducting yet another test,

7729-431: The Zeppelin facility in Friedrichshafen. The combustible Blau gas was formulated to make its weight near that of air, so that its storage and consumption had little effect on the zeppelin's buoyancy . Blau gas was used on the first zeppelin voyage to America, starting in 1929. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin 's interest in airship development began in 1874, when he was inspired by a lecture given by Heinrich von Stephan on

7860-452: The advent of the hot air balloon . The balloons of the period were inflated with coal gas , a moderate lifting medium compared to hydrogen or helium , but with enough lift to use the winds that would later be known as the Jet Stream . In 1859, John Wise built an enormous aerostat named the Atlantic , intending to cross the Atlantic . The flight lasted less than a day, crash-landing in Henderson, New York . Thaddeus S. C. Lowe prepared

7991-420: The agreement of Kaiser Wilhelm II to a five-year program of expansion of German naval-airship strength, involving the building of two airship bases and constructing a fleet of ten airships. The first airship of the program, L 2, was ordered on 30 January. L 1 was lost on 9 September near Heligoland when caught in a storm while taking part in an exercise with the German fleet. 14 crew members drowned,

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8122-444: The airship "NORGE" ("Norway") piloted by the Italian colonel Umberto Nobile , non-stop from Svalbard , Norway to Teller, Alaska , USA. The flight lasted for 72 hours. The first night-time crossing of the South Atlantic was accomplished on 16–17 April 1927 by the Portuguese aviators Sarmento de Beires , Jorge de Castilho and Manuel Gouveia, flying from the Bijagós Archipelago , Portuguese Guinea , to Fernando de Noronha , Brazil in

8253-454: The airship commanders commented on the improved defences of the city. L 15 began bombing over Charing Cross , the first bombs striking the Lyceum Theatre and the corner of Exeter and Wellington Streets, killing 17 and injuring 20. None of the other Zeppelins reached central London: bombs fell on Woolwich, Guildford , Tonbridge , Croydon , Hertford and an army camp near Folkestone. A total of 71 people were killed and 128 injured. This

8384-582: The airship was in reconnaissance over the North Sea and the Baltic , and the majority of airships manufactured were used by the Navy. Patrolling had priority over any other airship activity. During the war almost 1,000 missions were flown over the North Sea alone, compared with about 50 strategic bombing raids. The German Navy had some 15 Zeppelins in commission by the end of 1915 and was able to have two or more patrolling continuously at any one time. However, their operations were limited by weather conditions. On 16 February, L 3 and L 4 were lost owing to

8515-415: The airship was rebuilt, including among other things the empennage. On 21 September 1908 it set a flight endurance record of over 13 hours. In 1913 the hull was lengthened to 71.8 metres. In its lengthened state it first flew on 26 March 1913. The keel was changed three times and the volume increased to 5600 m³. Nevertheless, the maximum speed remained unchanged at 47 kilometres per hour (29 mph). M II

8646-400: The airships, which were considerably more capable than contemporary light fixed-wing machines: they were almost as fast, could carry multiple machine guns, and had enormously greater bomb -load range and endurance. Contrary to expectation, it was not easy to ignite the hydrogen using standard bullets and shrapnel. The Allies only started to exploit the Zeppelin's great vulnerability to fire when

8777-420: The antiaircraft guns had their first success, causing L 12 to come down into the sea off Zeebrugge , and on 17–18 August L 10 became the first Navy airship to reach London. Mistaking the reservoirs of the Lea Valley for the Thames, it dropped its bombs on Walthamstow and Leytonstone. L 10 was destroyed a little over two weeks later: it was struck by lightning and caught fire off Cuxhaven , and

8908-625: The army in 1890 at the age of 52. Convinced of the potential importance of aviation, he started working on various designs in 1891, and had completed detailed designs by 1893. An official committee reviewed his plans in 1894, and he received a patent, granted on 31 August 1895, with Theodor Kober producing the technical drawings. Zeppelin's patent described a Lenkbares Luftfahrzeug mit mehreren hintereinander angeordneten Tragkörpern ("Steerable aircraft with several carrier bodies arranged one behind another"), an airship consisting of flexibly articulated rigid sections. The front section, containing

