Description:In the first decade of the twentieth century, the rigid airship looked more likely to be the future of air travel and transportation than the small, rather fragile airplane. Using a lifting gas enclosed within a metal or wooden framework, rigid airships could fly longer distances and carry more passengers or cargo. Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893-1940 examines the rise and decline of the airship by means of individual development histories of all the fifty types of airships built across four countries during a forty year period. Beginning with Count Ferdinand von Zeppelins first rigid airship, the book examines the role played by the rigid airship in both civil and military aviation.