XXIX
Although the French had pioneered
balloon and airship flight from the 18th Century forward, their interest in
airships seemed to flag in the Soaring Twenties.
In 1920, they received the
German-built LZ-114 as a war reparation, which they named Dixmude, and they used the airship for mostly government transport
between Metropolitan France and French West Africa.
She was 743 feet long and 79 feet
around, with a volume of 2.5 million cubic feet of hydrogen.
On December 20, 1923, Dixmude was apparently struck by
lightning as she flew through a storm front over Sicily. All 52 people on board
were killed. It was the worst airship disaster to date, and essentially put to
an end French interest in lighter-than-air craft.
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