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The history of the "Count Zeppelin" LZ 127 (German: Graf Zeppelin), one of the largest and most advanced airships in the world, began in 1928.
The airship was named after the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. It suffered the happiest fate of all existing rigid airships
For nine years, this ship was used for its intended purpose, spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.
"Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Workers on scaffolding work on a huge steel structure.
The length of the airship was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m3, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was located in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.
"Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Zeppelin front gondola.
It differed from other airships in that to operate the engines, along with liquid, gaseous fuel (blau gas) was also used, which had a density close to air, and the calorific value was significantly higher than that of gasoline. This advantageous solution helped to increase the flight range and eliminated the need to weigh down the airship as it ran out of fuel (airships were weighed down by releasing part of the carrier gas, which created a number of economic and flight inconveniences). In addition, it is natural that the use of this gas led to less load on the frame, in contrast to that which occurred when installing numerous tanks of gasoline.
1928: construction of the airship.
"Graf Zeppelin" 1930: main gondola.
Blau gas was located in 12 compartments in the lower third of the airship frame, the volume of which could be increased to 30,000 m? (for hydrogen in this case there remained 105,000 m? -30,000 m? = 75,000 m?). Gasoline was taken on board as additional fuel.
The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when filling bags intended for blau gas with hydrogen - about 55 tons), maximum speed - 128 km/h, cruising speed - about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew numbered 40-45 people.
Steel frame of the airship.
In the front part, from the bottom, a front gondola was attached to the body of the airship, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction).
Construction of a giant airship gondola.
The airships were controlled from the control room, which was located in the front part of the gondola, followed by service rooms and then passenger rooms. In terms of comfort, the LZ 127 was significantly superior to the then (and in some respects modern) aircraft.
Using the outer covering of the airship.
Passengers were accommodated in 10 double equipped cabins with sleeping berths.
Cabin interior.
Spacious mess room with an area of 25 m2? located in the front part of the passenger compartment, it could accommodate 28 people at the same time. The sloping windows of the cabins and salon provided fairly good visibility and lighting. There was also a kitchen that could serve more than 50 people for several days. In addition, there was a post office, washrooms, etc.
Flight over Hamburg, 1928.
In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and comrade-in-arms of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127.
A canvas is stretched over the massive Zeppelin body, 1928.
On July 8, 1928, on Count Zeppelin's 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened in his name by the count's only daughter, and the airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" made its first flight on September 18, 1928.
Return of the airship after its first flight over Germany, September 1928.
After a successful trip, the LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" returns to its home in Friedrichshafen.
In August-September 1929, the airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics.
Commander of the Graf Zeppelin, Dr. Hugo Eckener.
Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days at an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Participants of the “Hollandfahrt” on October 13, 1929 near the German airship LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” in a hangar in the city of Friedrichshafen.
The purpose of this flight was to demonstrate the capabilities of rigid airships. At the same time, meteorological observations were carried out.
A letter sent from the Graf Zeppelin. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Goldschalk, Amsteldigijk 112, Amsterdam, Holland. Dispatched from LZ127 Graf Zeppelin en route Los Angeles to Friedrichshafen, 1929.
A lady in her small bathroom on board the airship.
Graf Zeppelin flies over von Hindenburg's presidential palace, 1929.
From May 18 to June 6, 1930, Graf Zeppelin made a circular flight to South and North America.
Airship over New York.
Lakehurst, New Jersey USA, 1930.
In 1931, the airship began regular flights to Brazil. And in 1936, Graf Zeppelin opened an air service between Friedrichshafen, Germany and Brazil / Argentina. The trip took 300 flight hours. The airship sailed to Brazil over France, the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands. The Graf Zeppelin's flight took place at low altitude and therefore made it possible to take photographs from on board the airship.
The Brazilian palm provides long shadows at sunset.
Flying over a palm grove.
Meeting of the airship with a Brazilian passenger ship.
After a successful flight, the Graf Zeppelin landed safely at the airport in the state of Pernambuco.
Table setting in the spacious airship restaurant.
The famous commander of the "Graf Zeppelin" Dr. Hugo Eckener (1868-1954) in the control room.
