Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

THEY WERE known as Zeppelins and “blimps”, they were used as bombers in the first World War and for several decades later, they provided first-class air travel until the 1937 Hindenburgdisaster.

Now the application of the airship design to monitor offshore drug-smuggling and for remote sensing is being discussed at a European conference in Galway.