The meaning of the first airship. How to build an airship? What is an airship? Are they needed in the modern world? I would be in the sky

Once airships were the main form of air transport. They were often used for passenger transportation in the first half of the twentieth century. However, over time, planes began to displace them. However, airships are now actively used by people and no one is going to abandon them.

There is a version that the first airships were designed back in Ancient Greece... Allegedly, even Archimedes himself thought about their creation. Be that as it may, but we have no evidence that aeronautics existed in Ancient Greece. So the homeland of the airship is considered to be France, which in the 18th century was captured by a real aeronautical fever. It all began with the famous brothers Jacques-Etienne and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, who made their first hot air balloon flight in 1783. Soon, the inventor Jacques Cesar Charles proposed his project of a balloon filled with hydrogen and helium.

Several more projects followed, and then Jean-Baptiste Meunier, a mathematician and military man, who is considered the "father" of the airship, came to the fore. He created a project for a balloon that would be lifted into the air using three propellers. According to Meunier's ideas, such a device could reach an altitude of two to three kilometers. The scientist suggested using it for military purposes, primarily for intelligence. However, in 1793, Meunier died without finishing his grandiose project. But his ideas did not disappear, although they sank into oblivion for about six months. New breakthrough happened in 1852, when another Frenchman, Henri Giffard, made the first ever flight in an airship.

Henri Giffard. (wikipedia.org)

Information about how long he held out in the air and how much distance he managed to overcome has not been preserved. However, it is known that his project was based on the ideas of Meunier, and the flight itself almost ended in the death of the balloonist. Yet airships with steam engine did not take root. Over the next two decades, such flights were rare. In 1901, inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont flew around the Eiffel Tower in an airship.

Around the Eiffel Tower. (wikipedia.org)

This event was widely covered by French newspapers, and journalists presented it as a sensation. The age of airships began a little later, when the technology of the internal combustion engine was introduced into aeronautics.

The impetus for the rapid development of the construction of airships was given by the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose name is perhaps the most famous airships of the first half of the twentieth century. He designed three models of such devices, but each time they had to be modified.

Airship model. (wikipedia.org)

It cost a lot of money to build, starting work on the last of their LZ-3 airships. Zeppelin pledged the house, land and a number of family jewels. In case of failure, ruin awaited him. But here, just, success awaited him. The LZ-3 device, which made its first flight in 1906, was noticed by the military, who made a large order to Zepellin. So, more than a century later, Meunier's idea came true, who wanted to use airships for the needs of the military.

And so it happened. The First World War turned airships into a truly terrible weapon. Such balloons were already in service with all countries participating in the conflict, but the German Empire achieved the greatest success in this direction.

German airship. (wikipedia.org)

German airships developed speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour, easily covered 4-5 thousand kilometers and could drop several tons of bombs on the enemy. This distinguished them favorably from light aircraft, which rarely carried more than five bombs. It is known that on August 14, 1914, a German airship nearly razed the Belgian city of Antwerp to the ground. As a result of the bombing, more than a thousand buildings were destroyed.

But airships were also used for peaceful purposes. For example, for the transportation of goods. Such a device could easily deliver 8 - 12 tons of baggage by air. After freight transport there was also the idea of ​​passenger transportation. The first passenger line was launched in 1910. Airships began operating flights from Friedrichshafen to Dusseldorf. Soon Passenger Transportation earned in France and Great Britain. The rapid development of the industry continued after the war. So at the end of the 20s of the twentieth century, airships began to perform transatlantic passenger flights. In 1928, the legendary German airship "Graf Zepellin" made the first ever round-the-world flight in a balloon. The end of the golden age came in 1937, after the infamous disaster of the Hindenburg airship, which was flying from Germany to the United States.

The Hindenburg disaster. (wikipedia.org)

During the landing of the device, a fire occurred, as a result of which the airship crashed to the ground (this happened in the vicinity of New York). Forty people were killed, and newspapers and aviation and aeronautics specialists began to seriously talk about the fact that flying in airships could be unsafe.

The Russian Empire did not lag behind Europe in terms of aeronautics. Already at the end of the 19th century, amateur societies began to spontaneously emerge in the country, whose members tried to design their own airships. The designs of such balloons were proposed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the future famous combat aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky.

The first flight of the airship in Russia dates back to around the mid-1890s. Although this information is inaccurate. Public interest in airships did not escape the attention of the state. The construction of airships for the needs of the army and other ministries began already in the 1900s. By the time the First World War began, the Russian Empire had 18 combat airships. In the Soviet Union, airships were less popular than in Europe. There was no regular passenger service, although the arrival in Moscow of the "Graf Zeppelin" was widely reported in the Soviet media.

Russian airship. (wikipedia.org)

In modern Russia, airships are by no means forgotten. Moreover, there are more and more projects for introducing airships into the public transport system. So, in the fall of 2014, the issue of creating alternative modes of transport for the Russian North was discussed in Yakutia. Airships could solve this problem. Components for them are now produced by the Russian holding KRET, which is part of the Rostec structure.