9039-400: The company's fortunes and, during the 1930s, the airships Graf Zeppelin , and the even larger LZ 129 Hindenburg operated regular transatlantic flights from Germany to North America and Brazil. The spire of the Empire State Building was originally designed to serve as a mooring mast for Zeppelins and other airships, although it was found that high winds made that impossible and the plan

9170-461: The crew and engines, was 117.35 m (385.0 ft) long with a gas capacity of 9,514 m (336,000 cu ft). The middle section was 16 metres (52 feet 6 inches) long with an intended useful load of 599 kg (1,321 lb) and the rear section 39.93 m (131.0 ft) long with an intended load of 1,996 kg (4,400 lb). Count Zeppelin's attempts to secure government funding for his project proved unsuccessful, but

9301-456: The crossing. An agreement between the governments of the US, Britain, Canada, and the Irish Free State in 1935 set aside the Irish town of Foynes , the most westerly port in Ireland , as the terminal for all such services to be established. Imperial Airways had bought the Short Empire flying boat, primarily for use along the empire routes to Africa, Asia and Australia, and had established an international airport on Darrell's Island , in

9432-514: The damage was over one sixth of the total damage costs inflicted by bombing raids during the war. After three more raids were scattered by the weather, a five-Zeppelin raid was launched by the Navy on 13 October, the "Theatreland Raid." Arriving over the Norfolk coast at around 18:30, the Zeppelins encountered new ground defences installed since the September raid; these had no success, although

9563-558: The diversion of men and resources from the Western Front. Additionally, the fear of these attacks impacted industrial production to some extent. Early offensive operations by Army airships quickly revealed their extreme vulnerability to ground fire when flown at low altitudes, leading to the loss of several airships. Since no dedicated bombs had been developed at the time, these early raids dropped artillery shells instead. On 20 March 1915, temporarily forbidden from bombing London by

9694-459: The east coast and around the Thames estuary, but bombing accuracy was poor owing to the height at which the airships flew and navigation was problematic. The airships relied largely on dead reckoning , supplemented by a radio direction-finding system of limited accuracy. After blackouts became widespread, many bombs fell at random on uninhabited countryside. The first raid on England took place on

9825-401: The entire crew was killed. Three Army airships set off to bomb London on 7–8 September, of which two succeeded: SL 2 dropped bombs between Southwark and Woolwich : LZ 74 scattered 39 bombs over Cheshunt before heading on to London and dropping a single bomb on Fenchurch Street station . The Navy attempted to follow up the Army's success the following night. One Zeppelin targeted

9956-412: The external viewing windows were often open during flight. The flight altitude was so low that no pressurization of the cabins was necessary. The Hindenburg did maintain a pressurized air-locked smoking room: no flame was allowed, but a single electric lighter was provided, which could not be removed from the room. Access to Zeppelins was achieved in a number of ways. The Graf Zeppelin ' s gondola

10087-575: The extreme cold, and one of the airships was destroyed in a forced landing at Seerappen . The plan was subsequently abandoned. In 1917 the German High Command made an attempt to use a Zeppelin to deliver supplies to Lettow-Vorbeck's forces in German East Africa . L 57 , a specially lengthened craft was to have flown the mission but was destroyed shortly after completion. A Zeppelin then under construction, L 59 ,

10218-699: The facility as BOAC and PAA continued to do) and Kindley Field , serving land planes, constructed by the United States Army for operation by the United States Army Air Forces, but to be used jointly by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. In January 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill visited Bermuda on his return to Britain, following December 1941 meetings in Washington D.C. , with US President Franklin Roosevelt , in

