Invulnerable airship recon WW1?

Assuming pre 1920 tech could an airship crew have been supplied with oxygen and heated suits and an airship fly at 30 000+ and thus be invulnerable either to fighters or to gun fire from the gound.

I am imagining such a craft would not be easy to manouver for the crew because of limits on using hands with the suits but could take picture.

Probably very inaccurate for bombing too
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Assuming pre 1920 tech could an airship crew have been supplied with oxygen and heated suits and an airship fly at 30 000+ and thus be invulnerable either to fighters or to gun fire from the gound.

I am imagining such a craft would not be easy to manouver for the crew because of limits on using hands with the suits but could take picture.

Probably very inaccurate for bombing too

Zeppelins got to 20K feet in WW1, so as long as their is heated suits & O2 mask, sure it sounds doable, but if someone develops them, them another side probably pushes for higher altitude fighters, better AA guns. A Zeppelin at 20K plus is a limited use weapon that does not work too near enemy airpower, but I could see some uses such as:

1) A few at Pearl harbor each day during the daylight for visual protection, the range at that high is several hundred miles.

2) Zeppelins could carry 10,000 + pounds in WW1, so if a radar can be made that size, you could get truly impressive radar coverage.

3) Maybe used in something like battle of Britain to provide raid warning, but it would consume a lot of fighter protection.

4) Intel ship. If the gear is light enough, Zeppelin recording radio messages in the Pacific might be very useful. I can see Zeppelins over safe US controlled air space, recording Japanese naval tactics.

The only reason to get Zeppelin, Blimps that high is to make a little harder to intercept, and for some job that takes altitude.
 
Zeppelins got to 20K feet in WW1, so as long as their is heated suits & O2 mask, sure it sounds doable, but if someone develops them, them another side probably pushes for higher altitude fighters, better AA guns. A Zeppelin at 20K plus is a limited use weapon that does not work too near enemy airpower, but I could see some uses such as:

1) A few at Pearl harbor each day during the daylight for visual protection, the range at that high is several hundred miles.

2) Zeppelins could carry 10,000 + pounds in WW1, so if a radar can be made that size, you could get truly impressive radar coverage.

3) Maybe used in something like battle of Britain to provide raid warning, but it would consume a lot of fighter protection.

4) Intel ship. If the gear is light enough, Zeppelin recording radio messages in the Pacific might be very useful. I can see Zeppelins over safe US controlled air space, recording Japanese naval tactics.

The only reason to get Zeppelin, Blimps that high is to make a little harder to intercept, and for some job that takes altitude.

Not to rain on your parade, but the OP specifies WW1. I'm not sure Pearl Harbour was at risk from the Central Powers in that period.
 

BlondieBC

Banned
Not to rain on your parade, but the OP specifies WW1. I'm not sure Pearl Harbour was at risk from the Central Powers in that period.

Well, I read pre-1920 as the interwar period, he said pre-1920 technology, not pre-1920 usage. I was thinking more in terms of the Zeppelins being war reparations, then being slightly modified. I can see the USA or UK taking them as war reparations, but not spending a lot on R&D. A lot of the naval ships used in early WW2 were basically WW1 level technology.

For the WW1 period, they were great Naval assets, but poor choices for anything over land. It was 1917 before the first naval zeppelin was lost to naval aviation, and I think that ship had a ceiling of 5K to 8K feet. So for naval usages, 20,000 feet has a pretty low risk profile. Coal fire ships, especially in fleets are easy to see in clear weather due to the coal dust clouds.
 
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