The
Prussian steam 'zeppelin' gets its name from its inventor, Graf (Count)
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a man who has been fascinated all his life with
flight. A military observer in the United States of America during
their Civil War, he soon joined the Union Army's Observer Corps, which
employed hot air balloons to observe enemy forces.
After observing the use of a hand-cranked propellor aboard a captured Confederate submarine-boat, he suggested a similar but larger propellor for the hitherto unpowered balloons. With this change and the adoption of a teardop-shaped balloon, the first union Air Corps was established; the Confederacy soon followed suite and adopted the 'Zeppelin ballon'. The Count and his research team then progressed to using internal frames and employing hydrogen to provide lift to their creations.
After
the war, the Count returned to Prussia and continued experimenting with
hydrogen as a lifting medium, and with an internal frame (see picture).
His relentless work and ability to learn from mistake allowed him to establish
a working combination of frame, gas and engine to produce an airworthy
craft.
His work attracted the attention of Chancellor Otto von Bismark, who was seeking a parry to the recently formed Bavarian Aeronavy and its Airships. He devoted funding and manpower to the Count's research project, and named him head of the newly formed Luftwaffen Corps. The Count is currently working on finding a better means of propulsion for his 'zeppelins', one that will be a more serious match for the Sorcerous Engines of Bayern.
Although this is rarely acknowledged by Bayern, it is probable that Count von Zeppelin's long-time interest and work at least inspired the creation of the Bavarian airships.
The
cigar-shaped gas envelope is mounted over an aluminum frame (replacing
the earlier bamboo frame) and supports a light-weight wooden structure.
Power is supplied by an alcohol-fuelled boiler and steam engine (see
picture) to replace the hand-crank used in the American Civil War's 'Zeppelin
ballon'. The newer models produced under Imperial funding carry a
bomb rack for offensive capacity.
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Note: The actual LZ-1 didn't look anything like
it does in New Europa, since it didn't have an external gondola or bomb
rack. Go visit the site mentioned above, or The
First Zeppelins if you want to see the real thing. In addition,
the good Count's brainchild is about 30 years early in New Europa...