Airship / Zeppelin General thread

They were originally going to have people disembark at the top of the Empire State Building, but it was too windy.

>>1059976
That makes sense, also the power of the updrafts on the side of the building might've caused more problems.

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>Same photo framed on a wall in a NYC-themed local restaurant
>The swastikas on the tail fins are photoshopped out

lol+baka

>>1059979
I wonder why the shopped them out. It's not like just having them on a picture of an aircraft owned by Germany advocates anything negative.

>>1059963
>I want to know what everyone thinks of them.
Cool but useless. An airship the size of the Titanic has less lifting capability than a twin-engine jet liner.

>>1059983
>I wonder why the shopped them out.
People lose their cookies over stuff like that. You know this.

>>1059984
Yeah I suppose. It would still be cool for entertainment and luxury purposes though.
>>1059985
That is true. People look for things to get offended by.

>>1059979
>When you're more interested in the steam tugboats working the harbor than the enormous flying Nazi Cigar dick blimp

Diesel engines were a mistake

>>1060032
Steam engines may have an impressive amount of power, but combustion engines have them beat with speed. Not to mention how heavy boilers can get.

>>1059984
>>1059986
They made sense in the early days of flight. The first nonstop transcontinental flight was made by a zeppelin. But with them big airliners and the jet age they make little sense.

Keep in mind, a trip on a zeppelin cost a small fortune back in the day, it was much more expensive than taking a ship. Only very few rich people ever got to travel on regular zeppelin flights.

That being said, the Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg had excellent safety records. The Graf Zeppelin never had a significant accident, and the Hindenburg well, just that one, and most people survived somehow. Also it wouldn't have even happened if they had been able to fill it with helium like they initally wanted.

Nut yeah it's kinda sad that we'll never get to see an xboxhueg rigid airship irl, just faggy blimps.

>>1060032
>>1060034
>Not using steam to both power and buoy your airships
Steam itself is lighter than air, y'know.

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>>1060032
>Cigar dick blimp
Leave, Freud.

>>1059979

That picture is so beautiful. You see this this majestic miracle of engineering over the city and think the future must belong to it. You see the symbol and think whatever company or country this belongs to must be part of this hopeful future where the world is so small you can fly from Berlin to NYC in one weekend.

But we know what happened to this ship and zeppelins in general, and we know where Nazi Germany went, and the picture looks completely different.

They should not have shopped it out.

>>1060068
Steam itself is, but the components used may severely hinder the weight of the aircraft. Not to mention you also need fuel, a burner, and boiler just to move the pistons. Also exposed fire on an airship may not be a great idea if it's not contained properly.

If a new zeppelin-type airship was made today and flown around near big cities, how do you think the pubic would react? Would they think it's some sort of Nazi propaganda because muh Hindenburg? Would the general public deem it a threat or just something cool if it were launched without an announcement?

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>>1059963
These things are fucking slow, unreliable, and expensive

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>>1059963
>tfw airship battles never happened

>>1060351
I recall some project to make some oceanliner like zeppelin for touring around or something and then there was the Cargolifter thing that went bankrupt, which was meant to use them to ferry around cargo containers for cheap.

Pretty sure people are still open to the idea. Unfortunately they are still mostly impractical compared to most other means of transport.

Even though the enormous amounts of it proved fatal for many of the airships, has anyone ever considered using hydrogen as a gaseous fuel for them?

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>>1060362
>tfw airship battles never happened
Oh my God, someone needs to write an alternative history fiction novel about WWI if both Britain and Germany had comparable, extensive forces of airships.
>High-altitude Battle of Salamis over the North Sea
>>1060296
>Also exposed fire on an airship may not be a great idea if it's not contained properly.
Umm
Pic related

>>1060612
>Umm
You know what I mean. It may be dangerous to use a steam engine if the airship is being kept aloft by hydrogen.

>>1060622
But you're not using hydrogen to keep it aloft, you're using steam. Steam doesn't burn (usually).

>>1060623
But you need fire for the boilers to make the steam.

>>1060626
Just like you need a burner for a hot air balloon to make the air hot...
I don't see the issue here.

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>>1060612
You could just read the Crimson Skies stuff, unless you want proper alt history autism.

>>1060623
Steam doesn't offer as much lifting power as helium or hydrogen, and also may cause condensation within the gas bags. Unless the bag were made properly, water may weaken the sealing compound from inside the bag.

>>1060362
Is that a game? If so, what is it?

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>>1060720
Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge on the Xbox.

Play the original on PC though for a better game overall, if you can get it to run. There is some patches around, but on my computer it just refuses to run smoothly anymore.

Also available as a boardgame if you are into that.