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[purgatorio]

R34 - The Record BreakerIn 1919 His Majesty's Airship 'R34' flew from Britain to New York and back, achieving: the first east-west flight over the Atlantic; the first double air crossing; the first crossing by a dirigible (airship) and a world endurance record for the flight.'R34' had two stowaways, a young aircraftsman and a cat.


Alfred Egerton Cooper

R34, East Fortune, Scotland, 1919


Oil on canvas, 56 x 66 cm

R.34 and R.29 in the Shed at East Fortune, 1919


Oil on canvas, 60.9 x 91.4 cm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/alfred-egerton-cooper


R. Kempston
HM Airship 'R34'


Mixed media on hardboard, 47 x 94 cm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/r-kempston


Jonathan Easthope
R34 Airship over New York Harbour 4 July 1919, 1920


Oil on cardboard, 40 x 30 cm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/jonathan-easthope


Lynn Chadwick
Maquette for R34 Memorial 1957, cast 2003


Bronze, 345 x 390 x 110 mm
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/chadwick-maquette-for-r34-memorial-t12023

Chadwick was commissioned to produce a memorial to commemorate the first double crossing of the Atlantic by the airship R34 in July 1919. It was intended for London (Heathrow) Airport but the commission was cancelled as some people didn't like his proposal. This is a bronze cast of the model; the full-size work was made as Stranger III  (displayed on the floor to your left). Here, a winged figure seems an appropriate subject to commemorate a feat of manned flight, while the two heads probably refer to the two-way crossing made by the R34


READ MORE airshipsonline.com: R34 - The Record Breaker | wikipedia.org: R34 (R33 class airship)




Peppino Mangravite
Post Office mural, 1937



These murals were done during the roosevelt administration by peppino mangravite. this is the arrival of the british dirigible r.34 with the first air mail 1919.

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Alfred Egerton Cooper

View from an Airship, 1917


Oil on canvas, 107.9 x 152.4 cm


Airship 9, 1918


Oil on canvas, 60.9 x 91.4 cm


Airship 23, 1918


Oil on canvas, 60.9 x 91.4 cm


'Rigid 26', 1918


Oil on canvas, 91.1 x 60.6 cm


The First Snow, from the NS8 Airship over the Lammermuirs, 1918


Oil on canvas, 123 x 182 cm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/alfred-egerton-cooper

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MontgolfièreJoseph-Michel Montgolfier (1740 – 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (1745 – 1799) were the inventors of the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying Étienne into the sky. Later, in December 1783, in recognition of their achievement, their father Pierre was elevated to the nobility and the hereditary appellation of de Montgolfier by King Louis XVI of France.

READ MORE centennialofflight.gov: Early Balloon Flight in Europe | wikipedia.org: Montgolfier brothers


The first balloon flight with passengers - a cock, a duck, and a sheep - on September 19, 1783.


http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/Early_Balloon_Flight_in_Europe/LTA1G4.htm


Description of the historic Montgolfier Brothers' 1783 balloon flight, 1786


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1783_balloonj.jpg

Translation:
Figure and exact proportions of the "Aerostatic Globe", which was the first to first carry men through the air.

Height of the Globe: 70 pieds (22.7 m, about 75 ft)
Weight of the Globe: 1600 Livres (780 kg, 1700 lb)
Diameter: 46 pied (14.9 m, 49 ft)
Lifting capacity: between 1600 and 1700 livres (~ 780-830 kg, 1700-1800 lb)
Volume: 60000 pieds cubes (~ 2000 cubic metres, 2,000,000 Litres, 73000 cubic ft.
Gallery: 3 pieds wide (1 m, 3 ft)

The top portion was surrounded by fleurs-de-lys, with the twelve zodiac signs below. In the middle portion were images of the king's face, each surrounded by a sun. The bottom section was filled with mascarons and garlands; Several eagle's wings appear to support this powerful machine in the air. All of this ornamentation was gold on a beautiful blue background, so that that this superb globe appeared to be gold and azure. The circular gallery, in which we see the Marquis D'Arlandes and Mr. Pilatre de Rozier, was covered in crimson draperies with gold fringes.


