Zeppelin was invented in 1900 by a military officer of German origin named Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. It was a stiff framed airship, LZ-I that flew on 2nd July, 1900 carrying five passengers near Lake Constance in Germany. Zeppelins were used in the times of peace as well as war. More than 100 zeppelins were used in the World War I. Although Zeppelin structure was made of aluminum it was covered with cloth. It had hydrogen cells that were seventeen in number and two 15- horsepower Daimler internal combustion engines each helped in turning the two propellers. The size of the zeppelin was 420 feet in length and 38 feet in diameter.
Ferdinand Zeppelin joined Prussian army in 1858. He served the country in Seven Weeks War and in the Franco- Prussian war. During the American Civil war, he worked as an observer with the Union army. It was in 1891 that he retired from the army and got into building of airships and finally in 1900 he introduced zeppelin. The first Zeppelin flew to 3.7 miles of area in about 17 minutes and touched the heights of 1300 feet without crashing. It was in 1908 that for further development of aerial navigation and the building of airships. Ferdinand formed Friederichshafen (The Zeppelin Foundation). Now all rigid airships are casually called zeppelin. From time to time the Zeppelin Foundation is taking care of improving and developing zeppelins.
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