The colossal craft
broke its back before it ever ventured into the air, and this
solitary experience proving so disastrous, the rigid form of
construction was abandoned once and for all. The venture was not
in vain; it brought home to the British authorities more
convincingly than anything else that the Zeppelin was a
mechanical monstrosity. The French never even contemplated the
construction of such a craft at that time, estimating it at its
true value, and the British failure certainly served to support
French antagonism to the idea. Subsequently, however, an attempt
at rigid construction was made in France with the "Spiess"
airship, mainly as a concession to public clamour.
Even in Germany itself the defects of the Zeppelin were
recognised and a decided effort to eliminate them was made by
Professor Schutte in co-operation with a manufacturer of
Mannheim named Lanz. The joint product of their ambitions, the
Schutte-Lanz, is declared to be superior to the Zeppelin, but so
far it has failed to justify any of the claims of its designers.
This vessel, which also favours the colossal, is likewise of the
rigid type, but realising the inherent dangers accruing from the
employment of metal for the framework, its constructors have used
wood, reinforced and strengthened where necessary by metallic
angle-iron, plates, and bracing; this utilisation of metal is,
however, carried out very sparingly.
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