Model of Montgolfier balloon, 1783


http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/images/I006/10219021.aspx


Claude-Louis Desrais (1746-1816)
Ascension captive d'une montgolfière (Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier) dans les jardins de la papèterie Réveillon, le 19 octobre 1783
 


Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (30 March 1754 – 15 June 1785) was a French chemistry and physics teacher, and one of the first pioneers of aviation. He and the Marquis d'Arlandes made the first manned free balloon flight on 21 November 1783, in a Montgolfier balloon. He later died when his balloon crashed near Wimereux in the Pas-de-Calais during an attempt to fly across the English Channel. He and his companion, Pierre Romain, became the first known fatalities in an air crash.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Pil%C3%A2tre_de_Rozier


Commémoration du premier vol humain, Place de Colombie, Paris 16e


Photo taken by Remi Jouan, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Premier_vol_mongolfiere.JPG

Texte de la plaque :
Le 21 novembre 1783, de cet emplacement dans le parc de l'ancien château de La Muette partit la montgolfière conduite par Pilâtre de Rozier et le marquis d'Arlandes. Elle devait se poser 26 minutes plus tard à la Butte aux Cailles, achevant ainsi le premier vol humain de l'histoire.

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Charles Pears

The Action of 11th August 1918, Island of Borkum. Zeppelin Falling : the Flagship is flying the signal:- 'See Hymn 224. Verse 7', 1918


oil on canvas, 850 x 1104 mm

A German Zeppelin falls from the sky after being shot down by a British fighter plane. Several Royal Navy warships are at sail in the sea below.

On 11 August 1918 Lt S D Culley took off, in his Sopwith Camel N6812 aircraft, from a lighter being towed behind a destroyer. This was part of a large fleet of ships under the command of Admiral Tyrwhitt intent on bringing German seaplanes into action. After a fight with some seaplanes, Zeppelin L53 was spotted and Culley duly took off and succeeded in bringing it down. Culley's Camel is in the museum's collection, and hangs in the atrium. A title note to The Action of 11th August, 1918 (written by the artist) refers the viewer to the signal shown on the flagship, which reads “See Hymn 224. Verse 7” The verse reads thus; “Oh, happy band of pilgrims Look upward to the skies, Where such a light affliction Shall win so great a prize.” Strictly speaking the action took place nearer to the island of Ameland, rather than Borkum. Borkum is one of a chain of sandy islands including Juist, Norderney and Sharnhörn which run up the North Sea coast of north Holland and Germany to southern Denmark. The whole of this area is a maze of shallow channels running through treacherous and constantly shifting sandbanks deposited by three major rivers - the Ems, the Weser and the Elbe. The strategic importance of these sandy outposts to Germany is graphically described in Erskine Childers' book 'The Riddle of the Sands', published in 1903. A later action against the German seaplane base on Borkum on the 21st October 1918 involved the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. Unable to reach the area from airfields in France and England due to the aircraft’s restricted range, and unable to get near the coast due to the shifting sandbanks, the Royal Navy towed the British planes on lighters as near as they could to Borkum, the idea being that the aircraft would take off from the lighters and attempt a raid on the base. The attack was aborted when most of the planes crashed into the sea on take-off. The artist produced four other paintings as a result of his sojourn in the North Sea with Admiral Tyrwhitt’s fleet, including one showing a kite balloon attached to HMS Concord and “in the distance destroyers are seen towing a raft with the Camel Scout aeroplane which brought down the Zeppelin off Borkum Island” (Charles Pears, title note).


A Convoy, 1918


oil on canvas, 762 x 1295 mm

A merchant convoy at sea, with a ship that appears to be in the process of sinking in the right foreground. An airship is in the sky above.


The North Sea: The Night of 10 August 1918


Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 129.5 cm

A night scene showing a kite balloon attached to HMS Concord. In the distance a destroyer tows a raft holding an aeroplane. In the foreground there is the railing of the ship from which this scene is witnessed, and above a starlit sky.


http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/search?filter%5BmakerString%5D%5B0%5D=%22PEARS%2C%20CHARLES%22&query=

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Felix Schwormstädt

Maschinengondel eines Zeppelin-Luftschiffes, 1917




Das Eingreifen des Militärluftschiffes "ZVI" in den Kampf um die belgische Festung Lüttich am 6. August 1914




Abwehr eines Fliegerangriffs auf der oberen Plattform eines Zeppelin-Luftschiffes, 1917




