Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“ While France was amusing herself with the clever little monoplanes and biplanes of the pioneer days—machines which could fly but a few yards at low altitude, Germany, possibly with the dream of world conquest tucked away in her mind, was sparing no expense to get ready her fleet of lighter-than-air craft. Imagine her chagrin when the feeble winged birds of 1908 and 1909 became the soaring eaglets of 1911, swiftly circling the sky, swooping, climbing and performing aerial tricks which made the larger and clumsier Zeppelin [124] appear as agile as a waddling duck. ”

“ Over and above the stimulus which Count Zeppelin's great endeavour has given to the aeronautical world, two special triumphs are his. He has shown balloonists how to make a perfectly gas-tight material, and has raised powerful petroleum motors in a balloon with safety. ”

“ They had justified the inventor’s faith and inspiration. He had [21] never abandoned his ideas of world transportation and was completing a survey of requirements and conditions to be met when, during a flight, he contracted inflammation of the lungs. Though mortally ill and old in years—he was seventy-eight—Count Zeppelin held conferences in his sick chamber, passing on to his assistants the big idea of airship transportation. They have since continued the work where Count Zeppelin left it. ”

“ Many vivid prophecies of the forthcoming flights by Zeppelin have been uttered, and it is quite probable that more than one will be fulfilled, but success will be attributable rather to accident than design. ”

“ This young officer was Count150 Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who was destined later to become the most famous aëronautic authority in the world and who lived to see Germany equipped with a fleet of balloons which were self-propelling and could travel over land and sea to spread German frightfulness into England. He also lived to see the virtual failure of this type of war-machine in the recent great conflict, and it was possibly because of his deep disappointment at having his huge expensive airships bested by cheap little airplanes that Count von Zeppelin died in March, 1917. ”

“ Zeppelin was hailed as a national hero, and more, for it was generally recognized that his great vehicles possessing such speed and durability were world travelers and as such would do much toward bringing all parts of the world together and thereby eliminating national borders—as far as trade, travel, and commerce were concerned, at least. ”

“ The successful flights of the series of magnificent Zeppelin airships have been marvellous in an age crowded with wonders. And the misfortune which has followed close upon their superb achievements 392 with complete destruction would long ago have undone a man of less energy and courage than the dauntless Count. ”

“ But while Count Zeppelin was experimenting with his ponderous leviathan air-ship, a kindred spirit, the young Brazilian, M. Santos-Dumont, was making experiments along similar lines, but with balloons that were 267mere cockle-shells as compared with the German monster. The young inventor had come to Paris from his home in South America backed by an immense fortune, and by a fund of enthusiasm, courage, and determination unsurpassed by any aerial experimenter in any age. ”

“ By this time inventive genius in all countries—save the United States which lagged in interest in dirigibles—was stimulated. Germany and France became the great protagonists in the struggle for precedence and in the struggle two figures stand out with commanding prominence—the Count von Zeppelin and Santos-Dumont, a young Brazilian resident in Paris who without official countenance consecrated his fortune to, and risked his life in, the service of aviation. ”

“ In November, 1917, the Zeppelin L-59 made a non-stop flight from Jambol, Bulgaria, to a point just west of Khartum in Africa and return to Jambol in 95 hours (4 days) covering a distance of 4225 miles and carrying more than 14 tons of freight besides a crew of 22, which performance remains a world’s record for all kinds of aircraft, airship or aeroplane. ”

“ You see the German Government has bought Count Zeppelin's air-ship or steerable balloon, as it ought to be called, always supposing that they can steer it in a wind, and of course their idea is to make a fighting machine of it. ”

“ Commencing in 1908 Zeppelin devoted his energies to perfecting aircraft. There were many epoch making achievements, not only the record flights and increasing efficiency and performance tests but continuous discoveries and inventions no less important and significant because they were for the time being accomplished within the walls of laboratory and factory. ”

