[QUOTE=ArrMatey!]
I hate to even bring this up… But this is something I occasionally flash the geek badge on… Armed airships (such as balloons and zeplins) are outlawed by the geneva convention. Not that I’d expect that to stop anyone if the idea was good enough, but… Just thought I’d mention it.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting, and believable. But I quickly got bogged down trying to find confirmation. Don’t happen to have a cite for that in your pocket, do you?
Just so’s you know, the folks at arthur D. Little in Cambridge – the same ones who went out of their way to “make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”, also went out to make a balloon out of lead foil.
it worked, but not really well. And it was just a balloon. Carring the rigid framework of a zeppelin as well is probably asking too much. (Lead is not only heavy, but it’s also wimpily soft, making hard to create and maintain a leak-free bag)
http://www.adlittle.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Prism_2006_s2_3_history-1.pdf
[QUOTE=CalMeacham]
Just so’s you know, the folks at arthur D. Little in Cambridge – the same ones who went out of their way to “make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”, also went out to make a balloon out of lead foil.
it worked, but not really well. And it was just a balloon. Carring the rigid framework of a zeppelin as well is probably asking too much. (Lead is not only heavy, but it’s also wimpily soft, making hard to create and maintain a leak-free bag)
http://www.adlittle.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Prism_2006_s2_3_history-1.pdf
[/QUOTE]
On the other hand, there’s the example of the US Navy’s ZMC-2. Instead of a traditional dirigible with internal frame, an outer coating, and then internal gasbags for lift, it was a completely metal clad dirigible, which relied upon the rigid hull for its shape, and had the lifting gas within that metal hull.
ETA: But I’ll admit it’s not using lead. Nor led.