Graf Zeppelin made 590 flights totalling almost 1.7 million kilometres (over 1 million miles). It was operated by a crew of 36, and could carry 24 passengers. It was the longest and largest airship in the world when it was built. It made the first circumnavigation of the world by airship, and the first nonstop crossing of the Pacific Ocean by air; its range was enhanced by its use of Blau gas as a fuel. It was built using funds raised by public subscription and from the German government, and its operating costs were offset by the sale of special postage stamps to collectors, the support of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and cargo and passenger receipts.
After several long flights between 1928 and 1932, including one to the Arctic, Graf Zeppelin provided a commercial passenger and mail service between Germany and Brazil for five years. When the Nazi Party came to power, they used Graf Zeppelin as a propaganda tool. The airship was withdrawn from service after the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, and scrapped for military aircraft production in April 1940.
During and just after the war, Britain and the United States built airships, and France and Italy experimented with confiscated German ones. In July 1919 the British R34 flew from East Fortune in Scotland to New York and back.[8][nb 2]Luftschiffbau Zeppelin delivered LZ 126 to the US Navy as a war reparation in October 1924. The company chairman Hugo Eckener commanded the delivery flight, and the ship was commissioned as USSLos Angeles(ZR-3).[10][11]
The Treaty of Versailles placed limits on German aviation which the Allies relaxed in 1925. Eckener saw an opportunity to start an intercontinental air passenger service,[12] and began lobbying the government for funds and permission to build a new civil airship.[13] Public subscription raised 2.5millionℛ︁ℳ︁ (the equivalent of US$600,000 at the time,[14] or $11 million in 2018 dollars[15]), and the government granted over 1millionℛ︁ℳ︁ ($4 million).[16][17]
Design and operation
Construction of Graf Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen: the keel and axial gangways are highlighted green with main rings in red; two people are shown in yellow
The LZ 127 was designed by Ludwig Dürr[18][19] as a "stretched" version of the zeppelin LZ 126 rechristened the USS Los Angeles).[20] It was intended from the beginning as a technology demonstrator for the more capable airships that would follow.[21] It was built between 1926 and September 1928 at the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin works in Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, Germany, which became its home port for nearly all of its flights. Its duralumin frame was made of eighteen 28-sided structural polygons joined lengthwise with 16km (10 miles) of girders and braced with steel wire. The outer cover was of thick cotton, painted with aircraft dope containing aluminium to reduce solar heating, then sandpapered smooth. The gas cells were also cotton, lined with goldbeater's skins, and protected from damage by a layer containing 27km (17 miles) of ramie fibre.[20][22]
Graf Zeppelin was 236.6m (776ft) long and had a total gas volume of 105,000m3 (3,700,000cuft), of which 75,000m3 (2,600,000cuft) was hydrogen carried in 17 lifting gas cells (Traggaszelle), and 30,000m3 (1,100,000cuft) was Blau gas in 12 fuel gas cells (Kraftgaszelle).[nb 3] The Graf Zeppelin was built to be the largest possible airship that could fit into the company's construction hangar,[27][28] with only 46cm (18in) between the top of the finished vessel and the hangar roof.[29] It was the longest and most voluminous airship when built,[26][30][nb 4] but it was too slender for optimum aerodynamic efficiency,[31][32] and there were worries that the shape would compromise its strength.[33]
Graf Zeppelin was powered by five Maybach VL II 12-cylinder 410kW (550hp) engines, each of 33.251L (2,029.1cuin) capacity, mounted in individual streamlined nacelles[nb 5] arranged so that each was in an undisturbed airflow.[35] The engines were reversible,[36] and were monitored by crew members who accessed them during flight via open ladders.[32] The two-bladed wooden pusher propellers were 3.4m (11ft) in diameter,[37] and were later upgraded to four-bladed units.[32] On longer flights, the Graf Zeppelin often flew with one engine shut down to conserve fuel.[38]
Graf Zeppelin was the only rigid airship to burn Blau gas;[39][40] the engines were started on petrol[nb 6] and could then switch fuel.[24] A liquid-fuelled airship loses weight as it burns fuel, requiring the release of lifting gas, or the capture of water from exhaust gas or rainfall, to avoid the vessel climbing. Blau gas was only slightly heavier than air, so burning it had little effect on buoyancy.[42][43] On a typical transatlantic journey, the Graf Zeppelin used Blau gas 90% of the time, only burning petrol if the ship was too heavy, and used ten times less hydrogen per day than the smaller zeppelin L 59 did on its Khartoum flight in 1917.[44][nb 7]
