Aero-Linx!

Scouring the information super airways can sometimes be a tough, if educational, task for the Aero-News staff... but it also allows us to check out some truly neat and exciting sites, so it's not that bad a gig. On any given day, we may check dozens (and often hundreds) of different sources for story ideas, and facts confirmation. And, as is the nature of our business, much of this is done on the Internet.

The ANN gang decided we probably shouldn't keep some of the neat sites, info resources, and organizations we've discovered to ourselves... so we decided to bring you Aero-Linx. These are the sites that WE check out -- when we need added perspective, a new spin on a day's topic... or just want to escape into cyber-aero-space for awhile.

Look for some of our favorite sites, coming each day to ANN via Aero-Linx. Suggestions for future Aero-Linx segments are always welcome, as well.

Aero Linx: History of Dirigibles

The first real dirigible, driven by a steam engine, was built by Henri Giffard of France in 1852. Other early experimenters were Paul Haenlein, who built an airship in Germany in 1872; and Charles Renard and A. C. Krebs, French army officers, whose La France was flown in 1884. The man who made the dirigible practical was Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin of Germany. He completed his first rigid airship in 1900. In 1910, his first passenger dirigible, the Deutschland, was flying between Düsseldorf and Friedrichshafen, a distance of 300 miles (480 km). At that time rigid dirigibles became known as Zeppelins.

FMI: http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-i/dirigible2.htm