10349-407: The first attempt on 18 May, but engine failure brought them down into the ocean where they were rescued. Raynham and Morgan also attempted on 18 May but crashed on takeoff due to the high fuel load. The Handley Page team was in the final stages of testing its aircraft for the flight in June, but the Vickers group was ready earlier. During 14–15 June 1919, the British aviators Alcock and Brown made

10480-567: The first fatalities in a Zeppelin accident. Less than six weeks later, on 17 October, LZ 18 (L 2) caught fire during its acceptance trials, killing the entire crew. These accidents deprived the Navy of most of its experienced personnel: the head of the Admiralty Air Department was killed in the L ;1 and his successor died in the L 2. The Navy was left with three partially trained crews. The next Navy zeppelin,

10611-464: The first non-stop transatlantic flight. During the War, Alcock resolved to fly the Atlantic, and after the war, he approached the Vickers engineering and aviation firm at Weybridge , which had considered entering its Vickers Vimy IV twin-engined bomber in the competition but had not yet found a pilot. Alcock's enthusiasm impressed Vickers's team, and he was appointed as its pilot. Work began on converting

10742-749: The first of the new Q class airships were delivered. The Q class was an enlargement of the P ;class with improved ceiling and bomb-load. Transatlantic flight A transatlantic flight is the flight of an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe , Africa , South Asia , or the Middle East to North America , Latin America , or vice versa . Such flights have been made by fixed-wing aircraft , airships , balloons and other aircraft. Early aircraft engines did not have

10873-694: The first runway at Kindley Field became operational in 1943, the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm relocated Roc target tugs that had been operating on floats from RNAS Bermuda to the airfield to operate as land planes, and RAF Transport Command moved its operations there, leaving RAF Ferry Command at Darrell's Island. The time it was taken for an aircraft – such as the Lockheed Hudson – bought in the United States, to be flown to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland , and then partially dis-assembled before being transported by ship to England, where it

11004-577: The first solo crossing of the Atlantic. The first east-west non-stop transatlantic crossing by an aeroplane was made in 1928 by the Bremen , a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, from Baldonnel Airfield in County Dublin , Ireland. On 18 August 1932 Jim Mollison made the first east-to-west solo trans-Atlantic flight; flying from Portmarnock in Ireland to Pennfield, New Brunswick , Canada in

11135-417: The first time in 1935. In the system, the receiver aircraft trailed a steel cable which was then grappled by a line shot from the tanker. The line was then drawn back into the tanker where the receiver's cable was connected to the refueling hose. The receiver could then haul back in its cable bringing the hose to it. Once the hose was connected, the tanker climbed sufficiently above the receiver aircraft to allow

11266-541: The first truly successful Zeppelin. This renewed the interest of the German military, but a condition of purchase of an airship was a 24-hour endurance trial. This was beyond the capabilities of LZ 3, leading Zeppelin to construct his fourth design, the LZ 4 , first flown on 20 June 1908. On 1 July it was flown over Switzerland to Zürich and then back to Lake Constance, covering 386 km (240 mi) and reaching an altitude of 795 m (2,608 ft). An attempt to complete

11397-524: The following night bombed the suburbs of Asnières and Versailles, with little effect. Airship operations in the Balkans started in the autumn of 1915, and an airship base was constructed at Szentandras . In November 1915, LZ 81 was used to fly diplomats to Sofia for negotiations with the Bulgarian government. This base was also used by LZ 85 to conduct two raids on Salonika in early 1916:

11528-575: The fuel to flow under gravity. Cobham founded Flight Refuelling Ltd in 1934 and by 1938 had demonstrated the FRL's looped-hose system to refuel the Short Empire flying boat Cambria from an Armstrong Whitworth AW.23 . Handley Page Harrows were used in the 1939 trials to aerial refuel the Empire flying boats for regular transatlantic crossings. From 5 August – 1 October 1939, sixteen crossings of

