Airships by Nation

[KJ_Lesnick]

I'm curious how the British and Germans used their airships post WWI in a military-capacity?

The US Army & Navy seemed to use them for observation functions, the US Navy for scouting (they did toy with the idea of an airship aircraft carrier -- but the F9C's were largely scouts) and anti-submarine warfare.

I assume the Germans operated them under the Luftwaffe, did the British operate them solely under the RAF or Army & Navy?

[PR19_Kit]

Here's a good starter :-

http://www.airshipsonline.com/index.html

[KJ_Lesnick]

PR19_Kit

Thanks, I really appreciate it: It's interesting that the Imperial Airship scheme originally called for the ability to carry troops or even five aircraft.  I remember something about General Mitchell in the US seriously considering such an idea.

[KJ_Lesnick]

PR19_Kit

I'm curious if the Airships fell under the RAF control from 1918 on?

[PR19_Kit]

It's difficult to say, I've never seen anything that said one way or the other. Mind you, I've not looked too hard as it's not my area of interest.

UK airship crews even in the '30s were a mixture of Army, Navy and RAF ranks, so it looks as if they were under mixed control.

[AC787]

IIRC, Germany wouldn't have been able to use airships in any military capacity post-WWI as they were prevented from having an air force by the Treaty of Versailles. It would be very doubtful if Germany was allowed to keep any military airships operational after WWI. I understand that even having German companies build airships for the USN during the interwar period was met with significant opposition. You might be able to find more information at airships.net (sorry don't know how to insert link).

Also, first post!! 

[jcf]

At the Armistice, 11-11-1918, all airships were under RN control, control was transfered to the RAF
in October, 1919.
Buy a copy of Battlebags by Mowthorpe if you want the details.

www.amazon.com/Battlebags-British-Airships-Illustrated-History/dp/0750915188

[KJ_Lesnick]

PR19 Kit

It's difficult to say, I've never seen anything that said one way or the other. Mind you, I've not looked too hard as it's not my area of interest.

Yeah, most of my interest is in the area of fixed-wing aviation

UK airship crews even in the '30s were a mixture of Army, Navy and RAF ranks, so it looks as if they were under mixed control.

Fascinating


joncarrfarrelly

At the Armistice, 11-11-1918, all airships were under RN control, control was transfered to the RAF in October, 1919.

Thank you, so the fact that the crews consisted of Navy and Army personnel had to do with some kind of joint-service thing?

[lenny100]

a lot of the german airships were in fact operated by the navy not the air force which had very little interest in them. The navy saw them as the future warships replaceing the battleship in due course, they were right in a way but did not see the coming of the long range fixed wing aircraft

[KJ_Lesnick]

AC787

By the way: Congratulations on your first post


lenny100

a lot of the german airships were in fact operated by the navy not the air force which had very little interest in them. The navy saw them as the future warships replaceing the battleship in due course, they were right in a way but did not see the coming of the long range fixed wing aircraft

Correct, however if you really take it further: Consider the stuff you didn't mention

• Helicopters: Can takeoff and land vertically, hover over surfaces and drop troops in, and can land on surfaces most planes couldn't
  
• Wing in Ground Aircraft: Planes that can fly at low altitude by using the fact that vortex strength is much weaker when you're flying a certain proportion of your wingspan to the ground.  The Russians were developing high-speed attack craft with cruise missiles and the works.  For one reason or another, it hasn't been pursued by most nations.  If I was to guess with nothing on the table, I'd speculate it would cross too many boundaries with land-based and sea-based operations.
  
• Space-Based Weapons: The Nazi's were proposing a huge parabolic lens which could basically focus the power of the sun on cities, armed forces, and anything and effectively kill at the push of a button; we proposed a lenticular space-bomber; maneuvering re-entry vehicles were proposed, and now we even have rods-from-god, and space-based laser concepts
  

Scary world indeed!

[KJ_Lesnick]

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