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A rigid airship was a type of airship
Airship

An airship or dirigible is a aerostat that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust. Unlike other aerodynamics aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing, or airfoil, through the air, aerostatic aircraft, such as airships and Balloon , stay...
 in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure
Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied to an object in a direction surface normal to the surface. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure....
 of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimp
Blimp

Blimp can refer to:* a Blimp as opposed to a rigid airship * a slang term for a person considered to be conservative due to ignorance, after the cartoon character Colonel Blimp...
s and semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, occasionally flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope....
s.

Rigid airships were produced and relatively successfully employed from the beginning of the 1900s to the end of the 1930s, but their heyday ended when the Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg

LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large Germany commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class airship, the largest flying machines of any kind ever built....
 exploded
Hindenburg disaster

The Hindenburg disaster took place on May 6 1937 as the German rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed within one minute while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station which is located adjacent to the Lakehurst, New Jersey in Manchester, New Jersey....
 on May 6, 1937.
ough "rigid airship" is the proper formal term, these aircraft
Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to flight by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere, of a planet. Examples include balloons, airplanes and helicopters....
 are often referred to in casual use by several other names such as dirigibles, zeppelin
Zeppelin

For the English rock group, please see Led Zeppelin. For other meanings please see Zeppelin .A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century, based on designs he had outlined in 1874, designs he had detailed in 1893, and that were reviewed by committee in 1894, which h...
s (after the most successful ships of this type built by the Zeppelin Company
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a Germany company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type....
) or the big rigids.

874 several people had conceived of a rigid dirigible (in contrast to non-rigid powered airships which had been flying since 1852).






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Uss Shenandoah Bau
A rigid airship was a type of airship
Airship

An airship or dirigible is a aerostat that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust. Unlike other aerodynamics aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, which produce lift by moving a wing, or airfoil, through the air, aerostatic aircraft, such as airships and Balloon , stay...
 in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure
Pressure

Pressure is the force per unit area applied to an object in a direction surface normal to the surface. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the local atmospheric or ambient pressure....
 of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimp
Blimp

Blimp can refer to:* a Blimp as opposed to a rigid airship * a slang term for a person considered to be conservative due to ignorance, after the cartoon character Colonel Blimp...
s and semi-rigid airship
Semi-rigid airship

Semi-rigid airships are airships with a partial framework. These often consist of a rigid, occasionally flexible, keel frame along the long axis under the aerodynamic hull envelope....
s.

Rigid airships were produced and relatively successfully employed from the beginning of the 1900s to the end of the 1930s, but their heyday ended when the Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg

LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large Germany commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class airship, the largest flying machines of any kind ever built....
 exploded
Hindenburg disaster

The Hindenburg disaster took place on May 6 1937 as the German rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed within one minute while attempting to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station which is located adjacent to the Lakehurst, New Jersey in Manchester, New Jersey....
 on May 6, 1937.

Terminology

Although "rigid airship" is the proper formal term, these aircraft
Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to flight by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere, of a planet. Examples include balloons, airplanes and helicopters....
 are often referred to in casual use by several other names such as dirigibles, zeppelin
Zeppelin

For the English rock group, please see Led Zeppelin. For other meanings please see Zeppelin .A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century, based on designs he had outlined in 1874, designs he had detailed in 1893, and that were reviewed by committee in 1894, which h...
s (after the most successful ships of this type built by the Zeppelin Company
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a Germany company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type....
) or the big rigids.

Early days

By 1874 several people had conceived of a rigid dirigible (in contrast to non-rigid powered airships which had been flying since 1852). Frenchman Joseph Spiess had published a rigid airship proposal in 1873 but failed to get funding. Count Zeppelin
Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf von Zeppelin also called Count Zeppelin) was a German aircraft manufacturer, the founder of the Zeppelin Airship company....
 had outlined his thoughts of a rigid airship in diary entries from 25 March 1874 through to 1890 when he resigned from the military. David Schwarz
David Schwarz (aviation inventor)

David Schwarz a Croatia aviation pioneer of Jewish ancestry.Schwarz created the first flyable rigid airship. It was also the first airship with an external hull made entirely of metal....
 had thought about building an airship in the 1880s and had likely started design work in 1891, definitely by 1892 he was starting construction. It was not until after Schwarz's death in 1897 that his all-aluminium airship, built with help from with Carl Berg
Carl Berg (airship builder)

Carl Berg was a German people entrepeneur and airship builder.Berg came from a commercial iron-works family. His great grandfather founded a button-making factory on 1786 in L?denscheid....
 and the Prussian Airship Battalion, was test flown. Schwarz and Berg had an exclusive contract and Count Zeppelin
Ferdinand von Zeppelin

Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf von Zeppelin also called Count Zeppelin) was a German aircraft manufacturer, the founder of the Zeppelin Airship company....
 was obliged to come to a legal agreement with Schwarz's heirs to obtain aluminium from Carl Berg, although the two men's designs were different and independent from each other. With Berg's aluminum, Zeppelin was able in 1899 to start building and, in 1900 July, to fly the Zeppelin LZ1
Zeppelin LZ1

The Zeppelin LZ1 was the first truly successful experimental rigid airship, first flown from a floating hangar on Lake Constance, near Friedrichshafen in southern Germany, at 20:03 on 2 July 1900....
.

Great Britain


Great Britain and the USA lagged behind Germany in rigid airship technology. According to a 2001 PBS documentary, much of Britain's knowledge was based on reverse engineered technology from World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 German zeppelin
Zeppelin

For the English rock group, please see Led Zeppelin. For other meanings please see Zeppelin .A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship pioneered by the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th century, based on designs he had outlined in 1874, designs he had detailed in 1893, and that were reviewed by committee in 1894, which h...
 crashes. After several crashes of experimental airships, the British ceded this field to the Germans.

