This was recently shown on the ABC as a three-episode series and I stumbled on to the last episode one night while flicking channels. I was interested enough to bid for and receive the DVD to review and I am glad I did. This is one of those interesting programs that provides information in an engrossing way, using footage from the earliest days of rigid dirigibles to show just how big some of these monsters were and how dangerous they could be.

In some ways the show focuses on the efforts of Count von Zeppelin, a German Army Officer who had been forced to resign his post after criticising his superiors (and can?t we all associate with that). He was determined to build a weapon that would give Germany a significant advantage in War and saw the airships as that vehicle. A surprising amount of footage has survived from those early days and actually re-living some of the key events as they occurred is used to excellent effect throughout the series.

The first episode takes us back to the late 19th century when von Zeppelin started on his quest, inspired by the French and their use of balloons as an information gathering tool in War. A French dirigible was the first lighter than air craft to take off and return to the same spot, an action that balloons, with their movement subject to the whim of the winds, could never hope to accomplish. On July 1, 1900 von Zeppelin?s first flight in a hydrogen filled rigid dirigible took place but a lack of funds stalled progress almost immediately. It wasn?t until 1908, when trying to take up the challenge of a 24 hour flight in a dirigible that the concept caught the attention and imagination of the German public and their donations began to make the development of airships into a commercially viable concept a real possibility.

By 1909 airships were transporting the rich on joy flights and by the outbreak of World War One in 1914 the German Army had 8 airships at their disposal. I never knew that the Germans used the Zeppelins, as they became known, to bomb London and other parts of the UK, but I do now. I also know that the improvements in British planes and the introduction of incendiary bullets made the use of the airships too hazardous to continue. But the idea of being the guy who was lowered from the Zeppelin, flying above the cloud, down far enough to see the target and to telephone instructions on when to drop bombs, isn?t one that appeals at all. Have a look at this particular bit and I think you will agree that these guys were very, very brave.

At the end of the War the Zeppelins were confiscated as part of the War reparations and with the death of von Zeppelin in 1917 management of the company had passed to Hugo Eckener. Reduced to making pots and pans by harsh conditions imposed by Allies in the Treaty of Versailles, the company still wanted to be in the airship business and Eckener, a master publicist, was able to turn the company back to what it did best over time. With the United States Navy taking an interest in the intelligence capabilities of the airships their success was assured in the short term, especially as the Americans were able to fill their dirigibles with the safer helium gas.

After the War the US Navy?s Shenandoah was the largest airship around but it crashed in severe weather in 1919, severely hampering the use if its sister ship the Los Angeles. The Italians then became leaders in semi-rigids, even forming an association with the famous Norwegian explorer Raould Amundsen that took Amundsen to the North Pole to become the first man to have reached both. But another flight ended in disaster when the airship was forced down. A massive search found the wreckage and saved most of the crew but Amundsen was lost on board search plane that never returned. By 1928 some of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles were lifted and the Zeppelin Company went back to making airships, launching the famous Graf Zeppelin. This ship went o to circumnavigate the globe, the first aircraft to do so and an event that was seen as the most significant aviation event of the era. A British attempt to join the airship race ended in disaster when the R101 crashed in France on its way to India, effectively ending the British airship industry.

In the 1930s airships were all the rage and the Graf Zeppelin, with Eckener at the helm both in a pilot and publicist sense, continued to capture the imagination. There were setbacks for the industry though as the two American airships Akron and Macon both crashed in heavy weather, virtually leaving the industry to the Germans. In 1936 the 800 foot long Hindenburg was launched in an attempt to capture the air passenger market. But in attempting to prove the reliability of the airship the Hindenburg tried to land in inclement weather in New York, but crashed and burned, forever damaging the image of airships. The graphic newsreel footage and the heart rending accompanying commentary spelled the death-knell of the airship as a competitor to the ever improving airplane.

At the outbreak of World War Two the Graf Zeppelin was melted down for scrap to make bombers for the Luftwaffe, effectively spelling the end of the industry in Germany. While some blimps served well during the War as anti-submarine escorts the introduction of the jet-engine was the last straw. The show ends with some ideas about how airships might be used even today, as either transport vehicles capable of lifting huge weights, or as tourist vehicles or as anti-missile units.

This is one of those programs that offer historic information in a form that is interesting and informative. I didn?t know a great deal about airships until I saw it and I must admit I found it quite fascinating. I was astonished at how big they were, that they had circumnavigated the world in the 30s and that they lasted so long as an opponent to the airplane. More engrossing is the idea of the bravery of those who flew and flew in them, knowing they were aboard a huge potential bomb. I am not so sure I would have gotten aboard.

THE EXTRAS

None, but you don?t really need them.

CONCLUSION

From 1890 right through to the 1930s airships were a significant player in aviation history. The three-part series explores the airship form its earliest days to today and beyond. It is a fascinating story that is informative and engrossing.