Zeppelin

the hangar Zeppelin permitted it to rise off the pontoons on which it had rested and the first successful rigid airship flight was an accomplished fact. He nosed his craft up through the air, the two 16 horsepower motors sending it along slowly at 13.5 miles per hour (6 meters per second). Notwithstanding this low speed the craft responded to the controls and Zeppelin a few minutes later demonstrated that he could alight safely as well as take off.

The First Company Dissolved Through Lack of Funds

Zeppelin made three flights with his first airship, on the third making 17.8 miles per hour (8 meters per second) but the funds had become exhausted and overtures to the Government and industrial concerns failing, he dissolved the stock company and began anew his struggle for capital. Somehow or other people were not interested in aerial navigation. They were less willing to invest their resources in experimental machines. For five years Zeppelin labored tirelessly to make persons believe in his proje