It would be wrong to think that there is no place for airships in the modern world and that they can only be seen in museums. This is not true. Of course, airships lost the fight for air supremacy by plane. Yes, passenger transportation by airships is rarely carried out and mainly for excursion purposes. But in fact, the scope of these balloons is still very wide: it can be aerial photography, aerial monitoring, security at events. Balloons, for example, guarded the airspace at the Sochi Olympics. They can also be used for the operational detection of forest fires. For these uses, the balloon must be securely docked in one location. For this, support devices are used - special vehicles on which a system of cables is installed, which allows the airship to be held both on the ground and during its ascent into the sky. Currently, the only domestic manufacturer of such devices is the Tekhnodinamika holding, which is part of the Rostec State Corporation. The design is called "Aragvia-Wau". As for airships, they are still produced in many countries of the world, including Russia. So far, people do not want to completely abandon these balloons.

On September 10, 1908, the first flight of the first controlled balloon, created in Russia, was carried out.

The issues of controlled aeronautics in Russia began to be dealt with at the very beginning of the 19th century. So, in 1812, the mechanic Franz Leppich proposed to the Russian government to build a controlled aerostat for military use. In July of the same year, the assembly of the apparatus began near Moscow. The balloon had an unusual design. Its soft fish-shaped shell was made of taffeta and was girded with a rigid hoop in the horizontal plane. A net was attached to this hoop, covering the upper part of the shell. The most unusual structural element was a rigid keel, fixed on a hoop at some distance from the shell by means of a series of struts located around the lower part of the shell. The keel also served as a gondola. A stabilizer was attached to the hoop at the rear of the shell. On both sides of the apparatus, two wings were hinged to the frame. By flapping these wings, it was supposed to move the balloon. All elements of the rigid frame were made of wood. According to rough estimates, the volume of the spacecraft shell was 8000 cubic meters, the length was 57 m, and the maximum diameter was 16 m. But the construction of this unusual balloon of unprecedented dimensions was never completed. The shell, filled with hydrogen, did not hold gas, and it was almost impossible to move the apparatus with the help of the propeller wings. For the controlled movement of such a large balloon, a propeller was needed, driven by a fairly light engine with a capacity of several tens of kilowatts. The creation of such an engine was at that time an insoluble task.

Nevertheless, one cannot fail to note the originality of the design of this apparatus, which was practically the first prototype of controlled semi-rigid balloons.

In the middle of the 19th century, a number of projects of controlled balloons were proposed by A. Snegirev (1841), N. Arkhangelsky (1847), M. I. Ivanin (1850), D. Chernosvitov (1857). In 1849, the original project was put forward by the military engineer Tretesky. The airship had to move by means of the reactive force of the gas jet flowing out of the hole in the aft part of the shell. To increase the reliability, the shell was made sectioned.

In 1856, the project of a controlled balloon was developed by the captain of the first rank N.M. Sokovnin. The length, width and height of this apparatus were, respectively, 50, 25 and 42 m, the design lifting force was estimated at 25,000 N. In order to increase safety, the shell was supposed to be filled with non-combustible ammonia. To move the balloon, Sokovnin designed a kind of jet engine. The air, which was in the cylinders under high pressure, was fed into special pipes, from which it flowed out. It was proposed to make the pipes rotary, which would allow, according to the author, to control the apparatus without the help of aerodynamic rudders. In fact, Sokovnin was the first to propose a jet control system for an airship.

The most complete project was proposed in 1880 by Captain O.S. Kostovich. His controlled aerostat, named "Russia", had been refined over the course of several years. In the final version, it was based on a rigid cylindrical frame with conical tips, made of lightweight and sufficiently strong material "arborite" (such as plywood), the manufacturing technology of which was developed by Kostovich himself. The frame was covered with silk fabric impregnated with a special compound to reduce gas permeability. There were bearing surfaces on the sides of the balloon. A horizontal beam passed along its axis, in the stern of which a four-bladed propeller was installed. The rudder was attached to the front of the beam. A movable load suspended from below was used to control the airship in the vertical plane. In the midsection of the shell there was a vertical pipe, to the bottom of which a gondola was attached. The volume of the shell was about 5,000 m3, the length was about 60 m, and the maximum diameter was 12 m. For his airship, Kostovich developed an eight-cylinder internal combustion engine that was surprisingly light for that time. With a power of 59 kW, its weight was only 240 kg.

In 1889, almost all parts of the balloon, including the engine, were manufactured. However, due to the lack of subsidies from the government, it was never collected. And yet this project of a rigid airship was a serious step forward in the development of controlled aeronautics, made almost two decades before the appearance of the Schwarz and Zeppelin vehicles.

It should also be noted the work of Doctor of Medicine K. Danilevsky from Kharkov, who built in 1897-1898 several small balloons equipped with a special system of rotary planes. The movement of the apparatus in the vertical plane was carried out by means of horizontally located screws, which were set in motion by the muscular force of a person with the help of pedals. Horizontal movement was provided during the ascent and descent by turning the planes in one direction or another. Such devices could not find real use, however, the technical idea of ​​flight control was original.

Thus, by the end of the 19th century, a controlled balloon was never built in Russia.

However, the widespread construction of controlled balloons that unfolded at the beginning of the 20th century abroad, in particular in Germany, France and Italy, and the significant achievements of these airships at that time, which could play an important role in the conduct of hostilities, forced the Russian War Ministry to seriously address the issue of supplying the army controlled balloons.

