Union Army Balloon Corps
Videos
The Union Army Balloon Corps was a branch of the Union Army during the American Civil War, established by presidential appointee Thaddeus S. C. Lowe. It was organized as a civilian operation, which em
Woodblock sketch of Lowe's balloon with McClellan's Army of the Potomac as depicted in Harper's Weekly.
Thaddeus Lowe as Union Army Balloon Corps' Chief Aeronaut
Two of the hydrogen gas generators assigned to each balloon for inflating on the battlefield
Chain Bridge as it appeared during the Civil War
Zeppelin
Videos
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first
Union Army Balloon Corps
…By 1 August 1863, the Corps was no longer used. Manned air-war mechanisms became important again to the Army when the airship (a dirigible, blimp, or zeppelin) came into existence with their motorized propulsion and mechanical means of steering. The United States Army Signal Corps established a War Balloon…
The USS Los Angeles, a United States Navy airship built in Germany by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (Zeppelin Airship Company)
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
The first flight of LZ 1 over Lake Constance, the Bodensee, 1900
Zeppelin LZ 4 with its multiple stabilizers, 1908