Re: Slow planes was: Battle blimps

At 12:54 PM -0700 4/19/02, Brian Bilderback wrote:
>Ryan M Gill <rmgill@mindspring.com> wrote:
>>The more advanced Zeps had a special pressure valve that vented when
>>the airship went above "pressure altitude". The American made
>>Airships (The Akron and Macon) were fitted with condensors that
>>recovered water vapor from the engines in order to replenish ballast
>>and reduce the loss of ballast weight as fuel was consumed.
>
>Not to mention, we're talking about a future setting with viable 
>fusion power - not a lot of mass lost to fuel consumption there...

I'm not even thinking that far. As a means of getting a payload into 
high altitude for extended duration, a Rigid with composites and 
really efficient fuel cells could stay there for weeks on end just 
like a ship. The thing to remember about Rigid airships is that they 
aren't air-craft. They are lighter than air _ships_.
-- 
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
- Ryan Montieth Gill			     '01 Honda Insight -
- rmgill@mindspring.com 			    '85 CB700S -
- ryan.gill@turner.com			 '76 Chevy Monte Carlo -
- www.mindspring.com/~rmgill		       '72 Honda CB750 -
-				      '60 Daimler FV701H Mk2/3 -
-				   '42 Daimler Scout Car Mk II -
-	      I speak not for CNN, nor they for me	       -
----------------------------------------------------------------
-    Smart ID cards in the US, Smart ID cards in Hong Kong,    -
-		      what is the difference?		       - 
----------------------------------------------------------------
-  C&R-FFL  /  Protect your electronic rights!	  \ EFF-ACLU   -
- SAF & NRA/  Join the EFF!  http://www.eff.org/   \ DoD #0780 -