Capt. James L. Paladin

The Inventor:

The airship was the creation of Capt. James L. Paladin of San Antonio, Texas, an aeronautical pioneer.

Paladin was an inventor and self-taught aeronaut of smoke-balloons and gliders. He assembled a secret team to carry out his dream project, to build a dirigible.

Paladin accomplished extraordinary feats: He assembled a team of people and built an airship. And just as remarkable, they built the airship underground in a cavernous factory. They dismantled the completed airship and transported it 200 miles north, where they reassembled it for flight. Of course, his most outstanding achievement was launching and piloting the enormous ship across Texas—at least part-way across.

Then, there was a tragic crash, but not before some mysterious events happened.

Little is known about Paladin; his youth was uneventful. We don’t know if he was married or had children. There are no records to back up the title of captain. Nothing is known about his education. But he had a skillset as a clever inventor and master of tools.

It took a fortune to finance such a project. There were local rumors about finding Jim Bowie’s silver hoard. But it is curious why Paladin kept the whole project secret for many years.

Our Small-Team is working on his history.

This is one of the only two known photos of Capt. James L. Paladin.