“ The Zeppelin Organization and Facilities Today The Zeppelin organization today is prepared to build, deliver and operate rigid airships for any purpose. It has under contract virtually all the competent airship personnel in Germany. Practically all the engineering staffs and workmen employed in developing Zeppelins have been retained, one way or another, that they may be prepared to guarantee satisfactory performance of any Zeppelin turned out. ”

“ Already the name Zeppelin had received passing notice in French and English newspapers, but most people refused to believe reports of his inventions, and those of Santos-Dumont, concluding that they were both mad. Santos-Dumont, “the man who initiated the modern airship movement in France and made the first officially observed airplane flight in Europe,” flew around the Eiffel Tower and over the roofs and treetops of startled Paris in his small spherical balloons, propelled by gasoline motor, and in 1902 made flights over the Mediterranean. ”

“ But, fortunately for those of us who live in London, a Zeppelin is so huge and unwieldy that it can only be started with considerable difficulty, and it cannot alight and fly up again as can an aeroplane. Moreover, it requires an enormous shed for its protection when it is not in the air, for on land it is a very helpless machine. ”

“ Out of the giant shed the great grey nose of the Zeppelin came gliding into view, shining like some silver thing in the light of the electric lamps, the army of men who guided its movements looking like so many busy ants as the searchlights switched off the Aviatik and focused on the airship, evidently for their own guidance. ”

“ By this time Zeppelin, retired from the German army, had begun to devote himself to the study of dirigible construction, and, a year after Schwartz had made his experiment and had failed, he got together sufficient funds for the formation of a limitedliability company, and started on the construction of the first of his series of airships. The age of tentative experiment was over, and, forerunner of the success of the heavier-than-air type of flying machine, successful dirigible flight was accomplished by Zeppelin in Germany, and by Santos-Dumont in France. ”

“ Heavier-than-air machines have gradually popularized flying. Persons are riding by the air route in constantly increasing numbers, here and abroad. Their faith in commercial aviation is due solely to the BRAVE pioneering efforts of a few men of vision these last twenty years. Popularity and general use depends on the efficiency of the organizations which now carry on the work so well begun.
PLATE 59
Zeppelin Fountain at Friedrichshafen. ”

“ The young inventor shifted the movable planes and rudder, and, a moment later, the Butterfly swung violently around, like a polo pony taking a sudden turn after the ball. Mr. Damon slid to one side of his seat, and made a frantic grab for one of the upright supports.
"I made too short a turn!" cried Tom, easing off the craft, which righted itself in an instant. "The air currents fooled me."
Under his skillful guidance, the monoplane was soon slowly approaching the earth in a series of graceful curves. It was under perfect control, and a smile of relief came on the face of the young inventor. ”

“ The French army is thoroughly equipped with the swiftest monoplanes in Europe, and the French are wonderful aviators—skillful, fearless, and resourceful.
A DETACHMENT OF THE FRENCH AVIATION CORPS
PHOTO © BROWN BROS., N.Y.
One of Germany's Mammoth Zeppelins These great dirigible airships, hundreds of feet long, were invented and perfected by the aged Count Zeppelin. They are effective within a range of one thousand miles. The German Empire has unquestionably surpassed all its rivals in Europe in the thorough application of the inventions of modern science to the making of war. ”

“ One's first sight of the interior of a deflated Zeppelin—in an inflated one the bulging ballonettes obstruct the view considerably—is quite as impressive in its way as the premier survey of it from the outside. No 'tween decks prospect in the largest ship afloat, cut down as it is by bulkheads, offers a fifth of the unbroken sweep of vision that one finds opened before him as he [143] climbs up inside the tail of a modern airship. ”

“ And the propeller itself was one for which aviators would willingly have given a small fortune. But enough of such explanations. We live in a world of marvellous and incredible invention. The armchair [Pg 234] sceptic and unbeliever of to-day has his views and scepticism shattered almost before he was finished speaking. The marvels of the Zeppelin, acknowledged to be the last word in airship construction, were now overshadowed and belittled by the wonders of Joe Gresson's invention. The world was raving about the ship. ”

