Earlier, and longer, Zeppelin hey-day?

Okay, this might be a dumb suggestion, but that's never stopped me before.

So I like zeppelins, quite a lot. But frankly, there was only a very brief span of time when they might've had any significant utility at all, before being absolutely eclipsed by airplanes. I wonder if we might expand that span of viability.

Heavier-than-air craft were quite impracticable until internal combustion engines of a certain power-to-weight ratio became available.

Rigid airships aren't quite so weight-limited.

If we see somewhat earlier, more assiduous development of lighter-weight, "flash" boilers, couldn't rigid airships use these for motive power, even though they'd still be impractical for heavier-than-air craft?

With an earlier practical (for rigid airships only!) power source, and perhaps some earlier articulation of the rigid airship design concept, could we see "zeppelins" being used fairly widely by the later 1880's?

Sure, I know -- even if this is plausible, rigid airships are still touchy and accident-prone beasts. But if we have thirty or so years in which they are the only viable means of air travel... well, we could have a lot of fun with that!
 
Maybe like a cruise ship where slow, luxurious travel is the point, except a zeppelin can carry far fewer people.

Maybe focusing on the one or two key, doable aspects of safety, instead of making an ineffectual show of safety. Which happens in so many areas, don't know whether it happened with zeppelins.

And then flat out getting lucky and not having a Hindenburg-type disaster until much later, if at all!
 

Driftless

Donor
How about an earlier transatlantic flight, such as the R-34 airship in July of 1919? It's a footnote now days as the flight occured after Alcock & Brown made their crossing in the HTA Vickers Vimy about a month earlier. Perhaps if there was either a delayed WW1, or no war at all, then an early crossing by a zeppelin or a British airship might have captured the public's imagination (and funding...)
 
I am writing ,sortoff a series of books that include Zeppelins being used as a sort of cruise ship that can go from say New York fly around the city for a day pointing out all the sights .
Then go across the Atlantic to Africa where you see huge herds of animals and vast Savannah .Before finishing in some European city and hanging out over it for a few days .
Admitt it much cooler than a modern cruise ship from OTL .
The airships IMTL are developed during the interwar period of 1919-1939 as the first large passenger aircraft .
 
I am writing ,sortoff a series of books that include Zeppelins being used as a sort of cruise ship that can go from say New York fly around the city for a day pointing out all the sights .
Then go across the Atlantic to Africa where you see huge herds of animals and vast Savannah .Before finishing in some European city and hanging out over it for a few days .
Admitt it much cooler than a modern cruise ship from OTL .
The airships IMTL are developed during the interwar period of 1919-1939 as the first large passenger aircraft .

That would probably be the most financially viable way to have passengers on an airship. They could fly through a lot of scenic areas, for example; take off from LA or Vegas and fly by the Grand Canyon. It would never replace airplanes but could have a customer base.
 
That would probably be the most financially viable way to have passengers on an airship. They could fly through a lot of scenic areas, for example; take off from LA or Vegas and fly by the Grand Canyon. It would never replace airplanes but could have a customer base.

Yes my thought was with no Hindenburg disaster the 30`s are dominated by Zeppelins .After WWII there are alot of runways which means that fixed wing aircraft can now dominate the passenger lanes so the owners of the Zeppelins turned to tourism rather than simply carrying people from point A to point B
 
In have a idea for a Timeline where urbanization and cities are much more higher, something mix Art-Deco and Future Concepts, and Zeppelins are used as public transport link the various levels of skyscrapers. They are rigid constructed and powered by fusion power reactors. Only some ideas...
 
If we see somewhat earlier, more assiduous development of lighter-weight, "flash" boilers, couldn't rigid airships use these for motive power, even though they'd still be impractical for heavier-than-air craft?

If you are using steam for power you could also theoretically use it for lift and save on condensers.
 

Driftless

Donor
If you are using steam for power you could also theoretically use it for lift and save on condensers.

Interesting! I have a book that I've been meaning to read :eek:: "Steam In the Air" by Maurice Kelly that examines historical use of steam power for aircraft.
 
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