Shipbucket

Considering that three Handley Page O/400s could could carry the same bombload at a third again the speed in 1916 it's not really surprising that military planners abandoned lighter than air bombers.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

Zeppelins were the only TransAtlantic aircraft until the late 1930's,
and the tragic Hindenburg disaster destroyed public confidence in them.
If the Germans had not used them as bombers in WWI, the U.S. would
have sold Helium to Germany - and then no Hindenburg explosion.
Imagine Zeppelins flying across the oceans for airlines until post-WWII.

@Signal: I don't think that would've been the case. Helium had just been discovered in 1908 and by 1923, when ZR-1 Shenandoah was launched, it took nearly the entire supply of the worlds helium to fill it up. Even by the 1940s, Helium was still a valuable resource. The US would have shipped Helium to Germany, but only for the Hindenburg, and still that decision was overturned.
Helium was just not a feasible lifting gas for most, as the US had a monopoly over it. Thats why 95% of all Zeppelins were Hydrogen.
Plus, Zeppelins were already pretty much obsolete. By the time of the Hindenburg, it wouldn't have mattered if Helium was used and Hindenburg kept flying (and Graf Zeppelin II). Airplanes were rapidly taking over and by the 1940s, Zeppelins were done.

EDIT:
Also, there's one fact that most people overlook. Almost all Zeppelins have met a tragic fate. Los Angeles, Graf Zeppelin, Bodensee, Nordstern, and a few more here and there (such as a few of the Zeppelins that were scuttled by their crews after WWI) had better endings, but Zeppelins were just dangerous. Even with Helium, and no flammability concerns, the Shenandoah, Akron and Macon all crashed in storms.

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Salide - Denton - The Interrealms

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