Baptism of fire
The prospects for the use of airships as bombers were understood in Europe long before the airships were used in this role. HG Wells in his book "War in the Air" (1908) described the destruction of entire fleets fighting airships and cities. Unlike airplanes (bombers carried out the role of light reconnaissance planes, pilots who took with him a few small bombs), airships in the beginning of World War II have been a formidable force. The most powerful aeronautical powers were Russia, which had a major St. Petersburg "Aeronautic Park with more than two dozen vehicles, and Germany, has 18 blimps. Of all the countries participating in World War I Austro-Hungarian air force were among the weakest. The structure of an air force of Austria-Hungary before the First World War consisted of only 10 airships. Military airships were directly subordinate to the High Command, and sometimes they were attached to the fronts and armies. At the beginning of the war airships to carry out combat tasks under the guidance of travelers on airships General Staff officers. In this case, the commander of the airship was assigned the role of officer of the deck. Due to the successful design solutions Graf Zeppelin and Schutte-Lanz Company Germany had in this area a considerable superiority over all other countries in the world, which, if properly used it could be of great benefit, particularly for deep exploration. German machines were overcome with the speed of 80-90 km / h and a distance of 2-4 km and turn on the target of several tons of bombs. For example, August 14, 1914 as a result of the raid of a German dirigible at Antwerp was completely destroyed 60 homes, damaged another 900. However, by September 1914, lost 4 apparatus, the German airship passed only on the nighttime operation. The huge and unwieldy, they were excellent target for armed enemy airplanes, but to protect themselves from attacks from above on top of their building housed the ground with several machine guns, besides, they were filled with extreme fire danger with hydrogen. Obviously, they were replaced were bound to come cheaper, maneuverability and stability to war damage to the machine.