LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin
Encyclopedia
LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was a German built and operated passenger-carrying hydrogen
-filled rigid airship
which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin
, who was a Graf
or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life, the airship made 590 flights covering more than a million miles. It was designed to be operated by a crew of 36 officers and men.
Built at the Zeppelin Company works (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
) in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee, Germany, between 1926 and 1928, the design of the LZ-127 was patterned on that of the LZ-126 which the company had delivered as a war reparation
to the U.S. Navy at NAS Lakehurst, NJ
in October 1924 where it was commissioned as the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
. With that project completed, the Zeppelin company's chairman Dr. Hugo Eckener
promptly began a two year campaign of lobbying the German Government for funds and permission to proceed with construction of a new airship for Germany. Construction began in 1926 with the aid of a government grant although the majority of the necessary 2,000,000 Reichsmarks (RM) in funding would eventually be raised by public subscription. The LZ 127 was completed and launched in September 1928.
At 236.6 m (776 ft) and a total gas volume of 105,000 m³ (3,707,550 ft³) of which 75,000 m³ (2,648,585 ft³) was hydrogen carried in 17 "lift gas" cells (Traggaszelle) and 30,000 m³ (1,059,435 ft³) was Blau gas
in 12 "power gas" cells (Kraftgaszelle)), the Graf was the largest airship in the world at the time. It was powered by five Maybach
VL-2 12-cylinder 550 hp engines that could burn either Blau gas or gasoline.
Although the Graf could achieve a top airspeed of 128 km/h (80 mph, 70 knots) at its maximum thrust of 2650 hp, its normal operational airspeed was 117 km/h (73 mph, 63 knots) at a thrust of 2150 hp. Some flights were made using only Blau gas carried in the dozen power gas cells which enabled the airship to cruise for up to 100 hours. Using gasoline alone it was able to cruise for 67 hours, and up to 118 hours using both. The Graf Zeppelin had a total lift capacity of 87,000 kilograms (191,800 lbs) with a usable payload of 15,000 kg (33,000 lbs) on a 10000 km (6,213.7 mi) flight.
.
Behind the operational spaces were the main dining and sitting room with four large windows which connected via a long corridor to ten passenger cabins capable of sleeping 24, a pair of washrooms, and dual toilet facilities. The passenger cabins were set by day with a sofa which converted to two beds, one above the other, at night. The crew's quarters were located inside the hull and were reached by a catwalk. The galley was equipped with a single electric oven with two compartments and hot plates on top for cooking.
The main generating plant was inside the hull and consisted of two fuel-burning generators. Two small ram air turbine
s attached to the main gondola on swinging arms supplemented electrical power for the radio room, internal lighting, the galley, and acted as a reserve. Batteries stored the electrical energy so that radio operation was independent of airspeed. The gondola also had a gasoline generator for emergency power.
The Graf was outfitted with the most modern radio equipment then available. A staff of three radio operators communicated with ground stations and ships, performed radio navigation
, received weather reports, and sent private telegram
s for passengers. A one kilowatt vacuum tube
transmitter (about 140 watt antenna power) was used to send telegrams over the Low frequency
(500-3,000 m) bands. A 70 watt antenna power emergency transmitter was available for both telegraph and radio telephone over 300-1,300 m wavelength bands which could be powered by either batteries or the gasoline generator.
The main antenna consisted of two lead weighted 120-meter-long wires deployed by electric motor or hand crank. The emergency antenna was a 40-meter wire stretched from a ring on the airship hull. Three high-quality, six-tube receivers served the wavelength ranges 120 to 1,200 m (medium frequency
), 400 to 4,000 m (low frequency
) and 3,000 to 25,000 m (overlapping low frequency
and very low frequency
). The radio room also had a shortwave receiver for wavelengths 10 to 280 m (high frequency
).
A radio direction finder of the kind then used by large passenger ships employed a rotatable ring antenna to determine the airship's position from any two land radio stations or ship-based transmitters from ships with known positions. During the airship's transatlantic flight to the United States in October 1928, the radio room sent 484 private telegrams and 160 press telegrams.
(1838-1917). The Zeppelin Company had originally planned to charter the LZ 127 to a Spanish company to carry mail from Seville in Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. A contract was signed just before the first flight of the airship with the intention to carry out test flights between Spain and Argentina in 1929.
The Graf's operational career spanned almost nine years from its first flight in September 1928 until its last in June 1937. During that period it was operated first by the Zeppelin Company's commercial flight arm, the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft ("German Airship Travel Corporation") or "DELAG
" in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG), and for its final two years by the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei GmbH
(DZR), a company established by Hermann Göring
in March 1935 to increase Nazi party influence over Zeppelin operations. The DZR was jointly owned by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry), and Deutsche Lufthansa A.G.
, Germany's national airline at that time.
From 1928 to 1932 the airship was used primarily for experimental and demonstration purposes to prepare the way for eventual regular commercial transatlantic passenger service. After making six domestic shake-down flights, the airship made its first long distance journey in mid October 1928 with a crossing of the Atlantic to the United States. Later demonstration flights included its round-the-world tour in 1929, the Europe-Pan American flight in 1930, a polar expedition in 1931, two round trips to the Middle East, and a variety of other flights around Europe. In 1932, however, the Graf began five years of providing regularly scheduled passenger, mail, and freight service between Germany and South America (Brazil). These commercial operations were the airship's principal function during this period until it was abruptly withdrawn from active service on the day after the loss of the Hindenburg in May 1937 after having made a total of 64 trips to Brazil. During its return trip to Germany on its last South American flight for 1933 the Graf also stopped in Miami (NAS Miami at Opa Locka
), Akron (Goodyear-Zeppelin Company Airdock
), and the "Century of Progress
" world's fair in Chicago.
Other flights were also made to Spain London, Berlin and Moscow. During one of the Berlin visits a glider that was released from under its hull performed a loop in front of cheering crowds, and on one of the Brazil trips British Pathé News
filmed on board.
While passengers paid premium fares to fly on the LZ 127 (1,500 RM from Germany to Rio de Janairo), fees collected for both high value freight and air mails provided much if not most of the income needed to support the airship's commercial operations. In one transatlantic flight, for instance, the Graf would carry 52,000 postcards and 50,000 letters, and by its last flight it had carried 106,000 pounds of mails overall. Since 1912 Zeppelins had been authorized to postmark and sort mails on board and it could deliver South America-bound post about a week faster than by ship.
