The Largest Airship of its Time: The Morrell Airship
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2022
- In May, 1908, the Morrell airship was the largest in the world. Its inventor, J.A. Morrell, refused to listen to those who told him his dream was too big.
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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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I lived in Berkley CA while I was still taking lessons to become an "aeronaut". There I met, Ed Yost, the founder of the modern Hot air balloon. I became a balloon pilot before leaving Berkley but until this day had not heard of the Morrel Airship. Most certainly history that needs to be remembered.
If that *airship* was any more earthbound, we would have called it a Morel ! (Yes, a "fun-guy" joke 😁).
my granddad witnessed this flight. He told me about in back in the 1970s.
This morning, as I was drinking my coffee and waiting in line to drop off my third grader at class, his teacher noticed my History Guy mug and said the he uses your videos to help teach history. Thanks History Guy, for passing along history to another generation so it won’t be forgotten
I have to wonder about the reactions on the Peninsula to the runaway airship: “Run for the hills! It’s a giant flying sausage!”
I had never heard of this airship incident until now. Thanks for the education, THG... 👍😎
Ditto! This was a new one on me!
Me too. I thought I had a reasonably good knowledge of airship history. It's THG though, so not the first, or last time he'll school me....
There's little doubt that if there were fatalities we'd have heard of this particular bit of madness. Sadly...
The use of natural gas seems insane in these modern times. They had no fear that a saboteur might shoot it with a flare gun? Or that lightning might strike it? A spark from one of the engines? They were darn lucky the thing never flew, I’m sure if he had gotten further, a worse ending would have occurred.
@@alphagt62 Helium was practically unknown at the time - at least, not obtainable in quantities large enough for airships. Your choices were either hydrogen or coal gas ('city gas'), both inflammable.
Laughing at Morrel is the pastime of small minds. In those early days finding out what didn't work was just as important as finding out what would.
Yes but every time Thomas Edison failed at creating a successful light bulb, he didn't almost kill sixteen men.
@@panzerabwerkanone "Almost" being the key word there.
@@panzerabwerkanone If he had, surviving family members would’ve gotten all amped up & found him at volt. They’d give him watt’s for.
@@panzerabwerkanone he actually paid other people to do it so he could take the credit as well
@@panzerabwerkanone I concur. Experimenting is necessary; recklessly endangering people is not.
I cannot imagine how this contraption could be steered. I'd bet it would immediately start "weathervaning" in any decent breeze.
good point 👉
Only if it is anchored, otherwise it just moves relative to the air.
Absolutely not. It moves with the air, powered or not.
Morrell: This ship will carry 500 passengers and 40 tons of mail!
Also Morrell: Coupla 1/2" ropes oughtta hold it down.
Many inventors have been windbags in their promotions, but J.A. Morrell takes the cake!
More aptly, Morrell could be described as a gas bag. ;)
He blew them away.
I thought that he was a gas bag.
I'll give Morrell this, he certainly could gas on about his invention even if it never rose to the occasion.
You'll be here all week!
It's shear luck that the gassing wasn't "gaslighting".
I'm sure his ego deflated as fast as the gas bag!
That's worse than some of my comments.
Ass, gas, or grass. Nobody rides for free......
His claims were certainly ballooned out of all proportion compared to the real thing......🎈
🌌🔭
Well, at least Mr. Morell didn't have to pay for the disposal of his failed airships. The spectators kindly did that for him.
Morrell said it was shaped like a “huge projectile?” He knew exactly what it looked like. Was this an early marketing strategy for the John Morrell sausage company?
The real reason all those women fainted.
😂😂
It really doesn’t fill you with confidence just looking at it
I think the critical shortcoming was one of engineering - in particular, a lack of it. I wonder what the plan was for dealing with storms, from thunderstorms to hurricanes.
Given the fate of the Shenandoah, it is terrifying to think of this thing crossing the Midwest.
They control those aswel
It would have twisted and torn open with the even the smallest amount of wind gusts, let alone a full-blown storm (sorry, no pun intended).
@@VosperCDN I think you underestimate how dutiable airships were at the time.
Engineering? We don’t need no stinkin’ engineering…
"Hey Dad,there's the Oscar Meyer weiner"!
One of the interesting things I remember reading about airships was the behavior of the lifting gas. We think of it as simply filling the bag. The reality is more like a captured bubble, or fluid flowing in a container, squirming, writhing, creating significant handling problems all on it's own.
I guess it's like having a bag full of water, but upside-down.
that is why in successful airships the gas was contained in numerous cells within the structure. The same issues confronted the designers of early submersible boats. Water sloshing in large ballast tanks. The same solution is used, compartmentalization. Big liquid tankers (trucks, railcars) also have baffles for the same reason.
