Many are surprised to know that it happened in 1937, more than 30 years after heavier-than-air flight was invented!

Of course it is well known that balloons and airships based on hot air, hydrogen, and helium existed before airplanes. But did you know that “For the first thirty years of the twentieth century airships were viewed as a more robust means of transportation than the airplane, consistently surpassing them in range, flight duration, and load-carrying capacity.”? (From the preface of When Giants Ruled the Sky)