LZ 1

LZ 1 was the first successful experimental rigid airship built by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, and its initials stand for Luftschiff Zeppelin, meaning Airship Zeppelin. It was assembled in a floating shed on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen and first flew on 2 July 1900. The hull was a cylindrical aluminium framework of wire-braced polygonal frames covered in cotton cloth and enclosing a row of 17 gas cells, with two gondolas and two Daimler internal-combustion engines driving the propellers. On its first trial it carried five people, climbed to about 410 metres and flew six kilometres in 17 minutes before a jammed trim weight and a failed engine forced a landing. After two more flights in October it beat the speed record then held by the French airship La France, but investors were not persuaded, and Zeppelin had to dismantle the ship and liquidate his company.