During its career the Graf Zeppelin flew more than 1.7 million km (1,056,000 miles) thus becoming the first aircraft in history to fly over a million miles, made 590 flights, 144 oceanic crossings (143 across the Atlantic, one across the Pacific), carried 13,110 passengers, and spent 17,177 hours aloft (the equivalent of 717 days, or just two weeks shy two years), all of which was accomplished without ever injuring a passenger or crewman. Although the Graf was scrapped in 1940, hundreds of thousands of verifiable philatelic mementos of its career still exist in the form of the flown cacheted
and post marked mails carried on hundreds of its flights which are avidly collected by stamp and postal history enthusiasts worldwide.
In October 1928 the Graf Zeppelin made its first intercontinental trip, a 9926 km (6,167.7 mi), 111 hour crossing from Friedrichshafen
to Lakehurst with Dr. Eckener in command. Capt. Ernst Lehmann, who would be killed in the crash of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst eight and a half years later, served as First Officer on the flight and U.S. Navy LCDR Charles E. Rosendahl
, commander of the ZR-3 USS Los Angeles
(ex-LZ 126), made the westward journey during which he also stood watch as a regular ship's officer. Despite encountering heavy headwinds and stormy weather, Eckener had repeated the success of his first transatlantic crossing four years earlier, when he delivered the LZ-126 to the U.S. Navy in October 1924. Eckener and the crew were welcomed enthusiastically with a "ticker tape" parade
in New York the next day and a subsequent invitation to the White House
.
This first transatlantic trip was not without its difficulties, however, as the airship suffered potentially serious damage to its port tail fin on the third day of the flight when a large section of the linen covering was ripped loose while passing through a mid-ocean squall line at night about 1500 miles (2,414 km) east Bermuda (35N, 42W). With the engines stopped, the ship's riggers did their best to tie down the torn fabric to the framework and sew blankets to the ship's envelope while attempting to not fall to the raging seas just below. In the interest of safety, the riggers (including Dr. Eckener's son, Knut) retreated back into the ship whenever it dropped to within a couple of hundred feet of the ocean's surface. This allowed the engines to be restarted to maintain lift.
The Graf crossed the U.S. coast at Cape Charles, Virginia
, around 10 am on October 15, passed over Washington, D.C., at 12:20 pm, Baltimore
at 1 pm, Philadelphia at 2:40 pm, New York City at 4 pm, and landed at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station at 5:38 pm. After an almost two week stay in the United States and making repairs to its damaged tail, the Graf left Lakehurst for Germany at 1:24 am on October 29 and arrived back in Friedrichshafen shortly before dawn on November 1.
In the spring of 1929 the airship made two trips over the Mediterranean. On the first trip to the eastern Mediterranean in late March 1929, it carried 25 passengers and 16,000 letters to make four mail drops at Jaffa, Athens, Budapest and Vienna. The airship flew over Palestine, Egypt and Athens before returning to Friedrichshafen after completing a journey of 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) in 81 hours. The second Mediterranean cruise took place in late April, flying over France, Spain, Portugal and Tangier. The airship returned to Friedrichshafen after flying north over Cannes and Lyons in a flight of 57 hours.
Although the Graf Zeppelin would eventually have a safe and highly successful almost nine-year career, the airship was almost lost just over half a year after its maiden flight while attempting to make its second trip to the United States in May 1929. Shortly after dark the first night of the flight ("1. Amerikafahrt 1929") on May 16, the airship lost power in two of its five engines while over the Mediterranean off the southwest coast of Spain forcing Dr. Eckener to abandon the trip and turn back toward Friedrichshafen. While flying against a stiff headwind up the Rhône Valley in France the next afternoon, however, two of the remaining three engines also failed and the airship began to be pushed backwards toward the sea.
As Dr. Eckener desperately looked for a suitable place to force-land the airship, the French Air Ministry reluctantly advised him that he would be permitted to land at the Naval Airship Base at Cuers-Pierrefeu
about 10 miles (16.1 km) from Toulon
. There the Graf Zeppelin would be kept in the hangar which had once housed the Diximunde, the former German Navy Zeppelin L-72 and later the LZ-121, Nordstern, a small commercial airship which the Allies had awarded to France and operated until 1926 as the "Mediterranee." Although barely able to control the Graf on its one remaining engine, Eckener managed to make a difficult but successful emergency night landing at Cuers.
After making temporary repairs, the Graf finally returned to Friedrichshafen on May 24 where the engines were completely overhauled. Mails carried on the flight received a one-line rubber stamped notice in German reading "Beförderung verzögert wegen Abbruchs der 1. Ameriksfaht." ("Delivery delayed due to cancellation of the 1st America trip") and were held at Friedrichshafen until August 1, 1929, when the airship made another attempt to cross the Atlantic for Lakehurst, arriving on August 4. Four days later, the Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst for its most daring and famous trip — a four-leg complete circumnavigation of the globe.
At the behest of American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst
, whose media empire was the major commercial backer of the project with four staffers among the flight's nine passengers, the Graf's "Round-the-World" (Weltrundfahrt 1929) flight in August 1929 officially began and ended at Lakehurst Naval Air Station
in New Jersey
. As with many of the airship's other flights, however, its expenses were also heavily offset by the carriage of souvenir mails to and/or from Lakehurst, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A U.S. franked letter flown on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst, for instance, required US$3.55 in postage or the equivalent of roughly $45 in current Dollars if based on the CPI
. The $200,000 Hearst paid for exclusive media rights would currently be the equivalent of $2.5 million if figured on the same basis.
As with the October 1928 flight to New York, Hearst correspondent Lady Grace Drummond-Hay
was on board making her the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by air. Also representing Hearst among the passenger compliment were correspondents Karl von Wiegand and Australian Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, and photographer/newsreel cameraman Robert Hartmann. The US Government was represented by Naval airshipmen LCDR Charles Rosendahl and LT Jack C. Richardson who flew as official observers. A semi-documentary film entitled "Farewell" was released in 2009 which featured much of the newsreel footage of Lady Drummond-Hay shot by Hartmann during the flight. The film was later aired on the BBC under the title "Around The World by Zeppelin".
The Graf Zeppelin flew back across the Atlantic to Friedrichshafen
to refuel before continuing across the vastness of Siberia
to Tokyo (Kasumigaura Naval Air Station) on a 101 hour, 49 minute nonstop leg covering 7297 miles (11,743.4 km). Dr. Eckener believed that some of the lands they crossed in Siberia had never before been seen by modern explorers. After five days in Tokyo, the Graf continued across the Pacific to California, flying first over San Francisco before landing at Mines Field in Los Angeles, completing the first ever nonstop flight of any kind across the Pacific Ocean, covering 5986 miles (9,633.5 km) in 79 hours and 54 minutes.