11659-513: The inflation of a single-pressure envelope to maintain their shape. The framework of most Zeppelins was made of duralumin , a combination of aluminium , copper , and two or three other metals, the exact composition of which was kept secret for years. Early Zeppelins used rubberized cotton for the gasbags, but most later craft used goldbeater's skin made from cattle gut. The first Zeppelins had long cylindrical hulls with tapered ends and complex multi-plane fins . During World War I, following

11790-399: The lead of the rival firm Schütte-Lanz Luftschiffbau, almost all later airships changed to the more familiar streamlined shape with cruciform tail fins. Zeppelins were propelled by several internal combustion engines , mounted in gondolas or engine cars attached outside the structural framework. Some of these could provide reverse thrust for manoeuvring while mooring. Early models had

11921-416: The long distances involved, with few stopping points. Initial transatlantic services, therefore, focused on the South Atlantic, where some French, German, and Italian airlines offered seaplane service for mail between South America and West Africa in the 1930s. Between February 1934 and August 1939 Lufthansa operated a regular airmail service between Natal, Brazil , and Bathurst, Gambia , continuing via

12052-606: The mines' locations. In 1917, the Royal Navy began to take effective countermeasures against airship patrols over the North Sea. In April, the first Curtiss H.12 Large America long-range flying boats were delivered to RNAS Felixstowe , and in July 1917, the aircraft carrier HMS  Furious entered service and launching platforms for aeroplanes were fitted to the forward turrets of some light cruisers. On 14 May, L 22

12183-630: The mission. Its replacement, LZ 86, was damaged by anti-aircraft fire during its second attack on Bucharest on 26 September and was damaged beyond repair in the resulting forced landing, and was replaced by LZ 97. At the instigation of the Kaiser a plan was made to bomb Saint Petersburg in December 1916. Two Navy zeppelins were transferred to Wainoden on the Courland Peninsula . A preliminary attempt to bomb Reval on 28 December ended in failure caused by operating problems due to

12314-586: The night of 19–20 January 1915. Two Zeppelins, L 3 and L 4, intended to attack targets near the River Humber but, diverted by strong winds, eventually dropped their bombs on Great Yarmouth , Sheringham , King's Lynn and the surrounding villages, killing four and injuring 16. Material damage was estimated at £7,740. The Kaiser authorised the bombing of the London docks on 12 February 1915, but no raids on London took place until May. Two Navy raids failed due to bad weather on 14 and 15 April, and it

12445-587: The outbreak of World War I in August 1914, 1588 flights had carried 10,197 fare-paying passengers. On 24 April 1912, the Imperial German Navy ordered its first Zeppelin—an enlarged version of the airships operated by DELAG—which received the naval designation Z 1 and entered Navy service in October 1912. On 18 January 1913 Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz , Secretary of State of the German Imperial Naval Office, obtained

12576-420: The passenger space had been relocated to the interior of the framework, passenger rooms were insulated from the exterior by the dining area, and forced-warm air could be circulated from the water that cooled the forward engines. The new design did prevent passengers from enjoying the views from the windows of their berths, which had been a major attraction on the Graf Zeppelin . On both the older and newer vessels,

12707-470: The previous unsuccessful attacks had been made by an aircraft operating from one of the Royal Navy's seaplane carriers; now realising that there was a new threat, Strasser ordered airships patrolling in the Terschilling area to maintain an altitude of at least 4,000 m (13,000 ft), considerably reducing their effectiveness. On 21 August, L 23, patrolling off the Danish coast, was spotted by

12838-523: The reliability nor the power to lift the required fuel to make a transatlantic flight. There were difficulties navigating over the featureless expanse of water for thousands of miles, and the weather , especially in the North Atlantic , is unpredictable. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, transatlantic flight has become routine, for commercial , military , diplomatic , and other purposes. The idea of transatlantic flight came about with

12969-410: The resulting forced landing. Three weeks later LZ 35 suffered a similar fate after bombing Poperinghe . Paris mounted a more effective defense against zeppelin raids than London. Zeppelins attacking Paris had to first fly over the system of forts between the front and the city, from which they were subjected to anti-aircraft fire with reduced risk of collateral damage . The French also maintained

