I just finished reading Jules Verne's Robur the Conqueror, first published in 1886. Think of it as a cut-rate Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea at a somewhat higher elevation. Not quite as intriguing--or is just that I am 45 years older now than when I first encountered Captain Nemo? Still, not a bad way to amuse yourself. Verne clearly saw the future of air travel and air superiority was with heavier-than-air craft, as well as the opportunities for strafing runs.
Like Off On A Comet!, the racism of late Victorian times is clearly apparent in its portrayal of the black servant of one of the Americans, although it is far less blunt than the anti-Semitism of Off On A Comet! You could almost talk yourself into believing that it wasn't a general contempt for black people. Almost.
Made into a movie 40 years ago "Master of the World" with Vincent Price and Charles Bronson. The airship is kind of cool, but the rest is pretty cheesey. Bombing a British fleet which looks like Nelson's and a London that has the Globe Theater. Check Amazon.
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