posted on May, 2 2004 @ 04:39 AM
Count Von Zeppelin flew his first airship just three years after this episode. And a man named T. S. Baldwin was flying successful dirigibles in the
US as early as 1904. Here's a link to a picture and paragraph about an airship he developed that was accepted by the U.S. Military in 1908:
inventors.about.com...
As far as aluminum goes, I asked my hubby, who is a chemist, and he said the current commercial process was patented in 1866. It would make sense to
use aluminum in an airship, too.
As for the rest, well the internal combustion engine and electricity had been invented and were in use by then, so they wouldn't have been out of
place, either.
They used hydrogen back then to float the things, and it was very explosive, so certainly could have caused an accident.
Seems to me it could easily have been an experimental airship. The technology was certainly all there.