Graf Zeppelin typically carried 3,500kg (7,700lb) of ballast water and 650kg (1,430lb) of spare parts, including an extra propeller.[45]Calcium chloride was added to the ballast water to prevent freezing. The ship retained grey water from the sinks for use as additional ballast.[46] Both fresh and waste water could be moved forward and aft to control trim.[47]
The airship usually took off vertically using static lift (buoyancy), then started the engines in the air, adding aerodynamic lift.[48] Normal cruising altitude was 200m (650ft); it climbed if necessary to cross high ground or poor weather, and often descended in stormy weather.[49] To measure the wind speed over the sea, and calculate drift, floating pyrotechnic flares were dropped.[50]
When preparing to land, the crew advised the ground either by radio or signal flag. Ground crew lit a smoky fire to help the airshipmen judge wind speed and direction. The airship slowed, then adjusted buoyancy to neutral by valving off hydrogen or dropping ballast. Echo sounding with the report from an 11-mm blank round was used to measure altitude accurately.[51][52][nb 8] The ship flew in with its nose trimmed slightly down, made its final approach into the wind descending at 30m (100ft) per minute, then used reverse thrust to stop over the landing flag, where it dropped ropes to the ground. Landing in rough weather required a faster approach.[54][55] Up to 300 people manhandled the airship into a hangar or secured it by the nose to a mooring mast.[56][57]
Graf Zeppelin's top airspeed was 128km/h (36m/s; 80mph; 69kn) at 1,980kW (2,650hp); it cruised at 117km/h (33m/s; 73mph; 63kn), at 1,600kW (2,150hp). It had a total lift capacity of 87,000kg (192,000lb) with a usable payload of 15,000kg (33,000lb) on a 10,000km (6,200mi; 5,400nmi) flight.[28] It was slightly unstable in yaw,[58] and to make it easier to fly, had an automatic pilot which stabilised it in that axis.[53] Pitch was controlled manually by an elevatorman who tried to limit the angle to 5° up or down, so as not to upset the bottles of wine which accompanied the elaborate food served on board.[59] Operating the elevators was so demanding and strenuous that an elevatorman's shift was only four hours, reduced to two in rough weather.[59]
Layout
Gondola deck plan
The operational spaces, common areas, and passenger cabins were built into a gondola structure in the forward part of the airship's ventral surface, with the flight deck well forward in a "chin" position.[60] The gondola was 30 metres (98ft) long and 6 metres (20ft) wide;[61] its streamlined design reflected contemporary aesthetics,[62][63] minimised overall height, and reduced drag.[39] Behind the flight deck was the map room, with two large hatches to allow the command crew to communicate with the navigators, who could take readings with a sextant through the two large windows.[32] There was also a radio room and a galley with a double electric oven and hot plates.[64]
Theo Matejko's drawing of the crew accommodation on the keel corridor from the first transatlantic flight
The galley staff served three hot meals a day in the main dining and sitting room, which was 5 metres (16ft) square.[65] It had four large arched windows, wooden inlays, and Art Deco-upholstered furniture.[63][66] Between meals, the passengers could socialise and look at the scenery. On the round-the-world flight, there was dancing to a phonograph, fine wine, and Ernst Lehmann, one of the officers, played the accordion.[67] A corridor led to ten passenger cabins capable of sleeping 24, a pair of washrooms, and dual chemical toilets.[46] The passenger cabins were set by day with a sofa, which converted at night into two beds.[68] The cabins were often cold, and on some sectors passengers wore furs and huddled under blankets to stay warm.[69] There was a noticeable smell from the Blau gas, especially when the ship was stationary.[70][71]
A ladder from the map room led up to the keel corridor inside the hull, and accommodation for the 36 crewmen. Officers' quarters were towards the nose;[72] behind them were the baggage store, the crew mess room, and the quarters for the ordinary crew, who slept in wire-frame beds with fabric screens.[51] Also along this corridor were petrol, oil and water tanks, and stowage for cargo and spare parts. Branches from the keel corridor led to the five engine nacelles, and there were ladders up to the axial corridor, just below the ship's main axis, which gave access to all the gas cells.[73]
Electrical and communications systems
Many people were needed to hold down the airship. The ram air turbine electric generator is just under the radio room window.