The 51 hour, 13 minute 2996 miles (4,821.6 km) transcontinental flight across the United States took the Graf over 13 states and the cities El Paso, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit before arriving back at Lakehurst from the west on the morning of August 29, three weeks after it had departed to the east on August 8. Flying time for the four Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days, 12 hours and 13 minutes while the entire circumnavigation (including stops) took 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes and covered 33234 km (20,650.7 mi).
Germany issued a special commemorative silver 3RM coin in 1930 in recognition of the Graf Zeppelin's historic flight. Dr. Eckener's personal accomplishment received acclaim as well when he became just the tenth recipient (third aviator) in 42 years to be awarded the Gold Medal of the National Geographic Society
which was presented to him on March 27, 1930 before a crowd of 5,000 at the Washington Auditorium in Washington, DC. The citation read that Eckener received the award "for his work in furthering the progress of airships, and to commemorate the first around-the-world flight of the Graf Zeppelin." Before returning to Germany Eckener also met with President Herbert Hoover
as well as the US Postmaster General whom he successfully lobbied for a special three stamp issue (C-13, 14 & 15) for use on mails to be carried on the Europe-PanAmerican Flight scheduled to leave Germany seven weeks later in mid-May.
As with so many of its major journeys, the Europe-Pan American flight was largely funded by souvenir mails franked with special stamps issued by Spain, Brazil, and the United States good only for franking mails carried on one or more legs of the trip. The US issued stamps in three denominations: 65¢ (C-13: 1,135,000 printed; approx 20,000 sold/distributed), $1.30 (C-14: 1,005,000; 30,000), and $2.60 (C-14: 1.070.000; 5,000) all three of which were issued on April 19, 1930.
With the US already in the depths of the Great Depression
, however, only about 7% of the very expensive stamps that had been produced had been distributed when the issue was withdrawn from sale on June 30. The more than three million unsold stamps were promptly destroyed by the Post Office thus making the three Graf Zeppelin issues by far the USPOD's smallest of the 20th Century. Despite the poor sales of these issues, the Post Office Department nevertheless paid the Zeppelin Company $100,000 for the carriage of US franked mails on the flight.
The Graf made another groundbreaking flight in July 1931 with a research trip to the Arctic
(Polarfahrt 1931). This adventure had been a dream of Count Zeppelin 20 years earlier but could not be realized at the time due to the outbreak of World War I
. The idea of using an airship to explore the Arctic was one reason used to justify both the building of Graf Zeppelin, and the restoration of Germany's right to build airships for commercial purposes.A year earlier Dr. Eckener had piloted the Graf on a three-day trip to Norway and Spitsbergen
in July 1930 in order to determine its performance in this region. This was followed shortly thereafter by a three-day flight to Iceland. Both trips were completed without technical problems.
The initial idea was to rendezvous with the ill-fated Nautilus
, the submarine
of polar researcher George Hubert Wilkins, who was attempting a trip under the ice. This plan was abandoned, however, when the submarine encountered recurring technical problems leading to its eventual scuttling in a Bergen
fjord
.
Plans were then altered to make a rendezvous with a surface vessel to be funded by exchanging souvenir mails to the ship. Around fifty thousand cards and letters were collected from around the world weighing a total of about 300 kg (661 lbs). The rendezvous vessel, the Russian icebreaker Malygin, on which the Italian airshipman and polar explorer Umberto Nobile
was a guest, carried another 120 kg (265 lbs) of mails to exchange. The major costs of the expedition were met largely by sale of special postage stamps issued by both Germany (as overprints) and the Soviet Union to frank
the mails carried on the flight. The rest of the funding came from Aeroarctic and the Ullstein-Verlag in exchange for exclusive reporting rights.
The polar flight took one week from July 24–31, 1931. The Graf traveled about 10600 km (6,586.6 mi) with the longest leg without refueling being 8,600 km (5,345 mies). The average speed was 88 km/h (55 mph).
Route:
Goals:
All participants were satisfied after the trip: the airship demonstrated its usefulness in the Arctic.
World’s Fair in Chicago. After circling over the fair and making a brief landing there, the Graf then visited the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company's massive airdock at Akron, Ohio. The United States Post Office Department
issued a special 50 cent airmail stamp (C-18) to commemorate the visit. Many of these stamps were used to frank souvenir mails carried on the Graf on its return flight to Germany. The visit was also be the fifth and final one that the LZ 127 would make to the United States.
), as vehicles for the delivery of Nazi propaganda.
On March 7, 1936, ground forces of the German Reich had entered and occupied the Rhineland
, a region bordering the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France, which had been designated in the 1920 Treaty of Versailles
as a de-militarized zone established to provide a buffer between Germany and those neighboring countries. In order to justify its remilitarization
— which was also a violation of the 1925 Locarno Pact, — a "post hoc" plebiscite (or referendum) was quickly called by Hitler for March 29 to "ask the German people" to both ratify the Rhineland’s occupation by the German Army, and to approve a single party list composed exclusively of Nazi candidates to sit in the new Reichstag
.
The two airships were designated by the government as a key part of the process by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
who demanded that the Zeppelin Company make both available to fly "in tandem" around Germany over the four day period prior to the voting with a joint departure from Löwenthal on the morning of March 26. As millions of Germans watched from below, the Graf and Hindenburg sailed over Germany for four days and three nights, dropping propaganda leaflets, blaring martial music and slogans from large loudspeakers, and broadcasting political speeches from a makeshift radio studio on board the Hindenburg.
at Lakehurst on May 7, 1937 shattered public faith in the safety of hydrogen-filled airships making the continuation of their commercial passenger operations unsustainable unless the Graf Zeppelin and the still under construction LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II could convert to non-flammable helium
, the only alternative lifting gas
for airships. Unlike the relatively inexpensive and universally available hydrogen, however, the vast majority of the world's available supplies of the much more costly, less buoyant, and harder to produce helium (it is an extracted byproduct of mined natural gas) were controlled by the United States. Since 1925, the exportation of helium had also been tightly restricted by Congress although there is no record that the German Government had ever applied for an export license for helium to use in its airships prior to the Hindenburg's crash and fire.
Although much safer than hydrogen, the greatly added expense, lack of availability, and overall degradation in lifting performance that converting to helium would impose on the Graf Zeppelin made its continued operation no longer commercially viable. That being the case, one day after the "Hindenburg" crashed in Lakehurst the nine year old LZ 127 was promptly grounded and withdrawn from service upon its arrival in Friedrichshafen on a flight from Brazil on May 8, 1937. Six weeks later on June 18 the airship was ferried to Frankfurt am Main on what would prove to be its 590th and final flight. Upon arrival at its massive hangar at the Frankfurt airport, the airship was deflated and opened to the public as a museum.