13100-435: The retreating German fleet rather than observe British movements. In 1915, patrols were only carried out on 124 days and in other years the total was considerably less. They prevented British ships from approaching Germany, spotted when and where the British were laying mines and later aided in the destruction of those mines. Zeppelins would sometimes land on the sea next to a minesweeper, bring aboard an officer and show him

13231-657: The sheds at Cologne as well as the Zeppelin works in Friedrichshafen were also attacked. These raids were followed by the Cuxhaven Raid on Christmas Day 1914, one of the first operations carried out by ship-launched aeroplanes. Airship raids on Great Britain were approved by the Kaiser on 7 January 1915, although he excluded London as a target and further demanded that no attacks be made on historic buildings. The raids were intended to target only military sites on

13362-471: The subject of "World Postal Services and Air Travel" to outline the basic principle of his later craft in a diary entry dated 25 March 1874. It describes a large rigidly framed outer envelope containing several separate gasbags. He had previously encountered Union Army balloons in 1863 when he visited the United States as a military observer during the American Civil War . Count Zeppelin began to seriously pursue his project after his early retirement from

13493-478: The summer of 1931, a South Atlantic route was introduced, from Frankfurt and Friedrichshafen to Recife and Rio de Janeiro . Between 1931 and 1937 the Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 136 times. The British rigid airship R100 made a successful return trip from Cardington to Montreal in July–August 1930, in what was intended to be a proving flight for regularly scheduled passenger services. Following

13624-557: The terms of the Treaty of Versailles , which also prohibited Germany from building large airships. An exception was made to allow the construction of one airship for the United States Navy , the order for which saved the company from extinction. In 1926, the restrictions on airship construction were lifted and, with the aid of donations from the public, work began on the construction of LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin . That revived

13755-403: The total damage was assessed at £18,596. Aware of the problems that the Germans were experiencing in navigation, this raid caused the government to issue a D notice prohibiting the press from reporting anything about raids that was not mentioned in official statements. Only one of the 15 defensive sorties managed to make visual contact with the enemy, and one of the pilots, Flt Lieut D. M. Barnes,

13886-540: The use of separate gasbags inside a rigid envelope. In 1898, Count Zeppelin founded the Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Luftschiffahrt (Society for the Promotion of Airship Flight), contributing more than half of its 800,000  mark share-capital himself. Responsibility for the detail design was given to Kober, whose place was later taken by Ludwig Dürr , and construction of the first airship began in 1899 in

14017-408: The war's end. The Versuchluftschiff (experimental airship) had a volume of 1,800 cubic metres and had a keel directly under the balloon envelope. It was mostly constructed by the firm Siemens-Schuckert GmbH. The first flight took place at 1907-05-07. The power plant was a 24-25 horsepower (HP) Gaggenau automobile engine and allowed a top speed of 29 kilometres per hour (18 mph). Later

14148-464: The weather, and as the airships returned to Evere (Brussels) they ran into a counter-raid by RNAS aircraft flying from Furnes , Belgium . LZ 38 was destroyed on the ground and LZ 37 was intercepted in the air by R. A. J. Warneford , who dropped six bombs on the airship, setting it on fire. All but one of the crew died. Warneford was awarded the Victoria Cross for his achievement. As

14279-528: The weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Churchill flew into Darrell's Island on the BOAC Boeing 314 Berwick . Although it had been planned to continue the journey aboard the battleship HMS Duke of York , he made an impulsive decision to complete it by a direct flight from Bermuda to Plymouth, England aboard Berwick, marking the first trans-Atlantic air crossing by a national leader. When

14410-542: Was $ 400 one way; the ten westward trips that season took 53 to 78 hours and eastward took 43 to 61 hours. The last eastward trip of the year left Lakehurst on 10 October; the first North Atlantic trip of 1937 ended in the Hindenburg disaster . It would take two more decades after Alcock and Brown's first nonstop flight across the Atlantic in 1919 before commercial airplane flights became practical. The North Atlantic presented severe challenges for aviators due to weather and