The main generating plant was in a separate compartment mostly inside the hull. Two 8.9kW (12hp)Wanderer car engines adapted to burn Blau gas, only one of which operated at a time, drove two Siemens & Halske dynamos each. One dynamo on each engine powered the oven and hotplates, and one the lighting and gyrocompass. Cooling water from these engines heated radiators inside the passenger lounge.[74] Two ram air turbines attached to the main gondola on swinging arms provided electrical power for the radio room, internal lighting, and the galley. Batteries could power essential services like radios for half an hour,[75][76] and there were small petrol generators for emergency power.[76]
Three radio operators used a one-kilowatt vacuum tube transmitter (about 140 W antenna power) to send telegrams over the low frequency (500–3,000m) bands.[75] A 70 W antenna power emergency transmitter carried telegraph and radio telephone signals over 300–1,300m wavelength bands.[68][75] The main aerial consisted of two lead-weighted 120-metre (390ft)-long wires deployed by electric motor or hand crank; the emergency aerial was a 40-metre (130ft) wire stretched from a ring on the hull.[75] Three six-tube receivers served the wavelengths from 120 to 1,200m (medium frequency), 400 to 4,000m (low frequency) and 3,000 to 25,000m (overlapping low frequency and very low frequency).[75] The radio room also had a shortwave receiver for 10 to 280m (high frequency).[75]
A radio direction finder used a loop antenna to determine the airship's bearing from any two land radio stations or ships with known positions.[68] During the first transatlantic flight in 1928, the radio room sent 484 private telegrams and 160 press telegrams.[75]
The LZ 127 was christened Graf Zeppelin by Countess Brandenstein-Zeppelin on 8 July 1928, after her father Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the founder of the company, on the 90th anniversary of his birth.[77][78] During most of its career, it was operated by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin's commercial flight arm, DELAG, in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG); for its final two years it flew for the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (DZR).
Passengers paid premium fares to fly on the Graf Zeppelin (1,500ℛ︁ℳ︁ from Germany to Rio de Janeiro in 1934, equal to $590 then,[79] or $13,000 in 2018 dollars[15]), and fees collected for valuable freight and air mail also provided income. On the first transatlantic flight, Graf Zeppelin carried 66,000 postcards and covers.[80]
Eckener had earned his doctorate in Psychology at Leipzig University under Wilhelm Wundt,[81] and could use his knowledge of mass psychology to the benefit of the Graf Zeppelin.[82] He identified safety as the most important factor in the ship's public acceptance, and was ruthless in pursuit of this.[83] He took complete responsibility for the ship, from technical matters, to finance, to arranging where it would fly next on its years-long public relations campaign, in which he promoted "zeppelin fever".[84][85] On one of the Brazil trips British Pathé News filmed on board.[86] Eckener cultivated the press, and was gratified when the British journalist Lady Grace Drummond-Hay wrote, and millions read, that:
The Graf Zeppelin is a ship with a soul. You have only to fly in it to know that it's a living, vibrant, sensitive and magnificent thing.[87]
Graf Zeppelin was greeted by large crowds on most of its early voyages. There were 100,000 at Moscow and possibly 250,000 at Tokyo to see it.[88][89] At Stockholm, spectators launched firework rockets around it, and on the return flight from Moscow it was punctured by rifle shots near the Soviet Union-Lithuania border.[90] On one visit to Rio de Janeiro people released hundreds of small toy petrol-burning hot air balloons near the flammable craft.[91] The airship captured the public imagination and was used extensively in advertising.[92] On visits to England, it photographed Royal Air Force bases, the Blackburn aircraft factory in Yorkshire, and the Portsmouth naval dockyard; it is likely that this was espionage at the behest of the German government.[93]
Proving flights
During 1928, there were six proving flights. On the fourth one, Blau gas was used for the first time. Graf Zeppelin carried Oskar von Miller, head of the Deutsches Museum; Charles E. Rosendahl, commander of USS Los Angeles; and the British airshipmen Ralph Sleigh Booth and George Herbert Scott. It flew from Friedrichshafen to Ulm, via Cologne and across the Netherlands to Lowestoft in England, then home via Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden, a total of 3,140 kilometres (1,950mi; 1,700nmi) in 34 hours and 30 minutes.[94] On the fifth flight, Eckener caused a minor controversy by flying close to Huis Doorn in the Netherlands, which some interpreted as a gesture of support for the former Kaiser Wilhelm II who was living in exile there.[95][96]
