WI: Zepplins/Airships are never deveolped

[Boom22]

I think the title says it all.

[mowque]

Other then this forum having one less cliche...

Not sure, faster development of planes?

[Just Leo]

One less cliche, one less obsession, and thousands of people throughout history trying to figure out how to get balloons to steer.

[karl2025]

Blasphemer!

Burn the heretic!

[robertp6165]

Blasphemer!

Burn the heretic!

Yes, he has rather broken one of the cardinal rules of alternate history, hasn't he?

There shall be airships. Preferably Zeppelins. And if you can power them by steam, so much the better.

[The Kiat]

Blasphemer!

Burn the heretic!


That is so 14th Century. Now days, we send in the monkey inquisition. But alas, I'm not going to. No airship, big deal. I guess that abolishes steampunk.

[David S Poepoe]

One thing that I did learn in reading about airships, and is part of their continued fascination, is that their lift is virtually free compared with that of aircraft.

[XNM]

Alternate history nerds will obsess with something else. Steampunk will lose a major selling point.

[Geekhis Khan]

Blasphemy aside (:p), this may have bigger effects than people think, at least in the short term. Zep travel in the 20's and 30's, due to the ships' low ceiling and susceptibility to weather and wind patterns (but without the early airplanes' dangerous vulnerabilities to them), proved a major OTL pathfinder for Transatlantic travel by being the first to detail the Atlantic air weather. This played a very important role in establishing viable Transatlantic air travel by the 30s. Without the Zep co. weather maps we may see Transatlantic flight delayed a decade or more as airplanes contend with establishing these in a much more risky manner. Transoceanic passenger air travel is definitely delayed, possibly even to the 50s.

There's some detail on the role of Zeps in weather mapping here (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Holiday-Delivery-From-the-Graf-Zeppelin.html) in the Smithsonian Mag.

[Kaiphranos]

I'm pretty sure that violates the Second Law of Alternate History: history may only be changed if it results in an increase in zeppelins.

(What's the First Law? Your guess is as good as mine...)

[Geekhis Khan]

Alternate history nerds will obsess with something else.

Flying Boats!!! :D

[Hapsburg]

I think the title says it all.

Impossible. Airships are too awesome to not be invented.