The first rigid airship to fly was built in the 1890s. Its skeleton and outer cover were made of aluminum, and it was powered by a 12-horsepower Daimler gas engine connected to three propellers. Designed by David Schwarz, a timber merchant from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it lifted off successfully in a tethered tes
t at Templehof near Berlin, Germany, on November 3, 1897. But its propeller belts broke, the pilot lost control, and the airship crashed.
The major designer and manufacturer of rigid airships in the early part of the twentieth century was the German company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, owned by Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin. Zeppelins were used as offensive weapons by Germany during World War I, dropping bombs on both Paris and London until the Allies became more effective at attacking them.
The United States also used an observation balloon during World War I, the Caquot Type R, named for its designer, Lieutenant Albert Caquot of France. It measured 92 feet long and 32 feet in diameter, could stay aloft in winds as high as 70 miles per hour, and 
held 32,200 cubic feet (912 cubic meters) of hydrogen. It was used on the Western Front in France during the war. Nearly a thousand Caquot balloons were manufactured in the United States during 1918-1919. The British also used this balloon in limited quantity during World War II.
BY JAKE BAUER
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