First intercontinental flight (1928)
A piece of the damaged fabric removed from Graf Zeppelin in October 1928
In October 1928, Graf Zeppelin made its first intercontinental trip, to Lakehurst Naval Air Station, New Jersey, US, with Eckener in command and Lehmann as first officer.[nb 9] Rosendahl and Drummond-Hay flew the outward leg.[98][80]Ludwig Dettmann and Theo Matejko made an artistic record of the flight.[99]
On the third day of the flight, a large section of the fabric covering of the port tail fin was damaged while passing through a mid-ocean squall line,[100] and volunteer riggers (including Eckener's son, Knut) climbed outside the airship and made repairs to the torn fabric. Eckener directed Rosendahl to make a distress call; when this was received, and nothing else was heard from the airship, many believed it was lost.[101] After the ship arrived safely, there was some annoyance from the Lakehurst personnel that the Zeppelin had not answered repeated calls for its position and estimated arrival time. Eckener explained that because the airship was forced to fly at a reduced speed due to the damaged fin, the wind-driven generator could not generate enough power to send messages.[102] The 9,926km (6,168mi; 5,360nmi) crossing, the longest non-stop flight at the time, had taken 111 hours 44 minutes.[103]
Clara Adams became the first female paying passenger to fly transatlantic on the return flight.[104] The ship endured an overnight gale that blew it backwards in the air and 320km (200mi; 170nmi) off course, to the coast of Newfoundland.[105] A stowaway boarded at Lakehurst and was discovered in the mail room mid-voyage.[106][107] The airship returned home and on 6 November flew to Berlin Staaken, where it was met by the German president, Paul von Hindenburg.[108]
Mediterranean flights (1929)
Graf Zeppelin over Jerusalem on 26 March 1929.
Graf Zeppelin visited Mandatory Palestine in late March 1929. At Rome it sent greetings to Benito Mussolini and King Victor Emmanuel III. It entered Palestine, flew over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and descended to near the surface of the Dead Sea, 430m (1,400ft) below sea level. The ship delivered 16,000 letters in mail drops at Jaffa, Athens, Budapest and Vienna.[109] The Egyptian government (under pressure from Britain) refused it permission to enter their airspace.[110] The second Mediterranean cruise flew over France, Spain, Portugal and Tangier,[111] then returned home via Cannes and Lyon on 23–25 April.[112][113]
Forced landing in France (1929)
Emergency landing in France, May 1929
On 16 May 1929, on the first night of its second trip to the US, Graf Zeppelin lost four of its engines.[114] With Eckener struggling for a suitable place to force-land, the French Air Ministry allowed him to land at Cuers-Pierrefeu, near Toulon.[115] Barely able to control the ship, Eckener made an emergency landing.[116] The incident, and the forced comradeship it engendered, softened France's attitude to Germany and its airships slightly.[117] The incident was caused by adjustments that had been made by the chief engineer to the four engines that failed.[118][119]
On 4 August, the airship made it to Lakehurst on the second attempt. Aboard was Susie, an eastern gorilla who had been captured near Lake Kivu in the Belgian Congo and sold by her German owner to an American dealer.[120][121]
Round-the-world flight (1929)
Graf Zeppelin and USS Los Angeles in the airship hangar at NAS Lakehurst, August 1929Drummond-Hay on board the Graf Zeppelin, August 1929Graf Zeppelin over Tokyo on 19 August 1929
American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst's media empire paid half the cost of the project to fly Graf Zeppelin around the world,[122] with four staff on the flight; Lady Hay Drummond-Hay, Karl von Wiegand, Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins, and cameraman Robert Hartmann. Drummond-Hay became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air.[123][nb 10] Hearst stipulated that the flight in August 1929 officially start and finish at Lakehurst.[125][126] Round-the-world tickets were sold for almost $3000 (equivalent to $53,000in 2023),[15] but most participants had their costs paid for them.[127] The flight's expenses were offset by the carriage of souvenir mail between Lakehurst, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.[122] A US franked letter flown on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst required $3.55 (equivalent to $63in 2023)[15] in postage.