“ His impressions gained during the American Civil War, where he had the opportunity of making captive balloon ascensions, and also in the Franco-German War where he had the opportunity of watching the numerous balloons leaving Paris during the siege, no doubt, first originated in Zeppelin’s mind the thought of developing a large rigid airship. In fact, as early as 1873 he designed a large rigid airship, sub-divided into single compartments and he emphasized the importance of such aircraft for long distance transportation in order to help in the civilization of mankind. ”

“ Santos-Dumont was probably far from being the scientific student of balloon construction that Zeppelin was, but while his dirigibles did not attain a great speed or represent a tremendous advance in actual theory, his public performances served one great purpose, they aroused the ardor and enthusiasm of the whole French people and of many in other countries for the sport of ballooning. Santos-Dumont had great wealth, and a sportsman's courage. He constructed in all 14 dirigibles, each time seizing upon the experience he had gained and incorporating it into a new model, casting aside the old. ”

“ From then on, for several days, the young inventor and his new friend lived in an atmosphere of airships. They talked them from morning until night, and even Mr. Swift, much as he was exercised over his loss, took part in the discussions. ”

“ He appreciated more than any other man of the day perhaps, that if the commander-in-chief of an army were provided with facilities for gazing down upon the scene of operations, and were able to take advantage of all the information accruing to the man above who sees all, he would hold a superior position, and be able to dispose his forces and to arrange his plan of campaign to the most decisive advantage. In other words, Zeppelin conceived and developed his airship for one field of application and that alone-military operations. ”

“ But another airship, a true leviathan, had been growing into stately and graceful proportions on the shores of the Bodenzee in Wurtemberg, and was already on the eve of completion. Count Zeppelin, a lieut.-general in the German Army, who had seen service in the Franco-German War, had for some years devoted his fortune and energy to the practical study of aerial navigation, and had prosecuted experiments on a large scale. Eventually, having formed a company with a large capital, he was enabled to construct an airship which in size has been compared to a British man-of-war. ”

“ In time, perhaps, we shall have fleets of powerful aeroplanes which will be able to take the air and not merely rise swiftly to the height at which the Zeppelin flies, but remain aloft all night, if need be, until the dangers inseparable from a landing in the dark have disappeared. ”

“ At the time of this chronicle the status of interstellar flight was very similar to that of intercontinental jet-plane flight in the nineteen-sixties. Starships were designed by humanity's best brains; carried every safety device those brains could devise. ”

“ The young inventor, who had taken personal charge of piloting the big plane through the storm, that it might arrive on time, soon realized that he had his “work cut out for him,” as he said later. While it is not at all unusual for aeroplanes of even less power than the big ones Tom used to fly through storms, still there is always the element of danger.
But Tom’s Osprey had one advantage. Because of the heavy car slung below it, the center of gravity was thus made much lower than usual, and this served to keep the craft steady. ”

“ The German government paid $1,250,000 into the Zeppelin fund for experiments, and contributed a large sum in addition to the maintenance of a balloon corps. The German people showed themselves as proud of Count Zeppelin as the French were of Blériot, and the Americans of the Wrights.
The aviation week at Rheims was followed by other great airship meets in other countries. The Hudson-Fulton Celebration in New York in the autumn of 1909 was the occasion of new records in flying, and served to awaken Americans to a more intense interest in navigation of the air. ”

“ To the German mind their advent was an educational opportunity which must be followed up.
The procession wound up at the landing field where the visitors were shown all the latest improvements on the German dirigibles. New materials for frame construction, covering, and so forth, all under severe tests of every possible sort.
This airport was the home of the first Zeppelin. It was here that Count Zeppelin spent his time and energy; a wonderful old man, who defied age and went gallantly on, working, planning and constructing, until at last he had the great happiness of tasting success. ”