A 52 year old woman who witnessed the event exclaimed "That Giant Sausage Will Not Fly!!!".
Yeah, it was the wurst.
@@emilyadams3228 She was really bunned about it.
When you're lighter than air, then anything that moves the air moves you. Which is the Achilles heels of these ships.
@@ralphgesler5110 They already know.
One of their airships is a survivor from the navy, and a mystery disappearance of two Sailors.
Man that was one odd looking airship. Awesome story
Reminds me of the sandworms in the original movie version "Dune".
Flying sausage 🌭
I was reading an old Air&Space magazine my father gave me. As I read yet another theory on why Hindenburg died, I noticed my father had made some notes above the text. Turns out, he knew the “Oh, the humanity” guy. He used to deliver copy to the guy when he was a young intern at the radio station the famous reporter worked for. I am one hand shake away from Lakehurst. Kind of humbling.
Herbert Morrison, station WJS.
While wrong about almost everything else, Morrell was right in emphasizing the important role that aluminum would eventually play in the aviation industry. But, it still took another 30 years for aluminum to replace wood and canvas.
Berkley protesting the Interference of legitimate enterprise? May, times have changed...
“Oscar Meyer Airship Company’ with pilot Frank Furter. Yep, read all about it. 👍👍👍
Yet another hot dog who couldn’t cut the mustard, & as a result, was always playing ketchup.
@@emilyadams3228 I condiment your quip and relish your reply.
@@indowneastmaine Oo, that’s a tough one to follow. I’m afraid you’ve left me in quite the pickle.
I bun told
When all was done
Canvas peeled
Like an onion.
The crowd picked over the bones of the crashed airship like seagulls discovering a beached whale.
Seagulls are tenacious creatures. I saw one kick a bald eagle's ass in for it once. Gull 1 eagle 0. That's why there's more gulls than eagles.
San Francisco hasn't changed a bit.
Same thing happened with the Shenandoah in 1925. Vultures.
People and the words "free stuff" go hand in hand.
@@ericpatterson6031 Same thing happened with the Red Baron's plane in 1917.
That was one of your better videos. I had never heard of this, I would guess for obvious reasons.
That was a sad looking airship,and the first time I've heard of said ship...however man never gave up.very interesting piece of history.
The sight of a flying Hotdog is something otherworldly.
I’ve heard that Edison had 700 failures before he perfected the light bulb. At least he tried.
It wasn't even his discovery. Very little if anything actually was.
@@Useaname Discovering something isn't always the same as perfecting an idea and making it practical.
well, history guy, i am honored, it is, among other things, my birthday and i have had more than my share of those and am happy to spread the rest in equal measure around the globe and beyond, so, happy birthday all....!
Airships are such a great idea… in a world where no other transportation system had ever been invented or even imagined, they’d surely have taken off.
But you’d need help from a bank, & no one would want to ride w/you. So you’d have to float alone.
The first public demonstration of heavier than air flight in the western hemisphere was made in April 29, 1905 in Santa Clara California by Daniel Maloney flying a glider designed by John Joseph Montgomery, dropped from a hot air balloon from 4,000 feet, witnessed by a crowd of thousands. Montgomery had built and flown a manned glider in 1883-4, as depicted in the Columbia Pictures movie Gallant Journey.
That's some history that deserves to be remembered.
You must mean the first demonstration of heavier than air flight on the West Coast since Kitty Hawk,NC is also in the Western Hemisphere. But a dropped glider is also substantially less of an accomplishment than powered flight.
@@Sagart999 Kitty Hawk was not a public demonstration. The Wrights first public demonstration was in France. All of the problems of aerodynamics and control can be solved and demonstrated in soaring flight. The flights in Santa Clara were longer in duration than anyone had achieved. No small accompaniment in early aviation.
Taking off from the ground is the thing
@@frankfacts6207 taking off from a rail into constant headwinds is a thing.
@@janbaer3241 Yes, it is called 'Self Sustained Flight" as opposed to gliding.
The Wright brothers were very methodical in doing research and experimentation FIRST, before building an aircraft.
Perhaps if Mr. Morrell had taken that route, he would be remembered differently
I always enjoy watching a new History Guy video, but one subject I noticed is missing from the online history books that might be interesting to make a video on and is also reaching its 159yr anniversary. The battle of Portland Harbor (Maine), June the 27th, 1863. A battle that is little remembered by anyone, but involves treachery, steamboats, explosions, cannons, armed civilians, and piracy.
Sounds akin to a Saturday night in Portland, Maine.
I don't think Morrell was running a stock swindle. If that were the case he likely wouldn't have gone to the expense of building such a huge and costly prototype, nor would he have placed himself at risk. I think it's much more likely he was just a guy with a big idea who lacked the knowledge to pull it off successfully.