Graf Zeppelin set off from Lakehurst on 8 August, heading eastwards.[128] The ship refuelled at Friedrichshafen, then continued across Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union to Tokyo. After five days at a former German airship shed that had been removed from Jüterbog and rebuilt at Kasumigaura Naval Air Station,[129][130]Graf Zeppelin continued across the Pacific to California. Eckener delayed crossing the coast at San Francisco's Golden Gate so as to come in near sunset for aesthetic effect.[131][132] The ship landed at Mines Field in Los Angeles, completing the first ever nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean.[133][134] The takeoff from Los Angeles was difficult because of high temperatures and an inversion layer. To lighten the ship, six crew and some cargo were sent on to Lakehurst by aeroplane.[135] The airship suffered minor damage from a tail strike and barely cleared electricity cables at the edge of the field.[32][136] The Graf Zeppelin arrived back at Lakehurst from the west on the morning of 29 August, three weeks after it had departed to the east.
Flying time for the four Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days, 12 hours, and 13 minutes; the entire circumnavigation (including stops) took 21 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes to cover 33,234km (20,651mi; 17,945nmi).[132][137] It was the fastest circumnavigation of the globe at the time.[138]
Eckener became the tenth recipient and the third aviator to be awarded the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society, which he received on 27 March 1930 at the Washington Auditorium.[139] Before returning to Germany, Eckener met President Herbert Hoover, and successfully lobbied the US Postmaster General for a special three-stamp issue (C-13, 14 & 15) for mail to be carried on the Europe-Pan American flight due to leave Germany in mid-May.[140][141] Germany issued a commemorative coin celebrating the circumnavigation.[126]
On 26 April 1930, Graf Zeppelin flew low over the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in England, dipping in salute to King George V, then briefly moored alongside the larger R100 at Cardington.[55] On 18 May, it left on a triangular flight between Spain, Brazil, and the US, carrying 38 passengers, many of them in crew accommodation.[135] The ship arrived at Recife (Pernambuco) in Brazil, docking at Campo do Jiquiá on 22 May, where 300 soldiers helped land it.[142][143] It then flew to Rio de Janeiro, where there was no post to tether to, so it was held down by the landing party for the two hours of the visit.[142][144]
During the flight north via Recife to Lakehurst, a storm damaged the rear engine nacelle, which was repaired in the hangar at Lakehurst. During ground handling of the airship there, it suddenly lifted, causing serious injury to one of the US Marines who was assisting.[145] A few hours from home, when the Graf Zeppelin flew through a heavy hailstorm over the Saône, the envelope was damaged and the ship lost lift. Eckener ordered full power and flew the ship out of trouble, but it came within 200 feet of hitting the ground.[146][147]
The Europe-Pan American flight was largely funded by the sale of special stamps issued by Spain, Brazil, and the US for franking mail carried on the trip. The US issued stamps in three denominations: 65¢, $1.30, and $2.60, all on 19 April 1930.[148]
Middle East flight (1931)
The second flight to the Middle East took place in 1931, beginning on 9 April. Graf Zeppelin crossed the Mediterranean to Benghazi in Libya, then flew via Alexandria, to Cairo in Egypt, where it saluted King Fuad at the Qubbah Palace, then visited the Great Pyramid of Giza and hovered 70 feet above the top of the monument.[110] After a brief stop, the ship flew to Palestine where it circled Jerusalem, then returned to Cairo to pick up Eckener, who had stayed for an audience with the King. It returned to Friedrichshafen on 13 April.[110]
Polar flight (1931)
USSR franked postcard delivered to the MalyginThe Graf Zeppelin and icebreaker Malygin on a Soviet stamp (1931)
The polar flight (Polarfahrt 1931) lasted from 24 to 31 July 1931. The ship rendezvoused with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin, which had Italian polar explorer Umberto Nobile aboard. It exchanged 120kg (260lb) of souvenir mail with the airship, which Eckener landed on the Arctic Ocean.[149] Fifty thousand cards and letters, weighing 300kg (660lb), were carried. The costs of the expedition were met largely by the sale of special postage stamps issued by Germany and the Soviet Union to frank the mail carried on the flight.[150][151]
Writer Arthur Koestler was one of two journalists on board, along with a multinational team of scientists led by Soviet Professor Samoilowich, who measured the Earth's magnetic field, and a Soviet radio operator.[152][153] The expedition photographed and mapped Franz Josef Land accurately for the first time, and came within 910 kilometres (570mi; 490nmi) of the North Pole.[154] It deployed three early radiosondes over the Arctic to collect meteorological data from the upper atmosphere.[155]
South American operations (1931–1937)
Graf Zeppelin over Rio de Janeiro on 25 May 1930
From the beginning, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin had plans to serve South America.[156][157] There was a large community of Germans in Brazil, and existing sea connections were slow and uncomfortable.[158]Graf Zeppelin could transport passengers over long distances in the same luxury as an ocean liner, and almost as quickly as contemporary airliners.[159]
Graf Zeppelin made three trips to Brazil in 1931[160] and nine in 1932.[161] The route to Brazil meant flying down the Rhône valley in France, a cause of great sensitivity between the wars. The French government, concerned about espionage, restricted it to a 12nmi (22km; 14mi)-wide corridor in 1934. Graf Zeppelin was too small and slow for the stormy North Atlantic route,[162][163] but because of the Blau gas fuel, could carry out the longer South Atlantic service.[44] On 2 July 1932 it flew a 24-hour tour of Britain.[105]
Food and drinks service on board was of a high standard.