14541-496: Was abandoned. The Hindenburg disaster in 1937, along with political and economic developments in Germany in the lead-up to World War II , hastened the demise of airships. The principal feature of the Zeppelin's design was a fabric-covered, rigid metal framework of transverse rings and longitudinal girders enclosing a number of individual gasbags. This allowed the craft to be much larger than non-rigid airships , which relied on

14672-409: Was accessed while the vessel was on the ground, via gangways. The Hindenburg also had passenger gangways leading from the ground directly into its hull which could be withdrawn entirely, ground access to the gondola, and an exterior access hatch via its electrical room; this latter was intended for crew use only. On some long-distance zeppelins, engines were powered by a special Blau gas produced by

14803-598: Was begun by the Ministry of Aircraft Production . Its minister, Lord Beaverbrook a Canadian by origin, reached an agreement with Sir Edward Beatty , a friend and chairman of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to provide ground facilities and support. Ministry of Aircraft Production would provide civilian crews and management and former RAF officer Don Bennett , a specialist in long-distance flying and later Air Vice Marshal and commander of

14934-475: Was built in 1909 and enlarged in 1911. M III was built in 1909 and first flew on 31 December 1909 M III was the fastest airship of its time. M IV achieved a top speed of 82 kilometres per hour (51 mph). From 28 December 1914 until 3 November 1915 it performed 24 patrols over the Baltic Sea . On 10 September 1915 it attacked a submarine with 100-kilogram bombs. Unless otherwise cited, this article

15065-545: Was completed in May 1909) and designated them Z I and Z II respectively. Z II was wrecked in a gale in April 1910, while Z I flew until 1913, when it was decommissioned and replaced by LZ 15, designated ersatz Z I. First flown on 16 January 1913, it was wrecked on 19 March of the same year. In April 1913 its newly built sister-ship LZ 15 (Z IV) accidentally intruded into French airspace owing to

15196-575: Was decided to delay further attempts until the more capable P class Zeppelins were in service. The Army received the first of these, LZ 38, and Erich Linnarz commanded it on a raid over Ipswich on 29–30 April and another, attacking Southend on 9–10 May. LZ 38 also attacked Dover and Ramsgate on 16–17 May, before returning to bomb Southend on 26–27 May. These four raids killed six people and injured six, causing property damage estimated at £16,898. Twice Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) aircraft tried to intercept LZ 38 but on both occasions it

15327-458: Was driven by two 15 horsepower (11 kW) Daimler engines each driving a pair of propellers mounted either side of the envelope via bevel gears and a driveshaft, and was controlled in pitch by moving a weight between its two nacelles . The first flight took place over Lake Constance on 2 July 1900. Damaged during landing, it was repaired and modified and proved its potential in two subsequent flights made on 17 and 24 October 1900, bettering

15458-419: Was either able to outclimb the aircraft or was already at too great an altitude for the aircraft to intercept. On 31 May Linnarz commanded LZ 38 on the first raid against London. In total some 120 bombs were dropped on a line stretching from Stoke Newington south to Stepney and then north toward Leytonstone . Seven people were killed and 35 injured. 41 fires were started, burning out seven buildings and

15589-443: Was intended to form the backbone of Imperial Airways ' Empire services. It could fly 6,000 miles (9,700 km) unburdened, or 150 passengers for a "short hop". On 21 July 1939, the first aircraft, (G-AFCI "Golden Hind"), was first flown at Rochester by Shorts' chief test pilot , John Lankester Parker . Although two aircraft were handed over to Imperial Airways for crew training, all three were impressed (along with their crews) into

15720-404: Was killed on attempting to land. The first naval attempt on London took place on 4 June: strong winds caused the commander of L 9 to misjudge his position, and the bombs were dropped on Gravesend . L 9 was also diverted by the weather on 6–7 June, attacking Hull instead of London and causing considerable damage. On the same night an Army raid of three Zeppelins also failed because of

