1888 Daimler Airship 

Dateline: “…10 August 1888: on this day, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the airship belonging to Dr Friedrich Hermann Wölfert begins a journey spanning more than four kilometres starting from Daimler's factory courtyard and ending at the Aldingen parade ground near Kornwestheim."

Whilst the floatation panel of the airship, filled with hydrogen gas, mainly overcomes gravity, the 1.8 kW, (2.5 hp), high-speed Daimler single-cylinder engine powers the two propellers, (horizontal and vertical), and is therefore responsible for propulsion and trimming.  On this morning, it became clear that the four-stroke engine had great potential as an aircraft engine.”

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For consignment, a cockpit and gas power plant with dual propellers and a steering panel which is attached to the underside of a hydrogen filled zeppelin.  This device could control the horizontal and vertical movements of the craft which has most of its lift from the zeppelin gas bag which was about 100 feet long mounted above.  The pilot would sit in the back and use a stick to operate the device.  Based on the side ropes which we can assume would hold droppable ballast, gave even more control.

This recreation is the work of William Eggers of Goshen CT and one of many old interesting recreations to grace our Hallowed Halls.  It is essentially a 150cc gas powered engine and produces 2 hp at 700 rpm.  The propellers one on the bottom to control vertical movement, and the other on back controls the horizontal movement of the zeppelin.  A large panel in front aids in steering the aircraft and acts as a rudder if you will.

An interesting piece of airship history and proves there is a future for the gas powered engine in the aircraft industry.  As they say the rest is history and as we say you never know what is coming through the door on any given day!

Classic Auto Mall is a 336,000-square foot classic and special interest automobile showroom, featuring over 850 vehicles for sale with showroom space for up to 1,000 vehicles. Also, a 400 vehicle barn find collection is on display.  This vehicle is located in our showroom in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, conveniently located just 1-hour west of Philadelphia on the I-76 Pennsylvania Turnpike. The website is www.classicautomall.com and our phone number is (888) 227-0914. Please contact us anytime for more information or to come see the vehicle in person.