While the Graf Zeppelin had already been decommissioned and retired, shortly after the Hindenburg disaster President Roosevelt
approved and forwarded a Cabinet report to Congress that supported the export to Germany of enough helium to permit the soon to be launched Hindenburg Class
LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II (which unlike the LZ 127 was designed to use either hydrogen or helium) to resume commercial transatlantic passenger service by 1939. By early 1938, however, firm opposition by Interior Secretary
Harold Ickes
, formally made in his capacity of one of the six statutory members of the National Munitions Control Board, to a German request to purchase up to 10000000 cubic feet (283,168.5 m³) of helium would prove to make that impossible.
Established by §5(a) of the Neutrality Act of May 1, 1937 (22 U.S.C. 441), the Board (which consisted of the Secretaries of State
, War
, Navy
, Treasury
, Commerce
, and Interior), was vested by the Act with the ultimate authority to both prohibit the export to "belligerent states, or to a state wherein civil strife exists" of any type of "arms, ammunition, and implements of war" as well as restrict the transfer of any other "articles or materials" such as helium which the Government classified as having "military importance."
At a White House
press briefing on May 11, 1938, President Roosevelt's press secretary Stephen Early announced that as the Act required the "unanimous" consent of the Control Board to approve the export of helium to Germany, the President had concluded that he was "without legal power to override the judgment of any one of the six [members] and direct the sale of helium for export." In response to this statement, Dr. Eckener commented later that same day that "should this decision be final, I am afraid it means the death sentence for commercial lighter-than-air craft."
Although the Graf Zeppelin II made 30 test, promotional, propaganda and military surveillance flights around Europe between the airship's launch in mid-September 1938 and its last flight 11 months later on August 20, made just 10 days before the formal start of World War II
in Europe with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the LZ 130 never entered the commercial passenger service for which it was built. The ultimate fates of both the original Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127) and the Graf Zeppelin II (LZ 130) were formally sealed on March 4, 1940, when German Air Minister Hermann Göring
issued a decree ordering both to be immediately scrapped for salvage and their duralumin
airframes and other structures to be melted down for reuse by the German military aircraft industry.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
-filled rigid airship
Rigid airship
A rigid airship is a type of airship in which the envelope retained its shape by the use of an internal structural framework rather than by being forced into shape by the pressure of the lifting gas within the envelope as used in blimps and semi-rigid airships.Rigid airships were produced and...
which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company...
, who was a Graf
Graf
Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...
or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life, the airship made 590 flights covering more than a million miles. It was designed to be operated by a crew of 36 officers and men.
Design and development
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type. The company was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin...
) in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee, Germany, between 1926 and 1928, the design of the LZ-127 was patterned on that of the LZ-126 which the company had delivered as a war reparation
World War I reparations
World War I reparations refers to the payments and transfers of property and equipment that Germany was forced to make under the Treaty of Versailles following its defeat during World War I...
to the U.S. Navy at NAS Lakehurst, NJ
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
in October 1924 where it was commissioned as the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
The second USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, that was built in 1923-1924 by the Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it was originally designated LZ-126...
. With that project completed, the Zeppelin company's chairman Dr. Hugo Eckener
Hugo Eckener
Dr. Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and was 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...
promptly began a two year campaign of lobbying the German Government for funds and permission to proceed with construction of a new airship for Germany. Construction began in 1926 with the aid of a government grant although the majority of the necessary 2,000,000 Reichsmarks (RM) in funding would eventually be raised by public subscription. The LZ 127 was completed and launched in September 1928.
At 236.6 m (776 ft) and a total gas volume of 105,000 m³ (3,707,550 ft³) of which 75,000 m³ (2,648,585 ft³) was hydrogen carried in 17 "lift gas" cells (Traggaszelle) and 30,000 m³ (1,059,435 ft³) was Blau gas
Blau gas
Blau gas was an artificial illuminating gas similar to propane, named after its inventor, Dr. Hermann Blau of Augsburg, Germany. It was manufactured by decomposing mineral oils in retorts by heat and compressing the resulting naphtha until it liquefied. It was transported in this condition, and...
in 12 "power gas" cells (Kraftgaszelle)), the Graf was the largest airship in the world at the time. It was powered by five Maybach
Maybach
Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer. It was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach and his son. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as Luftfahrzeug-Motorenbau GmbH until 1912.Today, the ultra-luxury car brand is owned by...
VL-2 12-cylinder 550 hp engines that could burn either Blau gas or gasoline.
Although the Graf could achieve a top airspeed of 128 km/h (80 mph, 70 knots) at its maximum thrust of 2650 hp, its normal operational airspeed was 117 km/h (73 mph, 63 knots) at a thrust of 2150 hp. Some flights were made using only Blau gas carried in the dozen power gas cells which enabled the airship to cruise for up to 100 hours. Using gasoline alone it was able to cruise for 67 hours, and up to 118 hours using both. The Graf Zeppelin had a total lift capacity of 87,000 kilograms (191,800 lbs) with a usable payload of 15,000 kg (33,000 lbs) on a 10000 km (6,213.7 mi) flight.
Gondola layout
The flight deck and operational spaces, common areas, passenger cabins, and public toilet facilities on the ""Graf Zeppelin" were all contained in a single contiguous "gondola" structure built in to the forward third of the airship's ventral surface. The forward operational spaces consisted of the flight deck, a map/navigation room with two large open access hatches to allow the command crew to communicate with the navigators, radio room, galley, and a short passage to the main entrance-exit door space. An ascending ladder located in the map room allowed access to a keel corridor inside the hull. The map room also had two large windows, one on each side, which permitted navigators to shoot the horizon and sky with a sextantSextant
A sextant is an instrument used to measure the angle between any two visible objects. Its primary use is to determine the angle between a celestial object and the horizon which is known as the altitude. Making this measurement is known as sighting the object, shooting the object, or taking a sight...
.
Behind the operational spaces were the main dining and sitting room with four large windows which connected via a long corridor to ten passenger cabins capable of sleeping 24, a pair of washrooms, and dual toilet facilities. The passenger cabins were set by day with a sofa which converted to two beds, one above the other, at night. The crew's quarters were located inside the hull and were reached by a catwalk. The galley was equipped with a single electric oven with two compartments and hot plates on top for cooking.