The airship's cotton envelope absorbed moisture from the air in humid tropical conditions. When the relative humidity reached 90%, the ship's weight rose by almost 1,800 kilograms (4,000lb).[169] Exposure to tropical downpours could greatly add to this, but when under way the ship had enough reserve power to generate dynamic lift to compensate.[170] In April 1935 it made a rough forced landing at Recife after it was caught in a rainstorm at low speed on the approach to land and the added weight of several tons of water caused it to sink to the ground. The lower rudder was lost, the outer envelope was ripped in several places, and a petrol tank was punctured by a palm tree.[91][171]
In late 1935 Graf Zeppelin operated a temporary postal shuttle service between Recife and Bathurst, in the British African colony of the Gambia. On 24 November, during the second trip, the crew learned of an insurrection in Brazil, and there was some doubt whether it would be possible to return to Recife. Graf Zeppelin delivered its mail to Maceió, then loitered off the coast for three days until it was safe to land, after a flight of 118 hours and 40 minutes.[172]
Airship hangar near Rio de Janeiro
Brazil built a hangar for airships at Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport, near Rio de Janeiro, at a cost of $1million (equivalent to $22 million in 2018 [15]). Brazil charged the DZR $2000 ($44,000[15]) per landing, and had agreed that German airships would land there 20 times per year, to pay off the cost.[173] The hangar was constructed in Germany and the parts were transported and assembled on site. It was finished in late 1936,[174] and was used four times by Graf Zeppelin and five by Hindenburg.[175] It now houses units of the Brazilian Air Force.[174]
Graf Zeppelin made 64 round trips to Brazil, on the first regular intercontinental commercial air passenger service,[176] and it continued until the loss of the Hindenburg in May 1937.[175]
Propaganda (1936)
Eckener was outspoken about his dislike of the Nazi Party, and was warned about it by Rudolf Diels, the head of the Gestapo.[177][178] When the Nazis gained power in 1933, Joseph Goebbels (Reich Minister of Propaganda) and Hermann Göring (Commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe) sidelined Eckener by putting the more sympathetic Lehmann in charge of a new airline, Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (DZR), which operated German airships.[179]
On 7 March 1936, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, German troops reoccupied the Rhineland. Hitler called a plebiscite for 29 March to retrospectively approve the reoccupation, and adopt a list of exclusively Nazi candidates to sit in the new Reichstag. Goebbels commandeered Graf Zeppelin and the newly launched Hindenburg for the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.[180] The airships flew in tandem around Germany before the vote, with a joint departure from Löwenthal on the morning of 26 March.[181] They toured the country for four days and three nights, dropping propaganda leaflets, playing martial music and slogans from large loudspeakers, and broadcasting political speeches from a makeshift radio studio on Hindenburg.[182]
Retirement and aftermath
Flying over Germany, late career
The crew heard of the Hindenburg disaster by radio on 6 May 1937 while in the air, returning from Brazil to Germany; they delayed telling the passengers until after landing on 8 May so as not to alarm them.[183][184] The disaster, in which Lehmann and 35 others were killed, destroyed public faith in the safety of hydrogen-filled airships, making continued passenger operations impossible unless they could convert to non-flammable helium. Hindenburg had originally been planned to use helium,[185][186] but almost all of the world's supply was controlled by the US, and its export had been tightly restricted by the Helium Act of 1925.[187]
Graf Zeppelin was permanently withdrawn from service shortly after the disaster.[188][189] On 18 June, its 590th and last flight took it to Frankfurt am Main, where it was deflated and exhibited to visitors in its hangar.[178][190]President Roosevelt supported exporting enough helium for the Hindenburg-class LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II to resume commercial transatlantic passenger service by 1939,[191] but by early 1938, the opposition of Interior SecretaryHarold Ickes, who was concerned that Germany was likely to use the airship in war, made that impossible.[192][193] On 11 May 1938, Roosevelt's press secretary announced that the US would not sell helium to Germany. Eckener, who had unsuccessfully intervened, responded that it would be "the death sentence for commercial lighter-than-air craft."[192][193]Graf Zeppelin II made 30 test, promotional, propaganda and military surveillance flights around Europe using hydrogen between September 1938 and August 1939; it never entered commercial passenger service. On 4 March 1940, Göring ordered Graf Zeppelin and Graf Zeppelin II to be scrapped, and their airframes to be melted down for the German military aircraft industry.[194]