The first attempt to create an airship on its own was made at the Aeronautical Training Park in 1908. The balloon, named "Training", was built according to the project of Captain A. I. Shabsky. The construction of the apparatus was completed in September 1908, and on the 10th of the same month, its first launch was carried out over Volkovo Pole near Tsarskoe Selo. The envelope of the balloon had a volume of about 1200 cubic meters and was made of two kite balloons of the Parseval system. Its length was 40 m, and the maximum diameter was 6.55 m. An 11.8 kW engine was installed in a wooden nacelle, which set in motion two propellers. The propellers were located on both sides of the gondola in front of it. "Training" took on board three people, could climb to an altitude of 800 m and develop a speed of about 22 km / h. The longest flight duration of the "Training" was about 3 hours. In 1909, the airship was modernized. The volume of the shell was increased to 1,500 cubic meters, a more powerful engine (18.4 kW) was installed, the screws were replaced, and the nacelle was rebuilt. However, further flights did not bring much success, and the device was dismantled at the end of the year.

In the same year, the Russian War Ministry purchased a semi-rigid airship from the Lebody plant in France, which was named the Swan in Russia. At the same time, a special commission of the engineering department under the leadership of Professor N. L. Kirpichev was developing and building the first domestic military airship.

This semi-rigid airship, named "Krechet", was built in July 1909. Engineers Nemchenko and Antonov took a great part in the development of the apparatus. Compared to its prototype - the French airship "Patrie", the "Krechet" has been significantly improved. On the "Krechet" there was no cloth front wind-cutter and the lower support pylon of the gondola, the tail with a rigid frame was replaced by two drop-shaped horizontal stabilizers made of rubberized fabric, communicating with the main gas shell. In addition, the size of the nacelle has been increased and the propellers are located higher. All this made it possible to significantly improve the controllability of the airship and unload its aft part. The first flight of the "Krechet" took place on July 30, 1910, that is, a year after its construction. After test flights, in which a speed of 43 km / h was achieved and good controllability of the airship was demonstrated both in the vertical and horizontal plane, the Krechet was transferred to the army.

In the same year, 1910, the operation of the "Swan" began. In the fall of 1910, two more Russian military airships of the soft system "Dove" and "Yastreb" ("Dux") were built, the first at the Izhora plant in Kolpino near Petrograd, and the second Joint-stock company Dux in Moscow. "Dove" was built according to the project of professors Boklevsky, Van der Fleet and engineer V. F. Naydenov with the participation of captain B. V. Golubov, the author of the "Hawk" was A. I. Shabsky.

In 1910, Russia acquired four more airships abroad: three in France - Clement Bayard, named Berkut, Zodiac VII and Zodiac IX (Korshun and Seagull) - and one in Germany - Parseval VII ", called" Vulture ".

By the beginning of 1911, Russia had nine controlled balloons, of which four were domestically built, and ranked third in the world in terms of the number of airships after Germany and France. Domestic airships were practically not inferior to those acquired by foreign devices. However, it should not be forgotten that far from the best airships were purchased abroad. As for the hard airships of Germany of that time, which had a volume of up to 19,300 cubic meters, a speed of up to 60 km / h and a flight range of about 1600 km, domestic controlled balloons could not compete with them.

In 1912, a small semi-rigid airship "Kobchik" with a volume of 2400 cubic meters was built in Petrograd according to the project of S. A. Nemchenko, and at the Izhora plant - "Sokol" of the "Dove" type. "Falcon" in comparison with its predecessors had better contours, more developed elevators and was equipped with a more powerful engine (59 kW), which drove two propellers through a chain drive. The successful flights of the "Dove" and "Falcon", which showed the correspondence of their flight performance to the calculations, were the basis for the laying in 1911 at the Izhora plant of a large airship with a volume of 9600 cubic meters, named "Albatross". Its construction was completed in the fall of 1913. It was the most advanced airship ever built in Russian factories. It had a length of 77 m, a height of 22 m and a width of 15.5 m, and developed a speed of up to 68 km / h. The maximum lift height reached 2400 m, and the flight duration was 20 hours. The shell provided for two ballonets, each with a volume of 1200 cubic meters. The power plant consisted of two 118 kW engines. The authors of the Albatross project were B. V. Golubov and D. S. Sukhorzhevsky.

In 1913, three more large-volume airships were purchased abroad: Astra Torres (10,000 m3), Clement Bayard (9600 m3) in France and Parseval XIV (9600 m3) in Germany. They were named in Russia, respectively, "Astra", "Condor" and "Petrel". Best performance possessed "Burevestnik", which developed a speed of up to 67 km / h.

In 1914, large airships with a volume of approximately 20,000 m3 were ordered from three factories - Izhora, Baltic and "Clement Bayard" in France.

By the beginning of the First World War, Russia had 14 airships, but of these, only four "Albatross", "Astra", "Condor" and "Petrel" - according to their flight performance, with certain reservations, could be considered suitable for participation in hostilities. As a result, Russian controlled balloons were practically not used in combat operations. Only the airship "Astra" in May - June 1915 performed three night flights with bombing at the location of the German troops. In these flights, the airship received a lot of damage and was almost never used in the future. In the second half of June 1915, the Astra was dismantled.

