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Row, Row, Row Your Airship

Geoghegan features Thomas Scott Baldwin's Red Devil airplanes, the first to debut an aerial rowboat in 1910. Baldwin had already built the California Arrow, the first US airship to make a controlled circular flight, when he won a contract with a Los Angeles amusement park to exhibit a dirigible...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Air & space Smithsonian 2014-06, Vol.29 (2), p.18
Main Author: Geoghegan, John J
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
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Summary:Geoghegan features Thomas Scott Baldwin's Red Devil airplanes, the first to debut an aerial rowboat in 1910. Baldwin had already built the California Arrow, the first US airship to make a controlled circular flight, when he won a contract with a Los Angeles amusement park to exhibit a dirigible that could be rowed through the air like a boat. In 1905, Baldwin came up with a 38-foot-long hydrogen-filled gas bag with a kayak-shaped frame underneath. In lieu of an engine were bamboo oars with paddles made of silk. A canvas bag filled with sand maintained neutral buoyancy. Baldwin's non-rigid dirigible could do about four mph on a calm day, but even a slight headwind would stymie it.
ISSN:0886-2257