The Airship Destroyer
The Airship Destroyer (originally titled Der Luftkrieg Der Zukunft, also titled "The Aerial Torpedo", "The Battle of the Clouds" in the United Kingdom and "The Battle in the Clouds" in the United States) is a 1909 British silent science fiction film directed by Walter R. Booth. Plot A fleet of airships begin an attack on England, bombing an armoured vehicle, a signal box and a town. An inventor and his assistant are preparing to launch a missile in defence. A biplane attempts to shoot down one of the airships, but is destroyed itself. One of the airship's bombs lands on the home of the inventor's lover, whose hand in marriage he had unsuccessfully asked her father for earlier in the day. The inventor rushes to the house and rescues his lover, although her father is dead. Returning to the missile launch site, the inventor successfully launches a surface-to-air missile and destroys the airship. The film ends as the couple embrace. Production Walter R. Booth, who had a background as a magician, was an early pioneer of special effects in film and also of animation. The airships were created using a mixture of cutout animation and models. Release The Airship Destroyer