LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
In 1926, the treaty restrictions on German aircraft were ameliorated, they were
once again free to build airships. Under the guidance of Dr. Hugo Eckener, the Germans
embarked on an ambitious building plan. In 1928, the airship LZ-129 was launched, and
named after the creator of the airship, Count von Zeppelin.
The Graf Zeppelin became the most successful of all the giant airships. No other aircraft
in history, with the possible exception of the Spirit of St. Louis, has been the focus of
so much admiration by so many people. The Graf Zeppelin was Dr. Eckner's crowning
achievement in the concept of the zeppelin. Even though the Hindenburg and the Graf
Zeppelin II would be technologically superior to the Graf Zeppelin, no other air ship
would be so loved by nearly all the world.
Many new innovations were incorporated into the Graf Zeppelin during her construction in
Factory Shed number II in Friedrichshafen. The most revolutionary of the innovations
was the inclusion of a new fuel system for the engines. Previously, all airships had
used engines that burned either gasoline or diesel fuel. The main problem with using
a liquid fuel was that as you burned off the gas or diesel, you lost weight, and as you
lost weight, you had to vent off hydrogen to keep from floating up. This had been a
problem that had plagued zeppelins since the beginning, but was solved in the building of
the Graf. The Graf had special gas cells installed below the gas cells that housed
the lifting hydrogen gas. These new cells comprised approximately 1/3 of each bay
within the ship and each cell was filled with a new fuel called "Blau gas".
Invented by Dr. Hermann Blau, this gaseous fuel would account for 750,000 cubic
feet of the volume of the Graf, which had a total volume of 3,707,550 cubic feet.
The wonderful thing about the blau gas was that it weighed about as much as air and so did
not hamper the ship with the weight that liquid fuel would, also, as the fuel burned in
the engines of the ship, no weight was lost by its consumption and therefore no hydrogen
would be vented.
The Graf Zeppelin ruled the uncluttered skies like no other monarch could. The sight
of the silver ship gliding over head brought crowds of people streaming from their houses
and into the streets. Even with all her new design innovations and the excitement of
the German people, the Graf Zeppelin was slowed by of lack of money. It had taken a
plea to the German people by Dr. Eckener to raise most of the money to have her built and
more arm twisting in the government to get enough to finish the ship, now he needed money
to keep her flying. That money was found in the hands of an American business man
and airship supporter named William Randolph Hearst. Hearst would make a business
deal with Dr. Eckener that would appeal to both the Zeppelin Company and Hearst's
newspaper companies. Hearst would put up the money for a global flight of the Graf
Zeppelin that would be the gain her the publicity she would need to form a solid
reputation for dependability and he would get exclusive U.S. rights to the story.
Dr. Eckener, having been a journalist and writer before working for the Count Von
Zeppelin, knew how to make the most of this publicity and did so at every opportunity.
The global flight would begin in Friedrichshafen and proceed to Lakehurst, New Jersey.
Lakehurst would then mark as the official starting point of the journey as
stipulated in the contract drawn up by Hearst. From Lakehurst back to
Friedrichshafen, to Tokyo and then to San Francisco, Los Angeles and back to Lakehurst.
Although the Graf was not the first aircraft to circle the globe, it was by far the
fastest. What took months for a British military, heavy bomber to do, with many
breakdowns and hardships, the Graf did in 12 days and 11 minutes in comfort and style with
a full passenger load over much previously uncharted land. The trip was a complete
success and the world, particularly the United .States., caught Zeppelin Mania. Once
safely moored at Lakehurst, Dr. Eckener was treated to a ticker-tape parade in his honor
in New York City and the news papers would dub him the "Magellan of the Air".
The Graf continued to ply the airways between Europe and South America, even after
the Hindenburg disaster at Lakehurst in 1937. But, by 1939, the winds of war were
blowing, and the Graf Zeppelin was laid up beside her descendent the Graf Zeppelin II at
Frankfurt's Rhein-Main airfield where they were scrapped for war materials.
Specifications:
Powerplant: Five Maybach VLII engines, 550 h.p. each
Length: 774 feet, 3.25 inches
Diameter: 100 feet
Volume: 3, 955, 240 cu ft
Crew: 45-50
Passengers: 20
Max Speed: 71.5 mph
LZ-129 Hindenburg
Following the success of the Graf Zeppelin, the engineers at the Zeppelin
works, began to design an even larger passenger airship. Designed with twice the
volume of the LZ-127, and almost one hundred feet longer, the new ship would become the
pride of Germany.
When she was launched in 1936, the Hindenburg was massive, 800 feet long, and 146 feet in
diameter. She dwarfed the greatest ocean liners of her day. Though only
powered by four engines (each capable of producing 1,100 h.p. each), her speed was
recorded in excess of 80 mph. She still holds the record as the largest aircraft
ever to fly. Her sheer size was truly an engineering masterpiece.
