Zeppelin airships are set to return to the skies almost a century after they first brought death and destruction to the streets of Europe in the first world war.<\/p>\n
Luxembourg-based air freight company Cargolux has announced plans to revive the airships for more innocuous purposes. A new generation of Zeppelins will be created to carry cargo instead of bombs, with the first fleet of 22 airships expected to operate over Europe as early as 2016.<\/p>\n
The rigid airship is typically associated with Germany, where it was pioneered by the German count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in the early 20th\u00a0century.<\/p>\n
The latest incarnations of the iconic wartime dirigible, however, are being built in California under a partnership with US firm Aeroscraft Corporation.<\/p>\n
The airships, which can take off and land vertically, will be 554ft long and have a carrying capacity of 65 tonnes. There are plans for a version that can carry 250 tonnes. The Zeppelins will also have a cruising speed of up to 120 knots and a range of 3,100 nautical miles.<\/p>\n
The new models will carry their cargo inside their massive hulls, as opposed to earlier versions that transported cargo via a gondola suspended beneath the aircraft.<\/p>\n
Although Zeppelins are employed for advertising and surveillance and are also used for pleasure flights from a German base, efforts to use them for cargo have failed to take off in recent years, partly due to longstanding safety concerns.<\/p>\n
Public confidence in the safety of the aircraft was shattered after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, when 36 people died when the German passenger Zeppelin exploded in a fireball as it docked in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
In an effort to prevent similar disasters, the new Zeppelins will be filled with non-flammable helium rather than the hydrogen used in the Hindenburg.<\/p>\n