What was the Largest Airship Ever Made?

An airship is a lighter-than-air aircraft, and the biggest difference from a hot air balloon is that it has a device for propulsion and control of flight conditions. The airship consists of a huge streamlined hull, a pod located below the hull, a stern surface that functions for stability control, and a propulsion device.

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Modern airships are generally soft airships. To maintain their shape, they can only be achieved by the pressure of helium in the airbag. The main components are:

The biggest advantage of an airship over an aircraft is that it has an unparalleled airtime. The time that an aircraft flies in the air is calculated in hours, while the airship is calculated in days. Airships can also fly silently in the air, which is equally important in military applications. In March 1957, a US ZPG-2 soft airship set a world record of 264.2 hours of continuous flight in one flight, with a total mileage of 15,200 kilometers. Military airships generally use helium to maintain buoyancy, so they can take off and fly quietly and smoothly, which is essential for carrying high-tech surveillance equipment. Airships can carry large radar antennas in their airbags, which are almost unlimited in shape and size. Compared with aircraft, military airships can reduce energy consumption and flight costs by about 30%, and their radar reflection area is much smaller than modern aircraft.

The safety of modern airships has improved qualitatively. Helium is a rare gas and is not combustible. Since the helium pressure in the airship airbag is not very large, it only needs to maintain its shape. Therefore, even if it is hit by a gun, if the bullet hole is not large, the leakage rate of helium gas will be very slow, and it can be used for almost no time. If the gun hole is large, the airship will have to cancel the planned action plan, but still have enough time to return to the base. In addition, advanced manufacturing technology and complex control systems will prevent the tragedy of the Hindenburg airship from repeating itself. The airship can also fly in bad weather as long as the wind speed at that time does not exceed 30 knots.

Although military airships have great development potential, we still cannot avoid their inherent shortcomings. In the last century, there were two main reasons why airships were replaced by planes: high costs and low speeds. Although the cost of using an airship is very low, its cost is an astronomical figure. The price of airships generally varies according to the size of the airship. For example, the price of a small soft airship of 40 meters is about 2 million US dollars. If an airship is used as a large military transportation vehicle, it is doomed that its initial construction quantity will not be very large, and the cost of initially carrying cargo will also increase sharply. If the cost is dropped, modern engineering materials and avionics will make modern airships much more advanced than their ancestors half a century ago, but their speed is still a headache. You know, modern

In the world of airships, there has always been some confusion about the definition of various qualities of airships, which is related to the often simple borrowing of terms that are heavier than air vehicles. Therefore, it is necessary to sort out the related concepts of airship quality.

In order to have a systematic understanding of the concept of airship mass, the following system parameters are made for the technical concept of mass related to the airship design.

The following explains some related concepts.

Airship design weight

The "design gross weight" of an airship refers to the total weight of the airship including enclosed gas (buoyant gas in the bladder and air in the sub-airbag). He is equal to the total static lift of the airship plus the empty weight of the airship.

Airship design empty weight

Aircraft design "empty weight" includes: airship structure, power unit, airship system, and internal specification facilities.

Airship design suspended empty weight

The "designed suspended empty weight" of the airship includes: the structure of the pod and the quality of the power plant, working system and internal facilities in the pod. It should be noted that "hanging empty weight" is a key design criterion for airships. The "suspension mass" mentioned in the definition refers to the mass of all items acting through the suspension system.

Airship factory empty weight

The airship factory empty weight includes: the mass of the airship structure, power unit, working system and other equipment, as well as the liquid filled in the closed system

Airship factory suspended empty weight

The airship factory suspended empty weight includes: the structure of the pod and the power of the pod, the quality of the working system and internal facilities, and the liquid filled in the closed system.

Basic airship weight

The "basic empty weight" of an airship refers to the empty weight of the airship plus the weight of the standard item.

airship

Airship "standard items" include:

Fuel on board and other liquids on board

Engine oil

Fixed ballast

Toilet liquids and chemicals

Airship emergency equipment

Kitchen structure

Supplementary electrical and avionics

Does not include fixed mission equipment and ordnance in "factory empty weight".

Airship basic suspended empty weight

The "basic suspended empty weight" of the airship refers to the airborne factory hanging weight plus the mass of standard items

Airship using empty weight

The "empty weight" of an airship refers to the basic empty weight of the airship plus the mass of the airship use items.

Airship "use items" include:

Disposable ballast

Crew and luggage

Airship manual and navigation equipment

Removable equipment for cabins, galleys and dining cabinets

Food and drink

Not a usable liquid of basis weight

Personnel emergency equipment

Excludes special mission equipment and weapon racks in "Basic Empty Weight"

Airship using suspended empty weight

The airship "use suspended air weight" refers to the basic suspended air weight of the airship plus the mass of the airship used items

Airship using takeoff mass

The "use takeoff mass" of an airship refers to the mass of the "designed empty weight of the airship" plus the "arbitrary handling load" at takeoff.

The "arbitrary load" of the airship includes passengers, baggage and cargo, additional (non-critical) crew members, and additional airborne mission equipment.

Aircraft maximum take-off mass

The "maximum take-off mass" of an airship refers to the maximum mass authorized for the airship when it takes off. It is restricted by the use of airports, airships and related regulations.

Aircraft maximum use landing mass

The "maximum use landing mass" of an airship refers to the maximum mass authorized for the airship upon landing. She was restricted by the airport, airship use and related regulations. Aircraft maximum design suspension mass

The "maximum design suspension mass" of an airship is the maximum mass that can be suspended or supported by the airship's suspension system.