Zeppelin bridge, 1917

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Soviet Propaganda

You might wonder why I include pictures of obvious political material in this topic on "fine art". The thing is art always had and has strong connections to propaganda in the widest sense. Aviation in all it's glory was destined to enforce technical superiority, efficiency, modernity, braveness, the exotic travel ....
In the early 20th century the iconic qualities of the airship met the interests of artists and illustrators who were about to explore the new possibilities of the cheap mass reproduction of colour prints.
Today these graphics have found their way into international art collections, especially those that show influences of last century's avant garde movements. Exploring the means of typography, visual arts, composition, photography ... they can be considered the ancestors of our today's graphic design.


The Air War, 1914




Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deineka

Construct a powerful Soviet Airship "Klim Voroshilov", 1931




Georgij Kibardin
WE WILL BUILD LENIN'S ESCADRON OF AIRSHIPS, 1931




Nikolai Dolgorukov
"Soviet airships must fly and will fly over the Soviet country! Let us create a powerful airship-building industry"., 1932




Vasilii Elkin
Long Live the Red Army, 1932



http://webposters.adm.ntu.edu.sg/site/page/resultado/10/12

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Scientific American, 1925




Herbert Paus
The Zeppelin Grows Up, Popular Science Cover, 1929




Solar-Powered Aerial Landing Field, 1934




http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/with/5397404226/v

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Atoms-For-Peace Dirigible, 1956



http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/5534000964/sizes/l/in/pool-38952224@N00/

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Book cover


http://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/3974161217/in/pool-airship/


ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILES IN THE AIR, 1925

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The First Blitz - Great Britain

A Zeppelin is caught in searchlights over London



Zeppelin in flames over London


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/9153063/The-worlds-biggest-collection-of-airship-memorabilia-goes-on-sale.html?frame=2171590

German airship brought down outside London, 1917




London home destroyed by German aerial attack


http://www.gwpda.org/photos/coppermine/index.php


A Zeppelin Raider




British WW I poster,   1915




British propaganda postcard: "The End of the 'Baby-Killer'", 1916

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The First Blitz - Germany

Wir kommen England!



Ein Deutsche Luftschiff-Geschwader auf dem Wege nach England, 1915




Die Angst der Londoner vor den Zeppelinen




In's Herz von England.




Zeppeline über London



Willy Stöwer
Marine-Luftschiffe über England (London wird mit Bomben belegt)



Strategic bombing during World War I from Wikipedia

The first strategic bombing in history was also the first instance of bombs being dropped on a city from the air. On 6 August 1914 a German Zeppelin, a type of rigid airship, bombed the Belgian city of Liège. In Britain, fear of the Zeppelin as a weapon of war preceded its actual use as one, as even before the World War the British public was gripped by "zeppelinitis". Within months of the war' start, Germany had formed the Ostend Carrier Pigeon Detachment, in fact an airship unit intended for the bombing of English port cities. Flying out of ports in northern France or Belgium, the Germans had tailwinds going to Britain and having dispensed their payload were lighter coming back.
[...]
The first extended campaigns of strategic bombing were undertaken against England by the German Empire's fleet of Zeppelins, which were the only aircraft capable of such sustained activities so far from their bases. These bombings were approved on 7 January 1915 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, who forbade attacks on London, fearing that his relatives in the British royal family might be injured. (These restrictions were lifted in May, after British attacks on German cities.) The first attacks on England came on 9 January around Yarmouth and King's Lynn. The Zeppelin proved too costly compared to airplanes, too large and slow a target, too cumbersome, its hydrogen gas too flammable, and too susceptible to bad weather, anti-aircraft fire (below 5,000 feet) and interceptors armed with incendiary bullets (up to 10,000 feet) for the Imperial German Army (Reichsheer), which abandoned its use in 1916. The Imperial German Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) continued to use the Zeppelin through the war. In all, fifty-one raids on Great Britain were committed, the last by the Navy in May 1918. The "year of greatest intensity" of the strategic bombing of England was 1916. Germany employed 125 airships during the war, lost more than half and sustained a 40% attrition rate of their crews, the highest of any unit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_bombing_during_World_War_I

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Michael Zeno Diemer
Zeppelins Landung in München. Erste Zielfahrt am 2. April 1909, 1910