15851-475: Was made by the Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral in 1922. Coutinho and Cabral flew from Lisbon , Portugal, to Rio de Janeiro , Brazil in stages, using three different Fairey III biplanes, and they covered a distance of 8,383 kilometres (5,209 mi) between 30 March and 17 June. The first transatlantic flight between Spain and South America was completed in January 1926 with

15982-465: Was made just a couple of weeks after the transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown , on 2 July 1919. Major George Herbert Scott of the Royal Air Force flew the airship R34 with his crew and passengers from RAF East Fortune , Scotland to Mineola, New York (on Long Island ), covering a distance of about 3,000 miles (4,800 km) in about four and a half days. The flight was intended as

16113-555: Was on 9 July, and this continued only until the onset of the Second World War , less than two months later. The Clipper fleet was then pressed into military service and the flying boats were used for ferrying personnel and equipment to the European and Pacific fronts . It was from the emergency exigencies of World War II that crossing the Atlantic by land-based aircraft became a practical and commonplace possibility. With

16244-501: Was re-assembled and subject to repairs of any damage sustained during shipment, could mean an aircraft could not enter service for several weeks. Further, German U-boats operating in the North Atlantic Ocean made it particularly hazardous for merchant ships between Newfoundland and Britain. Larger aircraft could be flown directly to the UK and an organization was set up to manage this using civilian pilots. The program

16375-424: Was shot down near Terschelling Bank by an H.12 flown by Lt. Galpin and Sub-Lt. Leckie, which had been alerted following interception of its radio traffic. Two abortive interceptions were made by Galpin and Leckie on 24 May and 5 June. On 14 June, L 43 was brought down by an H.12 flown by Sub Lts. Hobbs and Dickie. On the same day Galpin and Leckie intercepted and attacked L 46. The Germans had believed that

16506-466: Was sourced from Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin ( German pronunciation: [ˈt͡sɛpəliːn] ) who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in

16637-536: Was suspended with the outbreak of World War I in 1914 but reopened after Armistice was declared in 1918. The war saw tremendous advances in aerial capabilities, and a real possibility of transatlantic flight by aircraft emerged. Between 8 and 31 May 1919, the Curtiss seaplane NC-4 made a crossing of the Atlantic flying from the U.S. to Newfoundland , then to the Azores , and on to mainland Portugal and finally

16768-417: Was the last raid of 1915, as bad weather coincided with the new moon in both November and December 1915 and continued into January 1916. Although these raids had no significant military impact, the psychological effect was considerable. The writer D. H. Lawrence described one raid in a letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell : Then we saw the Zeppelin above us, just ahead, amid a gleaming of clouds: high up, like

16899-399: Was then modified for the mission: it set off from Yambol on 21 November 1917 and nearly reached its destination, but was ordered to return by radio. Its journey covered 6,400 km (4,000 mi) and lasted 95 hours. It was then used for reconnaissance and bombing missions in the eastern Mediterranean. It flew one bombing mission against Naples on 10–11 March 1918. A planned attack on Suez

17030-559: Was to become the first commercial non-stop east-to-west transatlantic flight by a heavier-than-air machine. This initial journey took 20 hrs, 21 min at an average ground speed of 144 miles per hour (232 km/h). Another technology developed for transatlantic commercial flight was aerial refuelling . Sir Alan Cobham developed the Grappled-line looped-hose system to stimulate the possibility for long-range transoceanic commercial aircraft flights, and publicly demonstrated it for

17161-618: Was turned back by high winds, and on 7 April 1918 it was on a mission to bomb the British naval base at Malta when it caught fire over the Straits of Otranto , with the loss of all its crew. On 5 January 1918, a fire at Ahlhorn destroyed four of the specialised double sheds along with four Zeppelins and one Schütte-Lanz. In July 1918, the Tondern raid conducted by the RAF and Royal Navy, destroyed two Zeppelins in their sheds. The main use of

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