Electrical and communications systems
EWLINE
|
The main generating plant was inside the hull and consisted of two fuel-burning generators. Two small ram air turbine
Ram air turbine
A ram air turbine is a small turbine that is connected to a hydraulic pump, or electrical generator, installed in an aircraft and used as a power source...
s attached to the main gondola on swinging arms supplemented electrical power for the radio room, internal lighting, the galley, and acted as a reserve. Batteries stored the electrical energy so that radio operation was independent of airspeed. The gondola also had a gasoline generator for emergency power.
The Graf was outfitted with the most modern radio equipment then available. A staff of three radio operators communicated with ground stations and ships, performed radio navigation
Radio navigation
Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position on the Earth. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination.The basic principles are measurements from/to electric beacons, especially...
, received weather reports, and sent private telegram
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
s for passengers. A one kilowatt vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
transmitter (about 140 watt antenna power) was used to send telegrams over the Low frequency
Low frequency
Low frequency or low freq or LF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 30 kHz–300 kHz. In Europe, and parts of Northern Africa and of Asia, part of the LF spectrum is used for AM broadcasting as the longwave band. In the western hemisphere, its main use is for aircraft beacon,...
(500-3,000 m) bands. A 70 watt antenna power emergency transmitter was available for both telegraph and radio telephone over 300-1,300 m wavelength bands which could be powered by either batteries or the gasoline generator.
The main antenna consisted of two lead weighted 120-meter-long wires deployed by electric motor or hand crank. The emergency antenna was a 40-meter wire stretched from a ring on the airship hull. Three high-quality, six-tube receivers served the wavelength ranges 120 to 1,200 m (medium frequency
Medium frequency
Medium frequency refers to radio frequencies in the range of 300 kHz to 3 MHz. Part of this band is the medium wave AM broadcast band. The MF band is also known as the hectometer band or hectometer wave as the wavelengths range from ten down to one hectometers...
), 400 to 4,000 m (low frequency
Low frequency
Low frequency or low freq or LF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 30 kHz–300 kHz. In Europe, and parts of Northern Africa and of Asia, part of the LF spectrum is used for AM broadcasting as the longwave band. In the western hemisphere, its main use is for aircraft beacon,...
) and 3,000 to 25,000 m (overlapping low frequency
Low frequency
Low frequency or low freq or LF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 30 kHz–300 kHz. In Europe, and parts of Northern Africa and of Asia, part of the LF spectrum is used for AM broadcasting as the longwave band. In the western hemisphere, its main use is for aircraft beacon,...
and very low frequency
Very low frequency
225px|thumb|right|A VLF receiving antenna at [[Palmer Station]], Antarctica, operated by Stanford UniversityVery low frequency or VLF refers to radio frequencies in the range of 3 kHz to 30 kHz. Since there is not much bandwidth in this band of the radio spectrum, only the very simplest signals...
). The radio room also had a shortwave receiver for wavelengths 10 to 280 m (high frequency
High frequency
High frequency radio frequencies are between 3 and 30 MHz. Also known as the decameter band or decameter wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decameters . Frequencies immediately below HF are denoted Medium-frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Very high frequency...
).
A radio direction finder of the kind then used by large passenger ships employed a rotatable ring antenna to determine the airship's position from any two land radio stations or ship-based transmitters from ships with known positions. During the airship's transatlantic flight to the United States in October 1928, the radio room sent 484 private telegrams and 160 press telegrams.
Operational history
The LZ 127 was christened "Graf Zeppelin" by Countess Brandenstein-Zeppelin in July 1928, the 90th anniversary of the birth of her father Ferdinand von ZeppelinFerdinand von Zeppelin
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin was a German general and later aircraft manufacturer. He founded the Zeppelin Airship company...
(1838-1917). The Zeppelin Company had originally planned to charter the LZ 127 to a Spanish company to carry mail from Seville in Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. A contract was signed just before the first flight of the airship with the intention to carry out test flights between Spain and Argentina in 1929.
The Graf's operational career spanned almost nine years from its first flight in September 1928 until its last in June 1937. During that period it was operated first by the Zeppelin Company's commercial flight arm, the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft ("German Airship Travel Corporation") or "DELAG
DELAG
DELAG, an acronym from was the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service. It was founded on November 16, 1909 with government assistance, and operated airships manufactured by Zeppelin Corporation...
" in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG), and for its final two years by the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei GmbH
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung
Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung is a type of legal entityvery common in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other Central European countries...
(DZR), a company established by Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
in March 1935 to increase Nazi party influence over Zeppelin operations. The DZR was jointly owned by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German company which, during the early 20th century, was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, specifically of the Zeppelin type. The company was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin...
, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry), and Deutsche Lufthansa A.G.
Deutsche Luft Hansa
Deutsche Luft Hansa A.G. was a German airline, serving as flag carrier of the country during the later years of the Weimar Republic and throughout the Third Reich.-1920s:Deutsche Luft Hansa was founded on 6 January 1926 in Berlin...
, Germany's national airline at that time.
Opa-locka Airport
Opa-locka Airport , also known as Opa-locka Executive Airport, is a general aviation airport and joint civil-military airfield 10 miles north of Downtown Miami, primarily in metropolitan Miami, Florida, United States, with a portion within the city proper of Opa-locka.The airport's control tower...
), Akron (Goodyear-Zeppelin Company Airdock
Goodyear Airdock
The Goodyear Airdock is an airship storage and construction hangar in Akron, Ohio.-History:Built and previously owned by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, later Goodyear Aerospace, it was constructed from April 20, 1929 to November 25, 1929, at a cost of $2.2 million...
), and the "Century of Progress
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
" world's fair in Chicago.
Other flights were also made to Spain London, Berlin and Moscow. During one of the Berlin visits a glider that was released from under its hull performed a loop in front of cheering crowds, and on one of the Brazil trips British Pathé News
Pathe News
Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...
filmed on board.
During its career the Graf Zeppelin flew more than 1.7 million km (1,056,000 miles) thus becoming the first aircraft in history to fly over a million miles, made 590 flights, 144 oceanic crossings (143 across the Atlantic, one across the Pacific), carried 13,110 passengers, and spent 17,177 hours aloft (the equivalent of 717 days, or just two weeks shy two years), all of which was accomplished without ever injuring a passenger or crewman. Although the Graf was scrapped in 1940, hundreds of thousands of verifiable philatelic mementos of its career still exist in the form of the flown cacheted
Cachet
In philately, a cachet is a printed or stamped design or inscription, other than a cancellation or pre-printed postage, on an envelope, postcard, or postal card to commemorate a postal or philatelic event. There are official and private cachets. They commemorate everything from the first flight...
and post marked mails carried on hundreds of its flights which are avidly collected by stamp and postal history enthusiasts worldwide.
