Empires of the Sky, by Alexander Rose ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the opening decades of the 20th century two basic methods of powered flight—lighter-than-air craft, commonly known as air ships, and heavier-than-air craft, or airplanes—were the technologies competing for the role of prime movers for the air transportation of goods and passengers. Alexander Rose’s new book, Empires of the Sky, to be published on 28 April, 2020, tells the story of this technological duel by examining the rivalry between the main protagonists in the field—the Zeppelin Company of Germany, headed by Hugo Eckener, and Pan American Airways, helmed by the relentless (and ruthless) Juan Terry Trippe.

In retrospect, it may seem that heavier-than-air craft—airplanes—were a shoo-in for the job over their lighter-than-air rivals, but in the early years of the 20th century this was not a foregone conclusion. Just as a boat floats because it weighs less than the volume of water it displaces, dirigibles get their lift by using a lighter gas (either hydrogen, in the case of the German Zeppelins, or the safer but less buoyant helium) to reduce their overall weight to less than that of the volume of air that they displace, and require engine power only for propulsion. Since airplanes rely on engine power and forward motion for lift, it required great advances in aircraft engine design to produce power plants that were both light and powerful enough to allow airplanes to match the lifting capacity and range of lighter-than-air craft. Those advanced engines eventually gave airplanes a great advantage in speed, which is largely what tipped the scales in their favor in the technological battle for air travel supremacy.

Though set against the backdrop of this technological struggle, Empires of the Sky is more about the power plays, both business and political, that shaped this rivalry, than it is about the technologies. The advancement of air transportation depended heavily on acquiring the right to land in, or even overfly, another country’s territory. For Pan American Airways it began with winning air mail and passenger routes from the United States to the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Under the leadership of Juan Trippe, and as the capabilities of the available aircraft increased, Pan Am expanded its range throughout the Western Hemisphere and eventually across the Pacific. In a conflict of business and technology, a deal with Britain’s government-supported Imperial Airways to secure landing rights in British territory impeded Pan Am’s progress in pursuing routes across the Atlantic. The deal required Pan Am to share the route with Imperial, but when development of their Short flying boats failed to produce aircraft capable of making the trip, Pan Am had to delay its service to Europe, despite the superior capabilities of the Sikorsky aircraft that they employed.

For Count Ferdinand Zeppelin’s eponymous airship company, early routes within Germany and Europe led to routes to South America and later, to North America, across the North Atlantic. In contrast to Pan Am, Zeppelin developed the aircraft that they employed and were, in fact, the only company to successfully deploy commercial lighter-than-air craft. Zeppelin’s efforts were supported by both private investment and government funding, and in another contrast to Pam American, only a very liberal interpretation of the company’s finances could ever conclude that it was profitable. The use of zeppelin airships by the German military during World War I, even if largely ineffective—they never amounted to more than terror raids that resulted in minimal property damage and a relative handful of casualties—led to bans by England and France that excluded the airships from those two countries’ airspace.

Zeppelin’s takeover by the Nazi government as a propaganda tool, and its adherence to the use of hydrogen gas as the lifting element in their airships (dangerously flammable, but more efficient than helium—which the United States government, the only source of the gas, refused to sell to Zeppelin in any case) were key elements in the airship company’s eventual downfall. The flaming demise of the Hindenburg sounded the death knell of the zeppelin—the enduring image of zeppelin airships in the public memory is the 40-odd-second-long video clip of the massive airship being consumed by flames at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Even without the Hindenburg disaster it is likely that the inherent speed advantage of heavier-than-air craft would have eventually relegated airships to their current role as novelties: massive, elegant, relatively quiet—but slow.

Mr Rose’s book is a thorough and engrossing examination of the political, business, and technological rivalry which presaged the modern age of air transportation, and a valuable addition to the history of air transportation.