Since 1936, part of the flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg, which opened an air line to North America (the technical capabilities of the Graf Zeppelin were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).
On September 10, 1930, “Graf Zeppelin” flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, it flew over part of the Soviet Arctic for scientific purposes, and unofficially for reconnaissance purposes. During this flight, detailed aerial photography was taken. There were also Soviet specialists on board. Also during the flight, the airship in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island (Franz Josef Land) exchanged mail with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin.
The Graf Zeppelin approaches the Russian icebreaker Malygin in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Franz Josef Land for the ceremonial exchange of 50,000 pieces of mail, 1931.
After the Hindenburg airship disaster, regular flights of the LZ 127 were stopped. Soon the Graf Zeppelin was turned into a museum. Airship construction in Germany ceased with the outbreak of World War II, when in the spring of 1940, by order of the German command, the LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin”, as well as the LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin” of the same name, built in 1938 on the basis of the LZ 129 and often called by the name “Graf Zeppelin” II", were dismantled, and their parts were used in the military industry.
"Graf Zeppelin" in a new giant hangar, 1936.
Airship over Bergen, Norway, 1930.
Airship over Giza, 1931.
An airship over the British capital, 1931.
Zeppelin LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" (German: Graf Zeppelin) was built in Germany in 1928 and was at that time the largest and most advanced airship in the world. The airship received its name in honor of the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. LZ 127 had the happiest fate of all the hundred and fifty rigid airships built in the history of aeronautics. Over nine years of operation, the Graf Zeppelin spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Workers on scaffolding work on a huge steel structure
The length of the airship was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m³, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was located in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Zeppelin front nacelle
One of the fundamental differences between the LZ 127 and other Zeppelins was the use of liquid gaseous fuel (blau gas) for engine operation, the density of which was close to that of air, and the calorific value was significantly higher than that of gasoline. This made it possible to significantly increase the flight range and eliminated the need to weigh down the airship as it ran out of fuel (airships were weighed down by releasing part of the carrier gas, which created a number of economic and flight inconveniences); in addition, the use of blau gas led to less load on the frame than in the case of installing numerous heavy tanks with gasoline.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1928: construction of the airship
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1930: Main gondola
Blau gas was located in 12 compartments in the lower third of the airship frame, the volume of which could be increased to 30,000 m³ (in this case, 105,000 m³—30,000 m³ = 75,000 m³ remained for hydrogen). Gasoline was taken on board as additional fuel.
The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when filling bags intended for blau gas with hydrogen, it was about 55 tons), maximum speed was 128 km/h, cruising speed was about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew consisted of 40-45 people.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin": steel frame of the airship
From below, directly to the body of the airship, in the front part of it, the front gondola was rigidly attached, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction).
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1928: construction of a giant airship gondola
In front of the gondola there was a control room, behind it were service rooms and then passenger rooms. In terms of comfort, the LZ 127 was significantly superior to the then (and in some respects modern) aircraft.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1928: use of the airship's outer covering
Passengers were accommodated in 10 double equipped cabins with sleeping berths.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin": cockpit interior.
In the front part of the passenger compartment there was a spacious 25 m² cabin, which could accommodate 28 people at a time. The sloping windows of the cabins and salon provided fairly good visibility and lighting. The kitchen was designed to serve more than 50 people for several days. In addition, there was a post office, washrooms, etc.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1928: flight over Hamburg
In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and ally of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1928: canvas is stretched over the massive body of the Zeppelin
On July 8, 1928, on Count Zeppelin's 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened in his name by the count's only daughter, and the airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" made its first flight on September 18, 1928.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin": the return of the airship after its first flight over Germany in September 1928.
After a successful trip, the LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" returns to its home in Friedrichshafen
In August-September 1929, the airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics.
Commander of the Graf Zeppelin, Dr. Hugo Eckener
Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days with an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Participants of the "Hollandfahrt" on October 13, 1929 near the German airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" in a hangar in the city of Friedrichshafen
The main purpose of the flight was to promote the capabilities of rigid airships, and meteorological observations were made along the way.