During its career, Graf Zeppelin had flown almost 1.7million km (1,053,391 miles), the first aircraft to fly over a million miles. It made 144 oceanic crossings (143 across the Atlantic, and one of the Pacific), carried 13,110 passengers and 106,700kg (235,300lb) of mail and freight.[195] It flew for 17,177 hours (717 days, or nearly two years),[72] without injuring a passenger or crewman.[196] It has been called "the world's most successful airship",[78][197] but it was not a commercial success; it had been hoped that the Hindenburg-class airships that followed would have the capacity and speed to make money on the popular North Atlantic route.[198]Graf Zeppelin's achievements showed that this was technically possible.[78]
By the time the two Graf Zeppelins were recycled, they were the last rigid airships in the world,[199] and heavier-than-air long-distance passenger transport, using aircraft like the Focke-Wulf Condor and the Boeing 307 Stratoliner, was already in its ascendancy.[200] Aeroplanes were faster, less labour-intensive and safer;[201][202] by 1958 they developed into passenger jets like the Boeing 707 which could cross the Atlantic reliably in a few hours. By 2017 annual air passenger journeys had surpassed 4billion.[203]
A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874 and developed in detail in 1893. They were patented in Germany in 1895 and in the United States in 1899. After the outstanding success of the Zeppelin design, the word zeppelin came to be commonly used to refer to all forms of rigid airships. Zeppelins were first flown commercially in 1910 by Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG (DELAG), the world's first airline in revenue service. By mid-1914, DELAG had carried over 10,000 fare-paying passengers on over 1,500 flights. During World War I, the German military made extensive use of Zeppelins as bombers and as scouts. Numerous bombing raids on Britain resulted in over 500 deaths.
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of its class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company on the shores of Lake Constance in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and was operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company. It was named after Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, who was President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934.
An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air to achieve the lift needed to stay airborne.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s. He founded the company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.
Hugo Eckener was the manager of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and also the commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history. He was also responsible for the construction of the most successful type of airships of all time. An anti-Nazi who was invited to campaign as a moderate in the German presidential elections, he was blacklisted by that regime and eventually sidelined.
USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, which was built in 1923–1924 by the Zeppelin company in Friedrichshafen, Germany, as war reparations. She was delivered to the United States Navy in October 1924 and after being used mainly for experimental work, particularly in the development of the American parasite fighter program, was decommissioned in 1932.
The Hindenburg is a 1975 American Technicolor disaster film based on the 1937 Hindenburg disaster. The film stars George C. Scott. It was produced and directed by Robert Wise, and was written by Nelson Gidding, Richard Levinson and William Link, based on the 1972 book of the same name by Michael M. Mooney.
Max Pruss was the captain of the Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg on its last voyage and a surviving crew member of the disaster.
The Graf Zeppelin was the last of the German rigid airships built by Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class, and the second zeppelin to carry the name "Graf Zeppelin" and thus often referred to as Graf Zeppelin II. Due to the United States refusal to export helium to Germany, the Graf Zeppelin II was inflated with hydrogen and therefore never carried commercial passengers. It made 30 flights over 11 months in 1938–39, many being propaganda publicity flights; but staff of the Reich Air Ministry were aboard to conduct radio surveillance and measurements. The airship, along with its LZ 127 namesake were both scrapped in April 1940, and their duralumin framework salvaged to build aircraft for the Luftwaffe.