The absence in Russia during the First World War of airships with the necessary flight performance was due to a number of objective reasons. These include the government's mistrust of domestic developments and the associated too little funding, as well as the lack of a sufficient number of qualified personnel familiar with the structure of the airship, its properties and operating features. An important role was also played by the fact that none of the domestic factories produced powerful reliable engines with mass characteristics that met the requirements of their installation on airships. Engines also had to be purchased abroad.

Nevertheless, in the projects and designs of domestically built airships of that time, there were many original technical solutions proposed and implemented much earlier than on foreign controlled balloons, and which became widespread at further stages of the development of airship construction.

What is an airship? Why was it invented? And what does this word actually mean?

Small introduction

For many centuries, mankind has striven to invent something new, to make life easier for itself, everyday life, travel. Cars replaced horses; the sky was of great interest to inventors and designers. How can we learn to fly the way birds fly?

And only in 1803, thanks to the Frenchman Andre-Jacques Garneren, the first balloon flight took place in Russia.

After that, aeronautics enthusiasts began to develop the idea of ​​balloon flights. This is how the first ideas for future airships appeared. And later they themselves.

A bit of history

The word "airship" is of French origin, it means "controlled", which is fully consistent with reality.

The history of airship building dates back to September 24, 1852. It was then that the world's first airship, the 44-meter Girard I with a steam engine, took to the skies over Versailles. It was spindle-shaped. It was invented and designed by the Frenchman Henri-Jacques Girard, who once worked as a railway worker. He was very fond of building balloons, and, having created his first airship, the brave inventor flew on it at a speed of 10 km / h over Paris for more than 31 kilometers.

And so the era of airships began. The spindle-shaped balloon was filled with hydrogen, and this intricate structure was driven by a steam engine that rotated a screw. The airship was controlled by a rudder.

In the second half of the 19th century, the inventor Alberto Santos-Dumont replaced a steam engine with an internal combustion engine.

The heyday of huge airships. Zeppelin airship

At the beginning of the 20th century in Germany, Count Zeppelin and Hugo Eckener began to promote the benefits and opportunities that controlled aeronautical structures opened up to people. They organized a nationwide gathering and very soon raised the sum, which was more than enough for the development and construction of the new airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin".

The zeppelin airship had a gigantic length - 236.6 meters. Its volume was 105,000 m³, and its diameter was about 30.5 meters.

On September 18, 1928, the aircraft made its first test flight, and in August 1929 it made its first round-the-world flight. The flight took only 20 days, while the airship's speed was 115 km / h. This flight, first of all, was made with the aim of demonstrating the capabilities of rigid airships, as well as for conducting meteorological observations.

In 1930, the zeppelin airship flew to Moscow, and in 1931 made a reconnaissance flight over the Soviet Arctic, making detailed aerial photographs.

Throughout its life, this aircraft has made 590 flights to various countries and continents.

Giant airship "Hindenburg"

In 1936, the largest airship in the world was built in Germany. It was 245 meters long and 41.2 meters in diameter. It lifted up to one hundred tons of payload into the air, could reach speeds of up to 135 km / h. The design of the German airship included a restaurant, kitchen, showers, a designated smoking room and a couple of large walking galleries.

The first flight took place in 1936. Then, after several successful test and advertising flights, the German airship began to operate commercial flights. Such means of transportation became fashionable, tickets sold out very quickly, and the popularity of aircrafts continued to grow.

In total, during its existence, the airship managed to make 63 flights.

Crash

On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg departed for the United States. There were 97 people on board. The airship left Germany at about eight o'clock in the evening, flew safely to Manhattan and flew on to the airbase, reaching there at four o'clock in the afternoon. A couple of hours after receiving permission to land, the Hindenburg airship dropped its mooring ropes. A few minutes later, there was a fire. In just 34 seconds, the ship burned to the ground and fell, and 35 people became victims of the plane crash.

Airship "Akron"

In November 1931, an airship of the same name was built in the city of Akron. It was 239.3 meters long and 44.6 meters in diameter. Developed and built primarily as a ship for military purposes, as an airship-aircraft carrier.

The ship's design included a large hangar that could accommodate up to five single-seat aircraft. The airship cockpit, frame and hull were very strong, consisted of numerous profiles, bulkheads and three keels.

Akron participated in several exercises and, despite its short life, managed to make several test flights.

In 1933 he went on his last flight. The airship crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. The victims were 73 of the 76 people on board.

Airship R-101

In 1929, the construction of this aircraft was completed, which can be attributed to the largest airships in the world, its length was 237 meters. The aircraft structure included two spacious decks, about 50 comfortable cabins for one person, two or four. There was also a large dining room, kitchens that could accommodate up to 60 people, toilets and a smoking room. Passengers most often used the lower deck, where the crew and captain of the airship were located.

The flight, which took place in 1930, was the last for the R-101 airship. In the skies over France, as a result of strong winds, the hull of the ship and the gas cylinder were damaged. Of course, it was not possible to land the airship, the ship crashed into the mountainside and caught fire. Of the 56 passengers on board, 48 were killed.

Airship ZPG-3W

It was built in the USA in the post-war period, in 1950. It belonged to soft airships. It was equipped with modern equipment for those times. The length of this aircraft was 121.9 meters. On board the airship were various radars, special acoustic and magnetic equipment.

The vessel was designed and built for use in harsh conditions of snowfall, rain, wind up to 30 m / s and fog, with flight durations up to 200 hours.

