Aerial War of the Not-Distant Future (1900)

This illustration of an "aerial battle of the not-distant future" appeared in the November 20, 1900 Duluth Evening Herald (Duluth, MN). As with most of my posts involving newspapers from Minnesota, this image was found in the microfilm library of the Minnesota History Center. A special thank you to the MNHS for keeping their facilities top-notch.

NOW THE THRILLING AERIAL COMBAT. American inventors stimulated by success of the Zeppelin balloon. Airships fighting craft of the future.

Count Zeppelin, the great German balloon-builder, is responsible for a wave of aeronautic enthusiams spreading rapidly over the United States. Our artist has drawn a stirring picture of an aerial battle of the not-distant future.

Previously on Paleo-Future:

• Gigantic Robots to Fight Our Battles (Fresno Bee, 1934)
• Flying Machines (circa 1885)
• Future War Tank (1939)
• Will War Drive Civilization Underground? (1942)
• The Air-Ship or One Hundred Years Hence (1908)
• In The Twentieth Century (Newark Daily Advocate, 1901)
• French Prints Show the Year 2000 (1910)

Comments

[Kedamono]

I like how the artist depicts the gunners firing their weapons stripped to their pants. Bare chested warriors every one!

[Rich Rostrom]

This isn't too silly. I don't know if there ever was an airship-to-airship combat, but there was certainly lots of combat involving airships in World War I.

The 1913 Naval Annual, besides its tables of dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers, had a table of military airships, listing size, displacement, speed, and armament for each.

[Lurker]

@1: That's a throwback to the way gunners on sailing ships fought.

[Ted]

It's not a balloon -- it's an AIRSHIP!!! ;-)