First intercontinental flight (1928)
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...
to Lakehurst with Dr. Eckener in command. Capt. Ernst Lehmann, who would be killed in the crash of the Hindenburg at Lakehurst eight and a half years later, served as First Officer on the flight and U.S. Navy LCDR Charles E. Rosendahl
Charles E. Rosendahl
Charles Emery Rosendahl was a Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, and an advocate of lighter-than-air flight.-Early career:...
, commander of the ZR-3 USS Los Angeles
USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)
The second USS Los Angeles was a rigid airship, designated ZR-3, that was built in 1923-1924 by the Zeppelin factory in Friedrichshafen, Germany, where it was originally designated LZ-126...
(ex-LZ 126), made the westward journey during which he also stood watch as a regular ship's officer. Despite encountering heavy headwinds and stormy weather, Eckener had repeated the success of his first transatlantic crossing four years earlier, when he delivered the LZ-126 to the U.S. Navy in October 1924. Eckener and the crew were welcomed enthusiastically with a "ticker tape" parade
Ticker-tape parade
A ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in a built-up urban setting, allowing large amounts of shredded paper to be thrown from nearby office buildings onto the parade route, creating a celebratory effect by the snowstorm-like flurry...
in New York the next day and a subsequent invitation to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
.
The Graf crossed the U.S. coast at Cape Charles, Virginia
Cape Charles, Virginia
Cape Charles is a town in Northampton County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,134 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Cape Charles is located at ....
, around 10 am on October 15, passed over Washington, D.C., at 12:20 pm, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
at 1 pm, Philadelphia at 2:40 pm, New York City at 4 pm, and landed at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station at 5:38 pm. After an almost two week stay in the United States and making repairs to its damaged tail, the Graf left Lakehurst for Germany at 1:24 am on October 29 and arrived back in Friedrichshafen shortly before dawn on November 1.
Mediterranean flights (1929)
The "interrupted flight" (1929)
As Dr. Eckener desperately looked for a suitable place to force-land the airship, the French Air Ministry reluctantly advised him that he would be permitted to land at the Naval Airship Base at Cuers-Pierrefeu
Cuers
Cuers is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.-External links:****...
about 10 miles (16.1 km) from Toulon
Toulon
Toulon is a town in southern France and a large military harbor on the Mediterranean coast, with a major French naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, Toulon is the capital of the Var department in the former province of Provence....
. There the Graf Zeppelin would be kept in the hangar which had once housed the Diximunde, the former German Navy Zeppelin L-72 and later the LZ-121, Nordstern, a small commercial airship which the Allies had awarded to France and operated until 1926 as the "Mediterranee." Although barely able to control the Graf on its one remaining engine, Eckener managed to make a difficult but successful emergency night landing at Cuers.
After making temporary repairs, the Graf finally returned to Friedrichshafen on May 24 where the engines were completely overhauled. Mails carried on the flight received a one-line rubber stamped notice in German reading "Beförderung verzögert wegen Abbruchs der 1. Ameriksfaht." ("Delivery delayed due to cancellation of the 1st America trip") and were held at Friedrichshafen until August 1, 1929, when the airship made another attempt to cross the Atlantic for Lakehurst, arriving on August 4. Four days later, the Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst for its most daring and famous trip — a four-leg complete circumnavigation of the globe.
Round-the-world flight (1929)
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
, whose media empire was the major commercial backer of the project with four staffers among the flight's nine passengers, the Graf's "Round-the-World" (Weltrundfahrt 1929) flight in August 1929 officially began and ended at Lakehurst Naval Air Station
Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst
JB MDL Lakehurst is a United States Navy base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Lakehurst is under the jurisdiction of the Naval Air Systems Command...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. As with many of the airship's other flights, however, its expenses were also heavily offset by the carriage of souvenir mails to and/or from Lakehurst, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A U.S. franked letter flown on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst, for instance, required US$3.55 in postage or the equivalent of roughly $45 in current Dollars if based on the CPI
Consumer price index
A consumer price index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI, in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of...
. The $200,000 Hearst paid for exclusive media rights would currently be the equivalent of $2.5 million if figured on the same basis.
Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay
Grace Marguerite, Lady Hay Drummond-Hay was a British journalist who was the first woman to travel around the world by air, in a Zeppelin...
was on board making her the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by air. Also representing Hearst among the passenger compliment were correspondents Karl von Wiegand and Australian Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, and photographer/newsreel cameraman Robert Hartmann. The US Government was represented by Naval airshipmen LCDR Charles Rosendahl and LT Jack C. Richardson who flew as official observers. A semi-documentary film entitled "Farewell" was released in 2009 which featured much of the newsreel footage of Lady Drummond-Hay shot by Hartmann during the flight. The film was later aired on the BBC under the title "Around The World by Zeppelin".
The Graf Zeppelin flew back across the Atlantic to Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...
to refuel before continuing across the vastness of Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
to Tokyo (Kasumigaura Naval Air Station) on a 101 hour, 49 minute nonstop leg covering 7297 miles (11,743.4 km). Dr. Eckener believed that some of the lands they crossed in Siberia had never before been seen by modern explorers. After five days in Tokyo, the Graf continued across the Pacific to California, flying first over San Francisco before landing at Mines Field in Los Angeles, completing the first ever nonstop flight of any kind across the Pacific Ocean, covering 5986 miles (9,633.5 km) in 79 hours and 54 minutes.
The 51 hour, 13 minute 2996 miles (4,821.6 km) transcontinental flight across the United States took the Graf over 13 states and the cities El Paso, Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit before arriving back at Lakehurst from the west on the morning of August 29, three weeks after it had departed to the east on August 8. Flying time for the four Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days, 12 hours and 13 minutes while the entire circumnavigation (including stops) took 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes and covered 33234 km (20,650.7 mi).
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
which was presented to him on March 27, 1930 before a crowd of 5,000 at the Washington Auditorium in Washington, DC. The citation read that Eckener received the award "for his work in furthering the progress of airships, and to commemorate the first around-the-world flight of the Graf Zeppelin." Before returning to Germany Eckener also met with President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
as well as the US Postmaster General whom he successfully lobbied for a special three stamp issue (C-13, 14 & 15) for use on mails to be carried on the Europe-PanAmerican Flight scheduled to leave Germany seven weeks later in mid-May.
