What do airships look like in the 1800s?

Say in the later 1700s/early 1800s handwavium is discovered. It's a metal that when heated causes more way more upward lift than hot air or hydrogen/helium produces in similar volumes. Air travel (and thus warfare) becomes possible long before traditional planes are invented. And without the need for lots of gas to lift a small craft, airships become significantly smaller targets.

How does this affect air combat? What engineering challenges would go into building a viable craft with such a material? How might protecting the material factor in?

To sum it up into a single question:

So what do airships look like in this alternate history of handwavium?

If someone wants to do the math I'd say a handwavium bar the size of a water bottle could lift 1 ton.

posted almost 7 years ago

Elazertwist‭

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