In 1962, this airship took off for the last time. It is still unclear exactly what happened, but there was a big accident that claimed the lives of 18 people.

ZRS-5 "Macon"

Built on March 11, 1933. It made its first flight a month after the completion of construction. In the fall of the same year, the airship was sent on its first serious flight across the continent to Sunnyvale Air Force Base. Despite the unfavorable weather conditions, strong wind and precipitation, the vessel showed its reliability, stability and excellent controllability.

He took part in tactical reconnaissance exercises, where he turned out to be of little use, since he was extremely vulnerable to anti-aircraft artillery from enemy ships, and to fighters.

In April 1934, during a serious flight, the ship was damaged as a result of numerous hits in storms. It was partially repaired during the flight, and upon arrival at the destination, a complete repair was made to parts that were deformed.

In 1935, the last, 54th flight took place, in which the airship went. What happened on the way is reliably known from the surviving crew members. Strong gusts of wind damaged the hull, the ship was unbalanced and crashed.

Airship "Lebody"

It was designed and built in 1902 in France. He belonged to a variety of semi-rigid airships. The device was a full 58 meters long and had a maximum diameter of 9.8 meters.

The engine of this vessel ran on gasoline, could lift more than 1000 tons into the sky, and developed a speed of up to 40 km / h. The highest altitude to which "Lebodi" climbed is 1100 meters.

This airship could travel most of the year. To a certain extent, with its characteristics, it satisfied some practical goals, and already in 1905 the ship was transferred to the Ministry of War. Soon, the first exercises took place, in which this airship took part. What was to be done in military sphere a relatively small Lebody design? Whole crews were trained on this vessel, as well as various experiments, observations and tests were carried out. Very soon, the French Ministry of War ordered another airship of the same type.

Parseval's airship

In 1905, the development and construction of this aircraft began. Upon completion of construction, a rigid type airship was obtained, with a length of 59 meters and a diameter of 9.3 meters. This design could develop a speed of up to 12 m / s and was very mobile. The airship was easily disassembled and required only two carts for transportation.

Airship "Schütte-Lanz"

It was built in Germany in 1910. It belonged to the rigid type airships, had a wooden frame and developed a speed of up to 20 m / s.

Almost immediately after the completion of construction and the first successful test flights, the Schütte-Lanz airship was transferred to the Ministry of War for experiments, tests and research flights.

Airship M-1

It was developed by engineers of the Italian military department. The completion of the construction of the aircraft took place in the middle of 1912. Six months later, the airship was transferred to the use of the Maritime Ministry for observation and research activities.

The length of the M-1 was 83 meters, and the maximum diameter was 17 meters. It possessed high carrying capacity, stability and reliability. In flights, he developed a speed of up to 70 km / h.

Soon, two more airships of a similar design were developed: M-2 and M-3.

Airship "Krechet"

It was built in the summer of 1909. This is the first Russian airship. It was used exclusively for military purposes. The ship's design was redesigned to include two 50 hp engines that ran on gasoline and a wireless telegraph operating for 500 km. Theoretically, with such characteristics, the Krechet could reach speeds of up to 43 km / h and rise to an altitude of 1500 meters.

However, in the course of numerous tests and test checks, it was found that one of the Krechet's engines did not work correctly. As a result, it was decided to buy other engines from France, 100 l / s each. After numerous amendments and upgrades, a year after its construction, in 1910 the Krechet flew. 6 test flights were made, during which time the vessel spent 4 hours in the air and developed a speed of up to 12 m / s.

Soon the airship was handed over to the aeronautical company No. 9, which was located in Riga. Kovalevsky, a man who was a military aeronaut, was appointed captain.

"Krechet" occupies a special place in the Russian history of design, because it was the first real victory of the Russians in airship construction. And the project of this aircraft became a "model" for all subsequent airships built in Russia.

Airship "Albatross"

Built in 1910 by Russian construction designers under the leadership of Sukhorzhevsky and Golubov. The vessel was exactly 77 meters long, 22 meters high, and the maximum diameter was 14.8 meters.

The albatross could reach speeds of up to 65 km / h and rise into the sky up to 2000 meters. The permissible payload weight on board is up to 3500 tons.

It was decided to make the shell of the airship from aluminum. According to the calculations of engineers, such a coating should minimize the heating of the gas by the sun's rays. And, perhaps, it would have been so if it had not been for the discovered defect, which was on the canvases of the material that covered the airship. What happened during the construction process is still unclear: the left and right panels were confused. As a result of such an error, the casing burst and the gas escaped.

The renovation of the Albatross has begun. The shell has been replaced, and all the deformed parts have been replaced. Soon the airship was equipped with a machine-gun mount and transferred to military use.

In 1914-1918 "Albatross" took part in hostilities, it was used for bombing, causing significant damage to enemy fortifications and positions.

Airship "Giant"

The construction of this aircraft was completed in 1914. The frame was trimmed with French silk rubberized fabric. The Giant's design included 200 hp engines hidden under special hoods for cooling. Also, the ship was equipped with modern electrical innovations for those times.

Since the construction of the "Giant" took place at the beginning of the First World War, the structure was assembled by the military aeronaut Shabskaya. But, unfortunately, she did not get better from this.