The Europe-Pan American flight (1930)
In May 1930 the LZ 127 made its first visit to South America as part of a triangular flight between Spain, Brazil, and the United States. Providing passenger, express freight, and air mail service between Germany, Spain and South America was one function which was an early consideration in the design of LZ-127. It was intended in 1928 to offer passage between Friedrichshafen, Germany, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for 1,500 RM ($356). The 1930 flight originated in Friedrichshafen on May 18, stopped in Seville, Pernambuco and Rio de Janiero in Brazil, and Lakehurst, NJ, before heading back east over the Atlantic on June 2 to return to Germany with another stop in Seville. This flight led to the establishment two years later of the Graf's regularly scheduled commercial passenger, mail, and freight service between Germany and Brazil which operated from 1932 to May 1937.With the US already in the depths of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, however, only about 7% of the very expensive stamps that had been produced had been distributed when the issue was withdrawn from sale on June 30. The more than three million unsold stamps were promptly destroyed by the Post Office thus making the three Graf Zeppelin issues by far the USPOD's smallest of the 20th Century. Despite the poor sales of these issues, the Post Office Department nevertheless paid the Zeppelin Company $100,000 for the carriage of US franked mails on the flight.
The Middle East flight (1931)
The Graf Zeppelin had visited Palestine in April 1929 and the second flight to the middle east took place in 1931 beginning on April 9 with a flight to Cairo, Egypt, where the airship landed less than two days later. After a brief stop, the Graf Zeppelin proceeded on to Palestine before returning to Friedrichshafen on April 23, just an hour over four days after departure. The trip took 97 hours, covered 9000 km (5,592.4 mi) and crossed 14 countries on three continents.The polar flight (1931)
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
(Polarfahrt 1931). This adventure had been a dream of Count Zeppelin 20 years earlier but could not be realized at the time due to the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. The idea of using an airship to explore the Arctic was one reason used to justify both the building of Graf Zeppelin, and the restoration of Germany's right to build airships for commercial purposes.A year earlier Dr. Eckener had piloted the Graf on a three-day trip to Norway and Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen
Spitsbergen is the largest and only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Constituting the western-most bulk of the archipelago, it borders the Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Greenland Sea...
in July 1930 in order to determine its performance in this region. This was followed shortly thereafter by a three-day flight to Iceland. Both trips were completed without technical problems.
The initial idea was to rendezvous with the ill-fated Nautilus
USS O-12 (SS-73)
USS O-12 was an O-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 6 March 1916 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut....
, the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
of polar researcher George Hubert Wilkins, who was attempting a trip under the ice. This plan was abandoned, however, when the submarine encountered recurring technical problems leading to its eventual scuttling in a Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....
fjord
Fjord
Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...
.
Umberto Nobile
Umberto Nobile was an Italian aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships during the Golden Age of Aviation between the two World Wars...
was a guest, carried another 120 kg (265 lbs) of mails to exchange. The major costs of the expedition were met largely by sale of special postage stamps issued by both Germany (as overprints) and the Soviet Union to frank
Franking
Franking are any and all devices or markings such as postage stamps , printed or stamped impressions, codings, labels, manuscript writings , and/or any other authorized form of markings affixed or applied to mails to qualify them to be postally serviced.-Franking types and...
the mails carried on the flight. The rest of the funding came from Aeroarctic and the Ullstein-Verlag in exchange for exclusive reporting rights.
The polar flight took one week from July 24–31, 1931. The Graf traveled about 10600 km (6,586.6 mi) with the longest leg without refueling being 8,600 km (5,345 mies). The average speed was 88 km/h (55 mph).
Route:
- Friedrichshafen–Berlin – 600 km (372.8 mi) in 8 hours (75 km/h; 47 mph)
- Berlin–Leningrad – 1400 km (869.9 mi) in 16 hours (87 km/h; 54 mph)
- Leningrad–Kanin – 1300 km (807.8 mi) in 12 hours (108 km/h; 67 mph)
- Kanin–Franz-Joseph-Land – 1200 km (745.6 mi) in 18 hours (67 km/h; 42 mph)
- Franz-Joseph-Land–Nordland–Taimyr–Novaya Zemlya – 2400 km (1,491.3 mi) in 32 hours (75 km/h; 47 mph)
- Novaya Zemlya–Leningrad – 2300 km (1,429.2 mi) in 25 hours (92 km/h; 57 mph)
- Leningrad–Berlin – 1400 km (869.9 mi) in 13 hours (108 km/h; 67 mph)
- Berlin–Friedrichshafen – 600 km (372.8 mi) in 8 hours (75 km/h; 47 mph)
Goals:
- Test the Graf Zeppelin under Arctic conditions
- scientific and geographic research of large areas of the Arctic
- measurement of magnetic field changes
- meteorological measurements (including weather balloon launches)
- geo-photographic recording of large areas with a panoramic camera (that would take years if by ship or by land)
All participants were satisfied after the trip: the airship demonstrated its usefulness in the Arctic.
Century of Progress flight (1933)
While returning to Germany from Brazil in October 1933, the Graf Zeppelin stopped at Miami (NAS Opa Locka) before proceeding to the Century of ProgressCentury of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
World’s Fair in Chicago. After circling over the fair and making a brief landing there, the Graf then visited the Goodyear-Zeppelin Company's massive airdock at Akron, Ohio. The United States Post Office Department
United States Post Office Department
The Post Office Department was the name of the United States Postal Service when it was a Cabinet department. It was headed by the Postmaster General....
issued a special 50 cent airmail stamp (C-18) to commemorate the visit. Many of these stamps were used to frank souvenir mails carried on the Graf on its return flight to Germany. The visit was also be the fifth and final one that the LZ 127 would make to the United States.
Regular airline service (1932-1937)
It was in its last five years of service that Graf Zeppelin proved that an intercontinental commercial airship service was possible. For those five years it operated regular scheduled services during the Summer season between Germany and South America. The Graf Zeppelin was too small and slow for the North Atlantic service, yet because of the blau gas fuel, was just capable of carrying out the South Atlantic route. The onset of regular airline service also led to a drastic reduction in the number of flights being made by the Graf Zeppelin. The airship which had logged almost 200 flights in 1930-31, made less than 60 in 1932.Die Deutschlandfahrt (1936)
In March 1936 the Graf Zeppelin and the newly launched LZ 129 Hindenburg were impressed by the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda or PropagandaministeriumMinistry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...
), as vehicles for the delivery of Nazi propaganda.
On March 7, 1936, ground forces of the German Reich had entered and occupied the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
, a region bordering the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, and France, which had been designated in the 1920 Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
as a de-militarized zone established to provide a buffer between Germany and those neighboring countries. In order to justify its remilitarization
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
The Remilitarization of the Rhineland by the German Army took place on 7 March 1936 when German military forces entered the Rhineland. This was significant because it violated the terms of the Locarno Treaties and was the first time since the end of World War I that German troops had been in this...