France

France's only rigid airship was built by Alsation
Alsace

Alsace is the fourth-smallest of the 26 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the sixth-most densely populated region in France , with 222 inhabitants per km? ....
 Joseph Spieß using a wooden framework and it flew on 1913-04-13. It was 146 metre long, with a diameter of 13.5 metre and a gas volume of 16,400 cubic metres.

Germany


United States


Production

As well as the Zeppelin Company
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a Germany company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type....
, Schütte-Lanz
Schütte-Lanz

Sch?tte-Lanz is the name of a series of rigid airships designed and built by the Luftschiffbau Sch?tte-Lanz company from 1909 until the last LS22 delivered in 1917....
 also manufactured them. Both America
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Britain have manufactured rigid airships at some point.

Some famous rigid airships

  • R34, British airship and the first aircraft to traverse the Atlantic Ocean
    Atlantic Ocean

    The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions; with a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres . It covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface....
     from east to west, in 1919.
  • USS Shenandoah
    USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)

    USS Shenandoah was the first of four United States Navy rigid airships. She was built from 1922 to 1923 at Lakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September, 1923....
    , American naval airship which served the U.S. Navy from 1923 until its crash in Ohio
    Ohio

    Ohio is a Midwestern United States U.S. state of the United States. As part of the Great Lakes region , Ohio has long been a cultural and geographical crossroads in North America....
     in 1925.
  • R38 (ZR-2), British airship intended to join the American naval fleet, but crashed during testing in 1921.
  • USS Los Angeles
    USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)

    The second USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, that was built in 1923-1924 by the Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it was originally designated LZ-126....
    , German airship sold to the United States in 1924 as part of German reparations from World War I
    World War I

    World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
    . The ship served with distinction from 1924 to 1931.
  • LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin
    LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin

    LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a large German passenger carrying rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the Germany pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who held the rank of Graf or Count in the German nobility....
    , German passenger airship designed and piloted by Hugo Eckener
    Hugo Eckener

    Dr. Hugo Eckener was the head of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in the inter-war years, and was commander of the famous LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin on most of its record setting flights, including the first airship flight to the Arctic and the first airship flight around the world, making him by far the most successful airship commander in histor...
    . It circumnavigated the globe in 1929 and had a spotless safety record. It was ultimately dismantled by the Nazis at the outset of World War II
    World War II

    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
    .
  • R-100, British airship built by the Airship Guarantee Company, a private company created solely for the construction of this airship, as a subsidiary of the armaments firm, Vickers.
  • R-101, British airship designed and built by the British government in a kind of competition with the R-100. The R-101 crashed on its maiden flight in 1930 in France, with considerable loss of life. Its crash effectively ended British participation in rigid airship construction.
  • USS Akron
    USS Akron (ZRS-4)

    For information on the 1911 airship constructed by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, also called the Akron, see Melvin Vaniman.USS Akron was a rigid helium-filled airship of the United States Navy that crashed off the New Jersey coast early on 4 April 1933, killing 73 crew and passengers....
    , American naval airship designed and built by the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company
    Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

    The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling. Today it is the third largest tire company in the world after Bridgestone and Michelin....
     in Ohio in 1931. Deployed as an airborne aircraft carrier, it was lost at sea in a storm off New Jersey
    New Jersey

    New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
     in 1933 with considerable loss of life.
  • USS Macon
    USS Macon (ZRS-5)

    USS Macon was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Navy for Reconnaissance. It served as a Airborne aircraft carrier, launching F9C Sparrowhawk....
    , sister ship to the Akron, it was a near carbon-copy of her. Though it suffered only 2 deaths, its crash in 1935 off the coast of California
    California

    California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
     ended American participation in rigid airship development.
  • LZ 129 Hindenburg
    LZ 129 Hindenburg

    LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large Germany commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class airship, the largest flying machines of any kind ever built....
    , German passenger airship also designed and built by Hugo Eckener. The airship was lost in a famous fire in New Jersey
    New Jersey

    New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north by New York, on the east by the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean, on the southwest by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania....
     in 1937. With its end went the end of the age of the Great Rigid Airships.


Modern rigids

There are no rigid airships flying today. The Zeppelin company refers to their NT
Zeppelin NT

Zeppelin NT is a class of airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH in Friedrichshafen....
 ship as a rigid but this is a misnomer. The envelope shape is retained in part by super-pressure of the lifting gas, and so the NT is more correctly classified as a semi-rigid.

See also

  • List of Zeppelins
    List of Zeppelins

    This is a complete list of Zeppelins constructed by the original Germany Zeppelin companies from 1900 until 1938. Other types of rigid airships that are also sometimes referred to as zeppelins are not included....
  • List of Schütte-Lanz rigid airships
    Schütte-Lanz

    Sch?tte-Lanz is the name of a series of rigid airships designed and built by the Luftschiffbau Sch?tte-Lanz company from 1909 until the last LS22 delivered in 1917....
  • List of Parseval semi-rigid and non-rigid airships
    Parseval airships

    The name Parseval, from August von Parseval, was used between 1909 and 1919 to denote 22 airships built by the Luft-Fahrzeug-Gesellschaft following his design....
  • Airship hangar
    Airship hangar

    Airships are sheltered in airship hangars during construction and sometimes also for regular operation, particularly at bad weather conditions. The big historic, rigid airships needed always to be based in airship hangars because weather protection was crucial for them....