I hope you do one on the Vinn Fizz, first transcontinental flight. The craft was so failure-prone that the plane that arrived was, in large part, not the plane that left!
It looks like a cross between a Dune sandworm and the alien probe that was calling to whales in a Star Trek movie. Considering it's bent, semiflaccid state, it should have been named the "Priapis"!
They should’ve been able to fly it semi-flaccid. I mean, it’s not hard.
It up and came in the end.
So glad you said that. From 2:05 on, there was nowhere else my mind would go. If only it had been able to find the female it broke away to search for ...
I see what you did.
Great episode. Made my Monday soar. Loved the touch of humor, a real gas. THG does it again!
If that floated by back in the 60's all the hippies would have thought it was the biggest " joint" they've ever seen and would have tried to smoke it. " Damn dude! It's a flying reefer!".
And it was all sewn together with hemp.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel You're just to sharp!
If the engineering was better,, it might have pierced the fabric of space and time like the Millennium Falcon.
The hype and craziness of the era only rivals that of our own. History repeats itself.
Another great early airship story you should look into - The Thomas B. Slate airship company at Glendale CA's Grand Central Air Terminal, building a truly bizarre ALL-metal airship in the late 1920's.
Was that the "Tin Bubble"?
Looks like Bezos wasn't the first to brave the skies in a...suggestive vessel. Mr. Morrel was also a bit of a braggart, claiming the craft to be "to scale".
And it, um, deflated rather early, didn’t it?
My mom was born and raised in Berkeley, went to BHS and Cal. I grew up in Oakland, know Berkeley well. I never heard of this before your video.
These videos are both interesting and entertaining, oh and yes educational.
Yup. Esoteric history is neat.
I see this kind of story in modern experimental aircraft where some knowledge is dangerous. Buying an aircraft kit, used aircraft or "whipping up" a modification does not make one a professional aeronautics engineer. It's amazing that the gas bag did not explode and that in the crash that no one was killed. One of your most interesting stories. Thank you for posting.
Question fine sir. AT 1.25 you refer to “Count Von Hindenburg” builder of L-3. I think you’ve got some names switched around. Always thought Count Von Hindenburg was a famous German General from WWI, later to become president over Germany prior to Hitler. Yes, and who the famed LZ-129 Hindenburg is named after. That it was Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin that was the inventor/ designer of Zeppelins. That the ships he designed bore his name
Now, which X-Wing Fighter is upon thy shelf??? T-65, T-70, or the advanced T-85? Then of course who is the pilot?
Fun fact: When Zeppelin was a young man he traveled to the US as during the American civil war. Bugging Lincoln to let him observe military tactics, he ended up in the camp of Franz Sigel of the Union Army
History repeats itself. Just a few miles South, stands Ames Research Center, and two huge airship hangars next to it. Morrell was looking for venture capital. Same place, PARC research ideas fueled the start of Apple and Microsoft, and of course before them HP and Xerox and later Google, Adobe... Then again, like Morrell, were many that not one remembers, not even THG
Ahh yes, the Morrell flying sausage. Never again will we sausage lovers get such a treat.
Usually you seem get it right but it was Count von Zeppelin not "Count von Hindenburg" who was building large airships in Germany. Also you didn't mention the amazing survival story of the crewman on top of the airship envelope and who is clearly visible in several photographs.
All HG has is research of newspaper accounts and perhaps internet research. If the guy on top wasn't mentioned, he has no way of researching it.
YES! Thanks History Guy! Waiting for someone to cover this for a while. :)
Thomas B. Slate built a metal skinned airship, the _City of Glendale,_ in 1924 - 29 at what is now California's Glendale Airport.
It was displayed, tested, but failed due to excess internal pressure before being actually flown.
I love your channel. Thank you for all of the wonderful, well-researched, and entertaining history lessons.
THG makes my Monday mornings just a little bit better each week. Thank you for that!
Youre the best. I love how much your channel has grown since I first found it. Wishing you all the best. Thank you for all your work to bring us entertaining and educational videos!!
Love the aviation content. Keep up the good work. Thank you all the way from Japan 🇯🇵.
Magnificent presentation, HG! A pioneering aeronaut brought to life... 🙂
Even at the time, I'm sure people who knew what they were doing, or people who simply had better reasoning, were sceptical of the flimsest flying vehicle ever built before or since.
Amazing content as always, but I have to say... WOW that looks phallic.
I think it looks like a huge poorly stuffed wiener.
Imagine how much more enthralling it was to the women!
@@denniszaluski3295 or not… 😂
"Does that make you horny, baby?" - Austin Powers
Yes. It looks either like a dick, or a turd.
Japanese monster film fan: "The fool! He should have known that Mothra's CATEPILLAR doesn't fly!"
