ARC Prices

[David Morris]

OK, Rich:  Why are you holding out on the P-list with this *offlist* news?

http://www.raes.org.uk/raes/careers/education/education_lighterthanair.htm

In 1760 the scientist, Henry Cavendish, discovered and isolated a gas,
which was lighter than air. Cavendish called his discovery
"inflammable air" because it would burn very easily; we call his
discovery hydrogen. On 1 December 1783, Jacques-Alexandre Charles, a
French physicist, made the first flight in a hydrogen balloon. The
first real airship was the cigar-shaped, hydrogen balloon built by the
Frenchman, Henri Giffard, in 1852. Although Giffard's airship had a
small lightweight steam engine driving a propeller, and he managed to
fly 27 km from Paris to Trappes, it was unstable and underpowered.

In 1901, using a small petrol engine, Alberto Santos-Dumont, a
Brazilian living in France, flew his airship from St Cloud to Paris,
circled the Eiffel Tower, and returned to St Cloud. The petrol engine
was powerful enough and light enough to be a viable power source for
airship flight. We should also bear in mind that there were also
improvements in the design of propellers. The most important name in
airships is undoubtedly Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The German
aristocrat began experimenting with airships with the flight of his
LZ1 in September 1900. For the next seventeen years until his death in
1917, von Zeppelin continued to experiment with and improve his
airships and after his death his company continued his work.

At first airships were slow and cumbersome but as improvements were
made in engine technology and in streamlining, airship performance
improved. The airship Graf Zeppelin flew commercially from 1928
offering safety, luxury, comfort and reliability. In 1929 it completed
a 21-day round-the-world flight. It was many years before aeroplanes
took the place of Airships in commercial atlantic crossings.

The largest airship was the Hindenberg. It was 245m long, 41m in
diameter, and had a capacity of almost 200,000 cubic metres of
hydrogen. The Hindenberg made its first commercial flight from Germany
to America in 1937. Arriving at its landing site at Lakehurst, New
Jersey, the Hindenberg was only seconds away from completing its
voyage when it burst into flames and was completely destroyed, with
the loss of 35 lives. The shock and the horror of the loss of the
Hindenberg effectively marked the end of airships.



> > > --- rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > off list
> > > >
> > > > have a buddy who will be reviewing the book out on the west coast--he just got his ARC
> > > > this is the first line: "Now single up all lines!"
> > > > he told me the novel begins on a "hydrogen airship"
> > > > pretty cool, huh?
> > > >
> > > > rich