A letter sent from the Graf Zeppelin. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Goldschalk, Amsteldigijk 112, Amsterdam, Holland. Dispatched from LZ127 "Graf Zeppelin", flying from Los Angeles to Friedrichshafen, 1929
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1929: a lady in her small bathroom on board the airship
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1929: the airship flies over the Presidential Palace von Hindenburg
From May 18 to June 6, 1930, Graf Zeppelin made a circular flight to South and North America.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1930: Airship over New York
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1930: Lakehurst, New Jersey USA
In 1931 LZ 127 began regular flights to Brazil.
In 1936, Graf Zeppelin opened an air service between Friedrichshafen, Germany and Brazil/Argentina. The total travel time took 300 flight hours. The airship sailed to Brazil over France, the Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands. The Graf Zeppelin's flight took place at low altitude and therefore made it possible to take photographs from on board the airship.
The Brazilian palm provides long shadows at sunset.
Flying over a palm grove
Meeting of the airship with a Brazilian passenger ship
After a successful flight, the Graf Zeppelin landed safely at the airport in the state of Pernambuco.
Table setting in a spacious airship restaurant
The famous commander of the "Graf Zeppelin" Dr. Hugo Eckener (1868-1954) in the wheelhouse
Beginning in 1936, part of the flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg, which opened an air line to North America (the technical capabilities of the Graf Zeppelin were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).
On September 10, 1930, the Graf Zeppelin flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, it flew over a significant part of the Soviet Arctic for scientific purposes (unofficially also reconnaissance), while taking detailed aerial photography. There were also Soviet specialists on board. During this flight, the airship in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island (Franz Josef Land) exchanged mail with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1931: approaches the Russian icebreaker "Malygin" in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Franz Josef Land for the ceremonial exchange of 50,000 postal items.
After the Hindenburg airship disaster, regular flights of the LZ 127 were stopped. Soon the Graf Zeppelin was turned into a museum. The end of German airship construction came at the beginning of World War II, when in the spring of 1940, by order of the German command, the LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin”, as well as the LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin” of the same name (built in 1938 on the basis of the LZ 129 and often called the “Graf Zeppelin” II") were dismantled, and their parts were used in the military industry.
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1936: in the new giant hangar
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1930: The airship flies over Guanabara Bay, Brazil, May 25
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1930: Airship over Bergen, Norway
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1931: Airship over Giza
LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" 1931: Airship over the British capital
Its frame is 128 m long and 11.7 m in diameter, with a midsection area of 106 sq. m, assembled from aluminum profiles.
The middle part of the hull, 96 m long, had a cylindrical shape; the bow and stern parts of the frame, 16 m each, were exactly the same, so that the external outline of the hull was cigar-shaped. The diameter of the hull was limited by the height of the floating boathouse, so its elongation was large - more than 10:1.
The design of the frame and gas container resembled the design proposed by Spies. Ring-shaped transverse load-bearing elements (frames) were connected by longitudinal beams (stringers) running from bow to stern.
The frames, braced inside with cables, formed transverse partitions dividing the entire internal cavity of the frame into 17 compartments, of which 15 were 8 m long and 2 compartments were 4 m long with cylinders filled with 11,300 cubic meters. m hydrogen.
The body was a long 24-sided cylinder with ellipsoid ends, covered with varnished cotton fabric. The spherical cylinders were made of single-layer rubberized cotton fabric, impregnated with varnish to reduce gas permeability. Each of the gas cylinders had its own safety valve with a diameter of 660 mm and a weight of 1.4 kg, and on top of this there were five more valves for maneuvering - the gas was released during descent.
All valves were designed by Zeppelin himself. The shunting valves were controlled from the nacelle by means of cables running through aluminum pipes laid inside the body and a system of rollers. The diameter of the valves for maneuvering is 400 mm, the valves could produce 4-5 cubic meters. m of gas per second.
The frame was covered with a whole network of braces running in diagonal directions between the stringers and frames, and the outside was covered with rubberized cotton fabric weighing 106 g/sq. m. The fabric was coated on the outside with “ballolin” varnish, which served to protect the shell from atmospheric influences.
This structure, the size of a cruiser, was supposed to move in the air with the help of only two Daimler engines with a power of 14.7 hp. With. water-cooled and weighing 420 kg.