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as Zeppelins due to the company's prominence. The name 'Luftschiffbau' is a German word meaning building of airships.
A rigid airship is a type of airship in which the envelope is supported by an internal framework rather than by being kept in shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope, as in blimps and semi-rigid airships. Rigid airships are often commonly called Zeppelins, though this technically refers only to airships built by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin company.
The Hindenburg disaster was an airship accident that occurred on May 6, 1937, in Manchester Township, New Jersey, United States. The LZ 129 Hindenburg was a German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume. It was designed and built by the Zeppelin Company and operated by the German Zeppelin Airline Company. It was named after Generalfeldmarschall Paul von Hindenburg, who was president of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934. Filled with hydrogen, it caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at Naval Air Station Lakehurst. The accident caused 35 fatalities among the 97 people on board, and an additional fatality on the ground.
DELAG, acronym for Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft, was the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service. It operated a fleet of zeppelin rigid airships manufactured by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Corporation. Its headquarters were located in Frankfurt, Germany.
Grace Marguerite, Lady Hay Drummond-Hay was a British journalist, who was the first woman to travel around the world by air. Although she was not an aviator herself at first, she contributed to the glamour of aviation and general knowledge of it, by writing articles about her aerial adventures for US newspapers in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen is a museum in Friedrichshafen in Germany, the birthplace of the Zeppelin airship. The museum houses the largest collection on airship travel in the world, and chronicles the history of the Zeppelin airships. In addition, it is the only museum in Germany that combines technology and art. The museum has been in its current location at the Hafenbahnhof since it was reopened in 1996. The exhibition was designed by HG Merz.
Captain Ernst August Lehmann was a German Zeppelin captain. He was one of the most famous and experienced figures in German airship travel. The Pittsburgh Press called Lehmann the best airship pilot in the world, although he was criticized by Hugo Eckener for often making dangerous maneuvers that compromised the airships. He was a victim of the Hindenburg disaster in 1937.
The two Hindenburg-class airships were hydrogen-filled, passenger-carrying rigid airships built in Germany in the 1930s and named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg. They were the last such aircraft to be constructed, and in terms of their length, height, and volume, the largest aircraft ever built. During the 1930s, airships like the Hindenburg class were widely considered the future of air travel, and the lead ship of the class, LZ 129 Hindenburg, established a regular transatlantic service. The airship's destruction in a highly publicized accident was the end of these expectations. The second ship, LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin, was never operated on a regular passenger service, and was scrapped in 1940 along with its namesake predecessor, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, by order of Hermann Göring.
The static buoyancy of airships in flight is not constant. It is therefore necessary to control the altitude of an airship by controlling its buoyancy: buoyancy compensation.
Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei, abbreviated DZR, is a German limited-liability company that operates commercial passenger zeppelin flights. The current incarnation of the DZR was founded in 2001 and is based in Friedrichshafen. It is a subsidiary of Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik and operates Zeppelin NT "Next Generation" airships. By 2009 the DZR had transported over 55,000 passengers. As of 2012 the DZR flies a schedule of 12 tour routes between March and November in Southern Germany. The company also operates flights to other selected cities as well as charter flights.
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German passenger-carrying, hydrogen-filled rigid airship which flew from 1928 to 1937. It was designed and built to show that intercontinental airship travel was practicable. Its operational history included several long flights, such as a polar exploration mission, a round-the-world trip, trips to the Middle East and the Americas, and latterly being used as a propaganda vehicle for the ruling Nazi Party. The airship was withdrawn from service following the Hindenburg disaster.
References
Notes
↑ L 59 was tasked to deliver supplies to German forces fighting in East Africa. The mission was cancelled, and it returned to Jamboli.[6][7]
↑ The liquid fuel used was a blend of commercial petrol and benzole.[41]
↑ The amount of Blau gas the airship carried could power it for 100 hours; if the ship had had all-hydrogen gas cells and the extra lift had been used to carry petrol, it could have run for only 67.[20]
↑ This was later replaced by a device using compressed air to produce a burst of ultrasound, which was less disturbing for the passengers.[53]
↑ Lehmann commanded most of Graf Zeppelin's flights, 272 to Eckener's 133. Four other captains commanded a total of 100 flights.[97]
↑ A semidocumentary film titled Farewell was released in 2009 which featured much of Hartmann's newsreel footage of her. The film was later aired on BBC under the title Around The World by Zeppelin.[124]
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