The History of Airships: From the Very First to 2027

The largest machine that has ever flown was gone in about 34 seconds. It was designed for a gas that cannot burn, yet it carried 200,000 cubic metres of hydrogen and a smoking room. Why? This is the whole story of the airship: the Montgolfier balloons of 1783, Giffard's steam airship, La France, Santos-Dumont's flight around the Eiffel Tower, Count Zeppelin's rigid giants, the bombing of London, Graf Zeppelin's flight around the world, the flying aircraft carriers USS Akron and USS Macon, the Hindenburg second by second, the mystery of the ghost blimp L-8, and the new airships of today, including Pathfinder 1. With 3D models, cutaways and real archive photos. Chapters: 0:00 Lakehurst, 6 May 1937 0:47 The first balloons (1783) 1:50 Meusnier's impossible design 2:12 Giffard's steam airship (1852) 3:04 La France: the first return flight (1884) 3:44 Santos-Dumont and the Eiffel Tower (1901) 5:06 Count Zeppelin's crazy idea 6:07 Echterdingen: the disaster that saved him 7:04 The Zeppelin war 8:50 How an airship works 10:50 The golden age 11:21 To the North Pole 11:51 Graf Zeppelin around the world 12:30 Flying aircraft carriers 12:55 The disasters: R101, Akron, Macon 14:04 The Hindenburg 14:38 Why hydrogen? 15:31 34 seconds: 6 May 1937 16:36 Why 62 people survived 17:41 After the fire: patrol blimps and the ghost blimp L-8 18:45 Goodyear, Zeppelin NT, CargoLifter 19:39 The return: Airlander, Flying Whales, Pathfinder 1 21:26 The whole journey Photo sources: Wikimedia Commons (public domain / CC0), U.S. Navy, Library of Congress, National Archives. Full list available on request. #airships #history #aviation #Hindenburg #documentary