Sky Sailors: The Story of the World's Airshipmen [Hardcover]

Ces Mowthorpe (Author)

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Product details

Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Sutton Publishing Ltd; a edition (23 Sep 1999)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0750922184
ISBN-13: 978-0750922180
Product Dimensions: 25.4 x 18.4 x 2.5 cm
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,102,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

The story of the "sky sailors" - the men who pioneered a mode of air transport that today is virtually forgotten. During the first two decades of aviation pioneering (c.1890-1910), airshipmen greatly outnumbered aeroplane pioneers. But the great innovations in heavier-than-air aircraft, the advent of two world wars, and the bad publicity brought about by a few horrific airship disasters, changed the picture completely. Ces Mowthorpe describes the early days of airships and their brave crews, mixing narrative with first-hand accounts by airshipmen from England, Germany, Italy and the US. His account begins in Paris in the 1890s and moves on to examine the development of British and German military airships in World War I (Blimps and Zeppelin-type rigids); the interwar development of rigid airships by Britain and Germany; the Americans' use of massive airships to carry aircraft, and smaller airships for anti-submarine patrols in the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II; the use of airships by smaller, civilian operators; and the fatal disasters of the Hindenberg, R101 and Shenandoah. By the beginning of World War II, Britain had long since pulled out of airship building and the post-war years saw the end of military airships in the US.

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Amazon.com: 2 reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

Commendable effort. 19 May 2000

By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com

Let's face it, if you're a serious zeppelinhead, you pretty much purchase any airship book when it comes out, no matter what any review says. With that said, 'Sky Sailors' is the follow-up to Mowthorps 'Battlebags' and takes a heavy British focus, and why not, Mowthorpe is a acknowledged expert on British lighter than air history. Mowthorpe intended the book as a look at the people behind the machines and not the machines themselves. He mostly succeeds, only occasionally losing the plot. Far and away the books strong suit is the excellent coverage of British WWI operations, something that is rarely covered in any other book. Mowthorpe apparently has a extensive photo collection and many striking photos appear in the book. You can argue that the chapter on German airshipmen is a bit thin in comparison to their contributions but it does contain several excellent narration's from German WWI crewmen that I haven't seen elsewhere (get 'The Zeppelin in Combat' for the last word on German airships in WWI). Also covered is the US Navy's efforts and the story of the Italian 1924 airship 'Italia' disaster at the North Pole (for more on this subject, try to find Alexander McKees 'Ice Crash' or pick up a copy of Wilbur Cross's 'Disaster at the Pole' after August 2000). If you a serious airship enthusiast, then you will want this book in your library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

A Meager Attempt 2 Jan 2003

By Ford U. Ross - Published on Amazon.com

As good an author that Mowthorpe is, he blew it on this book.
There are at least 38 errors in the story, though some
are just typos. Never the less, it appears the man didn't
do his homework. Most of the information is redundant and
has been written about many times, in past books.
The only sections that are reliable are the chapters dealing
with British Airships.
Let's hope a revised edition will correct the obvious errors.

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