During the assembly process, the ship was altered and modified several times. They did not build according to the project. Soon the long-awaited test flight of the Giant took place, which fell in the winter of 1915.

During the ascent, the airship began to bend strongly, after a few minutes it folded in half and fell. The height was low, so no one was hurt.

Shortly after this incident, a commission was assembled, which declared the "Giant" unsuitable for repair. Over time, the structure was dismantled for the aviation needs of Russia.

The first airship of the USSR - "Krasnaya Zvezda"

The first Soviet airship was built in 1920. And in 1921 the first flight was made on this ship. In its entire history, Krasnaya Zvezda has completed six flights, the total duration of which was about 16 hours.

After this airship in the USSR, several others were built, similar in design.

Airship "VI October"

The construction was completed in 1923, in Petrograd. The vessel was 39.2 meters in length and the largest diameter was about 8.2 meters.

Soon the first test flight with a total duration of 30 minutes was completed. The second and last lift into the air was carried out a couple of days later. The airship rose to an altitude of 900 meters and spent almost 1.5 hours in the sky.

The vessel was no longer operated. It was decided to disassemble it, since the shell was extremely gas permeable.

Airship "Moskovsky-Chemist-Rezinshchik"

The construction of this vessel with an intricate name and the abbreviation MHR was completed in 1924. Its length was about 45.5 meters, and its diameter was 10.5 meters. The vessel lifted up to 900 tons of payload into the sky and developed a speed of 62 km / h.

The first flight took place in 1925 and lasted just over 2 hours. The vessel was used and made flights until 1928. During all this time, many upgrades and rebuilds have been made.

A total of 21 flights were made, the total duration was 43.5 hours.

Airship "Komsomolskaya Pravda"

On July 25, 1930, another Soviet airship was built. A month later, the ship made its first test flight, flying high over Moscow. For the entire 1930, the Komsomolskaya Pravda aircraft made 30 flights, and the next year 25 more.

Airship "USSR V-3"

It was built in 1931 and was soon sent on its first test flight. Created as a training and propaganda vessel, belonged to the type of soft airships. In 1932 he took part in a solemn parade, flying high in the sky over Red Square.

Following the USSR V-3, a whole series of similar designs was produced: USSR V-1, V-2, V-4, V-5, V-6.

These aircraft made flights to Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Gorky.

On the V-6 vessel, they were going to fly between Moscow and Sverdlovsk. And the B-5 airship was created exclusively for teaching all the subtleties of aeronautics for pilots and ground personnel.

On September 29, 1937, the USSR V-6 airship went on a flight, the purpose of which was to achieve a new world record for the length of time spent in the sky. During the trip, the ship flew over Penza, Voronezh, Kalinin, Kursk, Bryansk and Novgorod. The airship faced harsh weather conditions such as strong gusts of wind, rain and fog. Despite this, the world record once set by the Zeppelin airship was broken. "USSR V-6" spent 130.5 hours in the sky.

In February 1938, the USSR V-6 proved to be the only vehicle capable of reaching the polar explorers in distress as quickly as possible. Then the airship hovered in the sky above the ice floe, and, dropping the ropes, successfully lifted all the people on board.

Airships in the USSR were perspective view air transport. A nationwide gathering was organized at their building. Enthusiasts, patriots, brave and serious people were engaged in the design and construction of these devices.

The airships helped the Russian people a lot during the Great Patriotic War... Thanks to these "air ships" our aeronauts delivered high-precision and effective air strikes against the enemy, and also transported various military installations, hydrogen and aid products.

Airship - this is how the German word Luftschiffbau was literally translated, with which the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin named his first rigid airship, which opened the real era of aeronautics. V English language By the way, the airship is designated by the word airship, which literally in Russian means the same “airship. Subsequently, the name of the designer himself became a household name, and in Russian "zeppelin" is now almost a complete synonym for the French word "airship", just like "jacuzzi", for example, means a bathtub with hydromassage, no longer associated with a person's surname.

Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Photo: Public Domain

Graf Zeppelin, however, was by no means a pioneer in airship construction - three years before him, another German aeronautical pioneer had already launched an airship with a rigid structure. And the French began to develop airship building a couple of decades earlier. True, the design of their ships was fundamentally different from that proposed by Zeppelin.

Aeronautics fanatic

For the first time, the retired general of the German army Zeppelin expressed the idea of ​​the possibility of traveling by air using a huge sphere with a rigid frame, various compartments of which are filled with gas, back in 1874, making a corresponding entry in his diary. Then, however, he was primarily attracted by the opportunity to use airships for military purposes.

Later, he also emphasized military needs, sending endless letters to the first persons of the state. Those, consulting with other military men, each time responded to the enthusiast with a refusal. The other would probably just give up and give up. But Zeppelin was not like that. He began work on his first "airship" with his own money.

He did not give up after the first tests, which showed that the inventor's calculations underestimated the air resistance and interference that an ordinary breeze can introduce into the movement of the airship. Zeppelin did not give up here either - he began to siege the leading design bureaus with orders for more and more powerful engines that could compensate for the effects of air.

Gradually, seeing his first successes, the government began to show interest in the development of the count. He was even given scanty grants, which, however, still could not be compared with the amounts allocated for the design of airships by the inventor himself.

