In 1888, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, began experimenting with a new type of aircraft. It was a large (125m in length), rigid-sided, cigar-shaped airship. It used 2 Daimler engines and contained individual cell compartments filled with hydrogen gas. Often von Zeppelin was ridiculed for his attempts. However, on July 2, 1900, the first Zeppelin took flight. The rigid design of the Zeppelin allowed it to be much larger and carry heavier payloads than any blimp, and it could fly almost as fast as any other plane of its time. The difference between a Zeppelin and a blimp is the fact that a blimp is not rigid but rather a bag of gas.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin opened the doors of his own airship company is 1908 called Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, or Airship Zeppelin. At the advent of World War I, von Zeppelin was commissioned to produce Zeppelins for use in the war effort. Ninety-six such Zeppelins were produced. These Zeppelins were loaded with bombs and machine guns.
At the beginning of the war the Zeppelins were a highly feared entity. Initially there was no defense against the midnight raids of the giant monsters. In fact the Zeppelin played a large role in the Germans taking the fortresses at Liege. The under belly of the Zeppelin was painted black to disguise it the night sky. Often the Zeppelins would leave Germany at dusk, bomb England under the cover of darkness and return home, without incident. If English pilots chose to pursue the Zeppelins they were met with heavy machine gun fire.
Later in the war, however, the Zeppelins met their match (literally); incendiary ammunition. Bullets coated with phosphorous could ignite the cells containing hydrogen gas. Eyewitness accounts claim that when a Zeppelin burned it lit up the night sky. The Germans attempted to counter this lone weakness of the Zeppelin by creating super light-weight model known as the “Height Climbers”. The hope was that if the Zeppelin could rise to elevations above the capabilities of warring aircraft it would still be successful. However, this was not to be so.
In 1918, the Treaty of Versailles, ending WWI, prohibited Germany from producing airships of any kind. It seemed this would be the end of the Great Zeppelins. However the prohibition was lifted in 1926. Construction of new airships began immediately. The production of the ill-fated Hindenburg began in 1935.