— which was also a violation of the 1925 Locarno Pact, — a "post hoc" plebiscite (or referendum) was quickly called by Hitler for March 29 to "ask the German people" to both ratify the Rhineland’s occupation by the German Army, and to approve a single party list composed exclusively of Nazi candidates to sit in the new Reichstag
Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
The Reichstag was the parliament of Weimar Republic .German constitution commentators consider only the Reichstag and now the Bundestag the German parliament. Another organ deals with legislation too: in 1867-1918 the Bundesrat, in 1919–1933 the Reichsrat and from 1949 on the Bundesrat...
.
The two airships were designated by the government as a key part of the process by Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
who demanded that the Zeppelin Company make both available to fly "in tandem" around Germany over the four day period prior to the voting with a joint departure from Löwenthal on the morning of March 26. As millions of Germans watched from below, the Graf and Hindenburg sailed over Germany for four days and three nights, dropping propaganda leaflets, blaring martial music and slogans from large loudspeakers, and broadcasting political speeches from a makeshift radio studio on board the Hindenburg.
The end of the LZ 127 and commercial airship service
The loss of the D-LZ 129 HindenburgHindenburg disaster
The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...
at Lakehurst on May 7, 1937 shattered public faith in the safety of hydrogen-filled airships making the continuation of their commercial passenger operations unsustainable unless the Graf Zeppelin and the still under construction LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II could convert to non-flammable helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
, the only alternative lifting gas
Lifting gas
Because of the Archimedes' principle, a lifting gas is required for aerostats to create buoyancy. Its density is lower than that of air . Only certain lighter than air gases are suitable as lifting gases.- Hot Air :...
for airships. Unlike the relatively inexpensive and universally available hydrogen, however, the vast majority of the world's available supplies of the much more costly, less buoyant, and harder to produce helium (it is an extracted byproduct of mined natural gas) were controlled by the United States. Since 1925, the exportation of helium had also been tightly restricted by Congress although there is no record that the German Government had ever applied for an export license for helium to use in its airships prior to the Hindenburg's crash and fire.
Although much safer than hydrogen, the greatly added expense, lack of availability, and overall degradation in lifting performance that converting to helium would impose on the Graf Zeppelin made its continued operation no longer commercially viable. That being the case, one day after the "Hindenburg" crashed in Lakehurst the nine year old LZ 127 was promptly grounded and withdrawn from service upon its arrival in Friedrichshafen on a flight from Brazil on May 8, 1937. Six weeks later on June 18 the airship was ferried to Frankfurt am Main on what would prove to be its 590th and final flight. Upon arrival at its massive hangar at the Frankfurt airport, the airship was deflated and opened to the public as a museum.
While the Graf Zeppelin had already been decommissioned and retired, shortly after the Hindenburg disaster President Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
approved and forwarded a Cabinet report to Congress that supported the export to Germany of enough helium to permit the soon to be launched Hindenburg Class
Hindenburg class airship
The two Hindenburg-class airships were passenger carrying rigid airships built in Germany in the 1930s and named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg. They were the last such aircraft ever built, and in terms of their length and volume, the largest aircraft ever to fly...
LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II (which unlike the LZ 127 was designed to use either hydrogen or helium) to resume commercial transatlantic passenger service by 1939. By early 1938, however, firm opposition by Interior Secretary
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Harold Ickes
Harold L. Ickes
Harold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson. Ickes...
, formally made in his capacity of one of the six statutory members of the National Munitions Control Board, to a German request to purchase up to 10000000 cubic feet (283,168.5 m³) of helium would prove to make that impossible.
Established by §5(a) of the Neutrality Act of May 1, 1937 (22 U.S.C. 441), the Board (which consisted of the Secretaries of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
, War
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
, Navy
United States Secretary of the Navy
The Secretary of the Navy of the United States of America is the head of the Department of the Navy, a component organization of the Department of Defense...
, Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
, Commerce
United States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
, and Interior), was vested by the Act with the ultimate authority to both prohibit the export to "belligerent states, or to a state wherein civil strife exists" of any type of "arms, ammunition, and implements of war" as well as restrict the transfer of any other "articles or materials" such as helium which the Government classified as having "military importance."
At a White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
press briefing on May 11, 1938, President Roosevelt's press secretary Stephen Early announced that as the Act required the "unanimous" consent of the Control Board to approve the export of helium to Germany, the President had concluded that he was "without legal power to override the judgment of any one of the six [members] and direct the sale of helium for export." In response to this statement, Dr. Eckener commented later that same day that "should this decision be final, I am afraid it means the death sentence for commercial lighter-than-air craft."
Although the Graf Zeppelin II made 30 test, promotional, propaganda and military surveillance flights around Europe between the airship's launch in mid-September 1938 and its last flight 11 months later on August 20, made just 10 days before the formal start of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in Europe with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the LZ 130 never entered the commercial passenger service for which it was built. The ultimate fates of both the original Graf Zeppelin (LZ 127) and the Graf Zeppelin II (LZ 130) were formally sealed on March 4, 1940, when German Air Minister Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
issued a decree ordering both to be immediately scrapped for salvage and their duralumin
Duralumin
Duralumin is the trade name of one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The main alloying constituents are copper, manganese, and magnesium. A commonly used modern equivalent of this alloy type is AA2024, which contains 4.4% copper, 1.5% magnesium, 0.6% manganese and 93.5%...
airframes and other structures to be melted down for reuse by the German military aircraft industry.
Specifications
See also
- Buoyancy compensator (aviation)Buoyancy compensator (aviation)The static buoyancy of airships during a trip is not constant. It is therefore necessary to take measures to control the buoyancy and thus the altitude, the so-called buoyancy compensation.-Changes which have an effect on buoyancy:...
- LZ 129 HindenburgLZ 129 HindenburgLZ 129 Hindenburg was a large 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...
- LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin IILZ 130 Graf ZeppelinThe Graf Zeppelin II was the last of the great German rigid airships built by the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg...
- List of Zeppelins
External links
- "With The Graf Zeppelin", Popular Mechanics, November 1929, a 16 page article with photos and drawings
- Photographs of interior and exterior of Graf Zeppelin
- Private photographs of Graf Zeppelin over Chicago’s World’s Fair, 1933
- The Graf Zeppelin
- "The history and building of the Zeppelin" (Dutch) (youtube video, 5 minutes). Nyo Visuals [Elsbeth van Noppen]. Retrieved: February 20, 2009.
- "Graf Zeppelin ends world flight." (1 minute 17 seconds video: aeroplane escort, Lakehurst hangar). Universal Newspaper Newsreel. Retrieved: February 20, 2009.
- Four pictures from Graf Zeppelin´s flight over Bergen Norway on flickr commons