As a result, Zeppelin proved his case on July 2, 1900, demonstrating the first successful flight of the LZ-1 airship (Zeppelin Aircraft - 1).

Airship Zeppelin - 1. Photo: Public Domain

I would be in the sky

The first Zeppelin airship spent about 20 minutes in the air and, with the help of two engines manufactured by Daimler, managed to reach a speed of just over 21 kilometers per hour. It flew over the lake, making a fairly hard landing that caused minor damage.

The "injuries" of the zeppelin were quickly repaired, so that several more test flights could be carried out soon. However, the airship did not make a positive impression on the military, and they refused to continue to sponsor the Count's project.

But a dream is a dream. Zeppelin decides to improve his first model. To do this, he pawns his estate, his wife's jewelry and some other expensive things. Friends of the developer and the founder of the Daimler company, who sees a perspective in this industry, provide all possible help. Also on the side of the count remains the Kaiser of Germany. He does not give money directly, but allows him to earn about 120 thousand marks by approving the state lottery held by Zeppelin.

Zeppelin's models began to improve and grow, not only in the technical sense, but also in the literal sense. The length of the "belly" of the third airship exceeded 130 meters, and its speed already reached 50 kilometers per hour. All this made the military pay attention to the development of the graph and look at them from a slightly different angle.

As a result, airships were still recognized as a promising project. The Ministry of Defense allocated money for further development, but set tough tasks for the designer. So, his new ship had to be able to stay in motion for 24 days. At the same time, the flight range should not be less than 700 kilometers, and the speed of the vessel was supposed to be 65 kilometers per hour. As a result, airships rewrote all aeronautics records. The longest flight took place over 118 hours. The farthest flew more than 11 thousand kilometers, from Frankfurt am Main to Rio de Janeiro. And the maximum speed that the airship managed to develop was 140 kilometers per hour.

Airship building in Germany, which took the lead in this industry, began to develop at a rapid pace. Count Zeppelin's developments have found their application not only for military purposes. Airships were used to transport goods, transport people, promotions... The dimensions of the airships increased and grew in importance.

Photo: Public Domain

The impact of the airship boom can only be judged by the fact that the tallest building in the world at that time, the Empire State Building, was designed so that its huge spire could act as a mooring mast for giant zeppelins. The architects planned that the disembarkation of people could be carried out at the 102nd floor level. True, after the very first tests, it became clear that the strong wind would not allow passengers to calmly descend on the skyscraper, and the idea was quickly recognized as utopian. But she was, and this already says a lot.

It is the airship that belongs to the first round the world travel by air. Moreover, on this journey, the zeppelin (and it was the airship designed by the German count that set off on the way) made only three landings for refueling. The airships were the first to fly over the North Pole and many other inaccessible natural objects that no one could see or photograph from the air before.

Airships were actively used during the First World War and often even took part in battles. In some armies, military airships survived until World War II, but they were practically not used in hostilities due to the high degree of their vulnerability associated with navigation difficulties and gigantic size.

Photo: Public Domain

On September 10, 1930, one of the most famous and probably the most successful airship (judging by the number of kilometers traveled and flights made), the "Graf Zeppelin", named after its 90-year-old creator, visited Moscow, which was a significant event for the Soviet capital Cities.

Aerial "Titanic"

If airship building continued to develop at the same pace as at the beginning of the last century, it is quite possible that we would still use zeppelins everywhere today. These huge flying structures had undeniable advantages (mainly in terms of comfort) even when compared to modern aircraft. Losing, of course, in the speed of movement.

But on May 6, 1937, the irreparable happened - the largest airship in the history of mankind, the Hindenburg, crashed. The crown of creativity of Count Zeppelin, who was called the "Air Titanic", took off from Germany on May 3 and after 3 days, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he was supposed to make a successful landing in New York.

Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / CarolSpears

Everything went like clockwork, the 245-meter giant (for comparison, the length of the Titanic was not much more - 269 meters) arrived in the economic capital of the United States on time. The pilot even gave a gorgeous show to the residents of the Big Apple, navigating his boat at a minimum distance from the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building. The airship passengers could see those gathered on the observation deck, and even waved at them, receiving welcome signs in return.

After cruising over the city, the airship with 97 passengers on board headed to a suburb of New York to land. However, the ship's captain never received permission to land due to a storm warning. After waiting for the thunderstorm front in the air, the zeppelin finally began to descend. Just at this moment, a fire broke out in front of the airship. Soon the aircraft, all engulfed in flames thanks to the flammable hydrogen that filled its sections, crashed to the ground. Either the fire or injuries sustained in the fall killed 35 of the 97 passengers on board.

Photo: Public Domain

This incident led to the end of the era of air ships. The disaster was filmed with photo and video cameras. Shots scattered all over the world. The crash had such a resonance that soon all passenger flights in airships were canceled. The zeppelins continued to be used for the delivery of goods and some military purposes, but not for long.

A couple of years later, the largest airships were scrapped, although technology existed that could make flights safe. So, for example, instead of flammable hydrogen, helium could well be used. True, the United States, the only exporter of this gas on the planet at that time, refused to deliver to Germany. Because of this, the "Hindenburg", originally designed for helium, was converted to use hydrogen.