The sketch of it looks like the UFO 🛸 that crashed into a Windmill in Aurora Texas 1897. I definitely enjoyed your narrative 🙂. GOD BLESS
I have a suspicion that the UFO crash in Aurora was some unknown inventor testing his blimp out before going public with it.
Wow! I've NEVER. Heard of this ship! Wow, great episode and great job thank you THG
Good morning classmates!
As it happens, I'm in Tucson right now, transiting an Airship back across the country to Tennessee. Happy to be part of the rich history of airships.
'Blimpin' ain't easy'!
I've been obsessed with airships since childhood. Thanks for another great video covering a lesser-known event!
Oh, the HILARITY this one had me LMAO from the first picture of it
There is something about your speech and how you describe things that will forever be etched into my mind, thank you for what and how you teach all of us!
I have always enjoyed the descriptive way journalist used before broadcast News was available and your inflection while reading it brings it to life. Have you thought about a cool history guy hat
I consider the crowd taking souvenirs a form of piracy. And don’t all good stories of history involve pirates?
First I heard about this airship. As usual, I learn something new from THG. Thank you, again.
Love THG’s content. Excellent research and story telling
Oh the humanity indeed! Thank you for another great video.
Great work Sir thank you
Excellent as always
In this instance engineering was replaced by 'trail and error'... never a good idea
for such a massive undertaking BUT there were capable engineers and architects
around at the time. Capable humans have around since the beginning of humans.
Not even trial and error. He is putting passengers on board before even a successful flight lol
@@MarkVrem Sounds like a scam to me... but who knows?
The ending is worth every second...even more than the entire piece being worth every second.
Seriously, people.
"Worrrrrth it." As the kids would say...or did say in recent history.
Fabulous, as always THG.
Great episode! Living in a flyover State/ area always made me fascinated with anything in the air. I’ll still stop working just to look up and see what planes I see. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🤘🍿🎥❤️
I assume that "oh the humanity" wasn't lost on anyone! LOL HG
Why do I keep thinking about Elon Musk’s promises to colonize Mars as I watch this?
That dream is dead. Leftists won't allow that now.
Leftists are on a warpath against Elon and are already creating false accusations against him just like how the FBI falsifised evidence against Trump.
@@justtime6736 Well, I am certainly no leftist, 100% Trump, but Musk has made a lot of claims that have fallen short and certainly his time lines are total fiction.
You’re not making a bad comparison
Great video! I never knew about this story before
2:15 IT LOOKS LIKE A GIANT... sausage
And hence, the idea of the "foot-long hot dog" was born...
This guy dream big, and do big. Until he can't do no more. What a dreamers,and doer.
Nothing would have induced me to board that prophylactic sausage. It looked like something out of Heath Robison.
Looks like a product made by a company of a similar name, John Morrell. I'd want it on a bun with mustard and mayonnaise.
With an inventor named Morrell, they should’ve known that the problems would…
mushroom.
Go away.
😂
I can't resist making some comments, the Morrell sausage wilted. Since it was covered in hemp, had it caught fire, would it have been the world's largest 'reefer"?
LOL
I saw that picture and I knew what I wanted for dinner. Sausage with morels.
That was very interesting and informative!
"Oh, the humanity" love it.
THG needs a bit of Morrell Airship for your shelves. Such a great sense of humor with the last line and straight face.
About fifty plus years ago old plans were found of gas filled flying machine designed by a man from Camden, New Jersey. He had apparently built it and piloted it and supposedly demonstrated it to President Lincoln during his administration. I have my doubts because I never heard anywhere that this had actually occurred. A century later these old plans were used to fabricate this “Trifoyle” in a hanger at Mercer County Airport in West Trenton, N.J. It consisted of three large sections, side by side and controlled by thermostats that heated each section independent of one another. It had an article and cover of either Popular Science or Popular Mechanics at the time. There were problems with the material used to hold the helium and the Feds came in over concerns of securities fraud. I saw it at the airport hanger and it sure wasn’t from a lack of effort that it never got off the ground.
Thanks for another great Masterpiece. Your delivery is amazing. For some reason I'm able to retain information much better listening to you as opposed to other narrators. Please consider the story of the USS Pueblo.
Timely, thanks.
Confucius said(or possibly thought) "if it looks like a turd, it'll probably fly like a turd" 😉😁
Thx for the episode, it was very interesting. Being from Germany, I never heard before of the airship.
They should have used ballast, yes. But I admire the men, who dared to try something impossible.
I really amazed to not be seeing any comment to the effect of that when someone hears the name "John Morrell" they usually think of sausage and hot dogs.
Looks like a big, flying Oscar Meyer Weiner.
Great video.
"Oh the humanity!" Good one H.G.
Looks like a flying water irrigation system