Cooling water passed through large refrigeration pipes, from where it was returned to the engines using pumps. The latter were installed in small open gondolas suspended under the bow and stern of the hull. Each of them rotated 2 aluminum propellers mounted on metal frames along the sides of the airship slightly below the longitudinal axis.
The front propellers were four-bladed and had a diameter of 1.15 m, the diameter of the rear, three-bladed ones was 1.25 m. The transmission from the motors to the propellers was via gears. Two pairs of rudders were installed at the bow and stern of the ship. Using a lever placed on the starboard side inside the front gondola, the rudders could be activated at the same time, turning to the right when moving the lever forward and to the left when moving backward. In the aft part there was also an elevator with an area of 9 square meters. m.
Below under the hull at a distance of 5 m from it and 32 m from each of its ends there were 2 aluminum gondolas 7 m long, 1.8 m wide and 1 m high. The weight of the empty gondolas was 220 kg. They were connected by a bridge 50 m long and 80 cm wide, rigidly reinforced under the frame by means of four rods and four struts.
After the first flight of LZ-1, this bridge was removed and an aluminum lattice was installed instead - a platform that more steadily connected the gondolas to each other. Below it, a movable lead cigar-shaped ballast weighing 100 kg was suspended on cables, which served to change the trim of the airship.
The load could move 7 m in each direction, counting from the vertical axis passing through the center of the middle (9th) compartment. Zeppelin believed that by tilting or raising the bow of the ship while moving, i.e. changing the trim, he would be able to gain altitude or descend without dumping ballast or releasing part of the hydrogen into the atmosphere.
Subsequent tests did not confirm these assumptions, and moving ballast was not used in the future. The airship was controlled from the front gondola. For safety reasons, it was decided to land on water, because they were afraid of damaging the rigid hull during a rough landing.
Before descent, the balloon, due to the movement of the moving load, was brought into an inclined position, part of the gas was released through the valves, then the anchors were thrown out; using ropes (there were 14 ropes on each side of the shell), the airship was pulled onto a pontoon raft and inserted into the boathouse
Zeppelin made his first flight on an airship of his own design at the age of 62.
Thousands of spectators, silently waiting on the shores of the lake for the appearance of the “crazy” count’s flying machine, were amazed to see a flying machine resembling a giant sausage, which was pulling a small steamer out of the boathouse.
When the airship “floated” to the middle of the lake, the ropes were removed and the passengers took their seats. Zeppelin himself sat in the bow gondola with pilot Bassus and engineer Duerr, and mechanic Gross and writer Wolf sat in the tail gondola. Unfortunately, troubles began during takeoff. Even at small angles of deflection of the rudders and, as a result of the longitudinal compressive forces arising in the stringers of the frame, significant deflections of the trusses were detected (up to 250 mm).
This was explained by the fact that the flat frame trusses, due to their small width, did not provide sufficient resistance to the resulting loads. The connecting bridge bent due to lack of strength, moving the nacelles and frames with propellers out of place. The shift in the direction of air flow from the propellers led to the Zeppelin's speed being only 15 km/h. The airship was in the air for 20 minutes. Problems with the control of the rudders and low speed resulted in a number of other minor injuries during landing. The LZ-1 was undergoing repairs for several months, after which it made its second flight on October 17, 1900. On October 21, the airship finally showed its capabilities, reaching a height of 400 m and a speed of 28.1 km/h. The total duration of the three flights was 2 hours and 1 minute.
It was a victory. Count Zeppelin's design flew and controlled. But there were no airplanes yet and airships were the only way to lift a person into the sky...
Unfortunately, the German official authorities and industrial circles were in no hurry to help the inventor. The military took a wait-and-see attitude, keeping an eye on the Count’s experiments.
The costs of construction and maintenance of LZ-1 were so high that in early 1901 they led the company to financial collapse. Zeppelin was left without funds to build the next apparatus. He made a presentation about his airship at a congress of German engineers in Kiel, expecting their support and assistance, but received neither. And as the crown of all troubles, a hurricane destroyed and sank the floating boathouse. After this, the joint-stock company collapsed and difficult years began for Zeppelin.
Perhaps this would have been the end of the Zeppelin era if their father had been someone else. The sixty-three-year-old general was not going to give up and already in 1905 the airship LZ2 was prepared for testing.
