Successful Trials with the Third Zeppelin
Experiments with this craft were immediately successful. Zeppelin guided it over the lake between three and four hours in a single flight, making wide circles and maneuvering under absolute control, remarkable in view of its size. The ship also showed superior speed, making 28.8 miles per hour (13 meters per second).
Zeppelin “L-3” Naval Airship, 1914.
Zeppelin “L-11” Naval Airship, 1915.
This ship brought Zeppelin and his assistants their first public recognition. The German Government offered the inventor a new floating shed ([Plate 3]), larger than the old one, which would enable him to improve his craft and enlarge them. To him this was the most essential. He more than any other apparently realized that he must increase their size to develop practical weight lifting capacity.