Throughout aviation history, what airships were built with metal skin instead of fabric or other material?
Asked
Active
Viewed 789 times
8
-
10There was a wooden airship. Everyone was very excited about it, but it wooden fly. – Richard Jan 21 '18 at 19:57
-
2@Richard: If I were you I wooden tell that joke anymore. – Fred Larson Jan 22 '18 at 18:43
-
3@FredLarson - I should leaf now before I tell acorny joke. – Richard Jan 22 '18 at 18:49
-
1@Richard: I saw what you did there, and it really goes against the grain. But I think your bark is worse than your bite. – Fred Larson Jan 22 '18 at 19:01
-
1@FredLarson - We should stop this now before the moderators take a fence. – Richard Jan 22 '18 at 19:15
-
1@Richard: Agreed, because Stack Exchange hates fun. But thanks anyway! – Fred Larson Jan 22 '18 at 19:20
3 Answers
11
At least two all-metal airships are known to have existed, the first one invented by David Schwarz, and test-flown in Tempelhof, in 1897. It flew, but crashed when landing.
Another one, a really successful and better known aircraft, was an American airship, the ZMC-2, that first flew in 1929.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Schwarz_(aviation_inventor)
xxavier
- 11,071
- 3
- 29
- 72
3
There is a metal airship currently being built by an Englishman in France, called the VariaLift. https://www.varialift.com/
The specifications are as follows:
Mark Jones Jr.
- 1,710
- 1
- 12
- 32
Dean Arnett
- 31
- 1
-
2Welcome to Aviation! While this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Maybe you could include an image and a couple more details about it? – CalvT Jan 22 '18 at 13:51
-
1"metal airship currently being built by an Englishman". While it was expected the first prototype should have been ready last summer, it seems they are still building the hangar. – mins Jan 22 '18 at 19:13
-
It doesnt need a hangar. If youre looking at photos of a hangar shaped structure - thats the airship frame - the build it outdoors in sections on a production line. Theres no hangar, just assembly sheds and they are old WW2 buildings which are still in place. – Dean Arnett Jan 23 '18 at 16:55
3
There was no stipulation on whether the airship had to carry anybody. This Myth Buster experiment successfully flew a very large LEAD balloon (30-50ft dia).
jwzumwalt
- 11,461
- 8
- 52
- 91