Also not clear are the reasons that led to the fire in the front of the "Hindenburg". The most popular version is the almost incredible coincidence of atmospheric conditions with the design flaws of the airship itself, which led to the ignition of hydrogen in one of the sections. But there is also a conspiracy theory, according to which in bow a zeppelin explosive device with a clockwork mechanism was placed. It supposedly was supposed to work at the moment when the airship had already landed and all the passengers left the deck. However, due to a delay in connection with a thunderstorm front, the clockwork allegedly worked at a time when people were still on board, which led to the tragedy.

The true reason has not yet been established, and now it is unlikely to ever be established. We can only regret that such a beautiful and convenient means of transportation around the planet is in the past.

Airships continue to be used these days, but mostly for advertising purposes.

Photo: Creative commons / AngMoKio

), which creates aerostatic lift. Propellers, rotated by engines, impart a forward speed of 60-150 km / h to the airship. The aft part of the hull has - stabilizers and. The airship body in flight creates an additional aerodynamic lifting force, thus the airship combines the performance characteristics of the balloon and the aircraft.

The airship is characterized by a large carrying capacity, flight range, the possibility of vertical take-off and landing, free drift in the atmosphere under the influence of air currents, long hovering over a given place. Attached to the lower part of the hull is (sometimes several gondolas), in which the control cabin, rooms for passengers and crew, fuel and various equipment are located. Airships usually fly at an altitude of up to 3000 m, in individual cases- up to 6000 m. The airship takes off as a result of dumping ballast, and descent - as a result of partial release of lifting gas. At parking, they are attached to special mooring masts or brought in for storage and maintenance. Airship frameworks are usually assembled from flat triangular or polyhedral trusses; can be made of cloth (impregnated for gas tightness) or from a polymer film, or assembled from thin metal sheets or plastic panels. The external volume of the airship (hull) is up to 250 thousand m³, length is up to 250 m, diameter is up to 42 m.

The first project of a controlled balloon was proposed in 1784 by J. Meunier (France). But only in 1852 the Frenchman A. Giffard, for the first time in the world, performed on an airship of his own design with a rotating steam engine. In 1883 G. Tissandier and his brother built an airship with a 1.1 kW electric motor, which received current from galvanic batteries. From the end. 19th century until the early 1990s. airships were built in Germany, France, USA, Great Britain, USSR. The largest airships LZ-129 and LZ-130 were created in Germany in 1936 and 1938. They had a volume of 217 thousand m3, four engines with a total capacity of 3240 and 3090 kW, developed a speed of up to 150 km / h and could carry up to 50 passengers over a distance of 16 thousand km.

Encyclopedia "Technics". - M .: Rosman. 2006 .

Airship

Aviation: An Encyclopedia. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia. Chief editor G.P. Svishchev. 1994 .

See what "airship" is in other dictionaries:

AIRJABLE, a lighter-than-air aircraft equipped with an engine and motion control system. A rigid airship, or zeppelin, has an internal spacer frame on which a fabric or aluminum alloy shell is fixed. Lifting ... ... Scientific and technical encyclopedic dictionary

airship- i, m. dirigeable m. 1.air. Aircraft lighter than air, equipped with motors and propellers, controlled balloon. Ush. 1934. The first aeronat, which managed to fly in the air, received the title of an airship ... not at all due to ... Historical Dictionary of Russian Gallicisms

Controlled balloon, airship, aircraft (Dirigible) an aircraft that is lighter than air (as opposed to an aircraft that is heavier than air). D. is kept in the air due to the fact that his body is filled with gas lighter than air ... Marine Dictionary

- (fr. controlled). Guided flying projectile. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. airship (fr. Dirigeable letters. Controlled) controlled balloon, New dictionary of foreign words. by EdwART, ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Balloon, zeppelin, balloon Dictionary of Russian synonyms. airship see balloon Dictionary of synonyms of the Russian language. Practical guide. M .: Russian language. Z.E. Aleksandrova. 2011 ... Synonym dictionary

Airship- Airship. An aircraft lighter than air, driven by a power plant ... Source: Order of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation of 12.09.2008 N 147 (as amended on 26.12.2011) On the approval of Federal Aviation Rules Requirements for crew members of air ... ... Official terminology

- (from the French dirigeable driven) driven aerostat with an engine. Has a streamlined body, one or more nacelles, tail. The first flight in a steerable balloon with a steam engine was made by H. Giffard (1852, France). Up to 50… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

AIRJABLE, airship, husband. (French dirigeable, literally controlled) (aviation). Aircraft lighter than air, equipped with motors and propellers, controlled balloon. Explanatory dictionary Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

AIRIZHABLE, me, husband. Powered by a controlled aerostat with a cigar-shaped body. | adj. airship, oh, oh. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

airship- A balloon moving in the atmosphere using power plant and controllable in altitude, direction, speed, range and flight duration. [FAP of March 31, 2002] Topics aviation regulations ... Technical translator's guide

AIRSHIP- an aircraft lighter than air with an engine and propellers for horizontal movement. The rudders are used to control in the horizontal plane. The movement in the vertical direction is regulated by the elevators, and large ... ... Big Polytechnic Encyclopedia

Books

• Martha and the Fantastic Airship, Nikolskaya A. Imagine that somewhere in the world next to us lives an amazing creature - a huge, shaggy, clawed and toothy. Fearfully? But in vain! After all, this creature is very kind, with the most gentle, sympathetic ...