The Hindenburg represented a huge gamble for the Zeppelin Company. For years
builders of dirigibles, including the Zeppelin Company, had simply stretched the hulls of
their airships to accommodate more lifting gas. The British-built R101 was actually
cut in half and had a whole extra section added to accommodate an additional gas bag for
increased lift. The famous Graf Zeppelin was in fact, little more than a stretched
version of the LZ126, the Los Angeles. The Zeppelin Company decided that with
zeppelin LZ-129, they would increase gas volume by not only making her the longest they
could, but also by radically increasing her girth. Where the Graf Zeppelin was an
impressive 100 feet in diameter, the Hindenburg would measured in at 135 feet and 1 inch.
With her massive diameter and her impressive length, the airship would carry a gas
volume of 7,062,000 cubic feet. This volume, when filled with hydrogen, would
produce an astounding 242.2 tons of gross lift.
The Hindenburg was not initially meant to be filled with the highly flammable hydrogen.
Dr. Hugo Eckner, then still the chairman of Zeppelin, had decided that it would be
the wisest course to inflate his new ship with the nonflammable gas helium. But, the
United States government was wary of allowing its precious quantity of helium (having the
only natural deposits of helium in the world) to be used by the aggressive military might
of the Third Reich. The Helium Control Act passed by the U.S. Congress made it
impossible for the Zeppelin Company to obtain helium for their new ship. With this
turn of events, the Hindenburg was inflated with the volatile gas, hydrogen. On
March 4, 1936, the largest man made object ever to fly, took to the air. The
Hindenburg soon entered service carrying passengers across Europe and North and South
America. She was fitted with the latest safety devices. But on an early
May evening in 1937, at Lakehurst, New Jersey she met with a fiery
end.
Specifications:
Powerplant: Four Daimler-Benz engines, 1,000 h.p. each
Length: 803 feet 9.5 inches
Diameter: 135 ft, 2 in
Volume: 7, 062, 900 cu ft
Crew: 45
Passengers: 50-150
Max Speed: 77.5 mph
LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II
The LZ-130 was the last of the great Zeppelins to be built. Following
the Hindenburg disaster, and with the impending war, the golden era of the passenger
airship drew to a close.
Outwardly, the LZ-130 didn't differ much from her ill-fated sister, the Hindenburg.
The most obvious difference was the orientation of the propeller blades. Up to this
point, most large airships has pusher type propellers (facing backwards), but the Graf
Zeppelin II was fitted with new forward facing engines. This would have made the
Hindenburg and the Graf Zeppelin II easily distinguishable, but the two would never be
able to share the sky. While the LZ-130 was still in the middle of construction,
news reached the Zeppelin Company of the Hindenburg's fiery death. As the LZ-130 was
nearing completion, a detailed secret study of the Hindenburg crash revealed that the dope
used to coat the surface of the airships was the probable cause of the Hindenburg
disaster. Dope is an oil based sealer mixed with aluminum dust to create a
waterproof barrier for the ship. It also is what gave the airships and so many light
airplanes on the day their silver metal look. Tests revealed that the dope used on
the Hindenburg actually had a lower flash point than the hydrogen in the ship. This
was earth shattering news to the Zeppelin Company at the time and was quickly locked away
and forgotten. After all, every one knew that hydrogen was explosive, but the public
relations nightmare that would develop if people knew that the whole ship could catch
fire, was nothing that Germany or the Zeppelin Company wanted to deal with.
In the end, the Zeppelin company and the German government blamed the hydrogen gas, which
had caused so many other crashes during the beginning of the time of the airships.
So a renewed effort was made to appeal to the American government to release
the much needed helium. In 1937, a new session of congress amended the Helium
Control act, and allocated 17, 900, 000 cubic feet of the gas to the Zeppelin Company.
The designs for the Graf Zeppelin II were altered to allow for use of helium, but
in March 1938, Germany invaded Austria, and the gas was never delivered. The airship
was launched with hydrogen, but the only flights undertaken by the ship were propaganda
flights around Germany, and a clandestine voyage up the British coast to spy on the new
radar defenses being developed. At the outbreak of the war, both the Graf Zeppelin,
and the Graf Zeppelin II were scrapped for material to build airplanes. And thus ended the
age of the giant airships.
Specifications:
Powerplant: 4 Daimler-Benz 16 cylinder, water-cooled engines (with tractor pull propeller mounts) 900-1,200 h.p. each
Length: 803 feet 9.5 inches
Diameter: 135 ft, 2 in
Volume: 7, 087, 720 cu feet
Crew: 45
Passengers: 40
Max Speed: 80 mph
