It is just twenty-one years ago since Count
Zeppelin, regardless of public ridicule, commenced building his
rigid airships, and in that time such enormous strides were made
that Germany, at the outbreak of the war, was ahead of any other
country in building the large airship.
In 1908 Italy joined the pioneers, and as regards the semi-rigid
is in that type still pre-eminent. Great Britain, it is rather
sad to say, adopted the policy of "wait and see," and, with the
exception of a few small ships described in the two succeeding
chapters, had produced nothing worthy of mention before the
outbreak of the great European war. She then bestirred herself,
and we shall see later that she has produced the largest fleet of
airships built by any country and, while pre-eminent with the
non-rigid, is seriously challenging Germany for the right to say
that she has now built the finest rigid airship.
FRANCE
To revert to early history, in the same year in which Brisson
read his paper before the Academy, the Duke of Chartres gave the
order for an airship to the brothers Robert, who were mechanics
in Paris. This ship was shaped like a fish, on the supposition
that an airship would swim through the air like a fish through
water. The gas-chamber was provided with a double envelope, in
order that it might travel for a long distance without loss of
gas.
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