However, failures continued to haunt the count.
Ferdinand Zeppelin - captain of the dragoon regiment
On the Girsberg estate
Count Zeppelin was not the creator of the very first controlled balloon, which, in fact, is an airship.
Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Portrait 1908
At that time, Ferdinand Zeppelin was 15 years old, and he didn’t even think about experiments with airships, carefree spending time on his father’s estate Giersberg, a former nunnery, on an island in Lake Constance.
At that time, it still had the appearance of a monastery with buildings and a courtyard enclosed by a wall. This estate is part of my earliest memories.” Ferdinand was left without a mother at the age of 14. She died far from home, in France, where she was undergoing treatment.
“I still remember, Zeppelin wrote decades later, how beyond my understanding this was. My brother and I shed many bitter tears mourning the loss of our mother - the best and kindest of all mothers."
A home teacher was hired to teach the children. They were also engaged in crafts: bookbinding, carpentry.
“We were allowed noisy games in the garden, field, forest and lake,” the count recalled. “I was a good swimmer and an excellent diver.” He wrote that as a child he loved war games and always played the role of commander in them.
Introduction to aeronautics
Already at a young age, Ferdinand Zeppelin was distinguished by determination, endurance and great willpower. It is not surprising that he chose a military career, at the age of 17 he became a cadet at the academy in Ludwigsburg.
Three years later he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He had the opportunity to serve in the infantry, cavalry, and engineering troops. He was engaged in topography and the development of military control. The duty station had to be changed frequently.
In 1863, Zeppelin took a long vacation and went to the United States, where the Civil War was going on at that time. He wanted to study her experience.
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In New York, Zeppelin was received by President Abraham Lincoln and received written permission from him to move freely throughout all combat areas. It is unclear where exactly the future airship designer visited, but it is known that in conclusion he, in the company of two Russian explorers, accompanied by Indian guides, made a journey to the sources of the Mississippi River, experiencing many hardships and dangers. Here in the USA, an event took place that was of considerable importance to the count. On August 19, 1863, in the city of Saint Paul (Minnesota), he took to the skies for the first time in a hot air balloon, and perhaps it was during this flight that his enduring interest in aeronautics appeared. |
With the rank of captain, the Count was appointed adjutant to the King of Württemberg (a kingdom that soon became part of the North German Confederation and then the German Empire) and took part in the short Austro-Prussian War.
An important change also occurred in Zeppelin's personal life. In Berlin he met Baroness Isabella von Wolf. They became husband and wife.
Three types of airships
The count proved his courage as a dashing cavalryman during the Franco-Prussian War. Then he became famous for his bold raid with a detachment of dragoons to the rear of the French troops.
After this campaign, at the beginning of 1874 in Strasbourg, Major Zeppelin became acquainted with an extremely interesting report from the local postal minister, General Stefan. The report was devoted to the use of airships for mail delivery.
True, at that time one could only dream about this. Airships were not yet truly controllable. But in Zeppelin the inventor and the designer spoke.
He believed that the problem could be solved, that it was worth working on. Since then, this confidence has not left Zeppelin, and in his diary entries the words “airship”, “carrying gas”, “propellers” appeared more and more often. He thought about what such a ship should be like, what size it should be, and how to control it.
The Count closely followed all the new developments in the field of aeronautics and received with great interest the message that the French Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs had built an airship with an electric motor and on August 9, 1884, made the first flight in the world on a closed path.
Types of airships were gradually developed. There were three main ones: with a soft shell, semi-rigid (the soft shell was reinforced from below with a truss) and hard. The body of the latter consisted of an openwork metal frame covered with fabric. The hydrogen-carrying gas was contained in soft cylinders placed inside the housing.
Boathouse on Lake Constance
Reflecting on the successes and failures of their predecessors. Zeppelin comes to the conclusion that only rigid-type airships can be large, even huge, and therefore capable of carrying loads and being fast.
Meanwhile, he continued to serve and had already reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also had a chance to serve in the diplomatic service. He visited Russia more than once.
In March 1881, in St. Petersburg, he attended the funeral of Emperor Alexander II, who was killed by the Narodnaya Volya, and in May 1883, in Moscow, at the coronation of the new Russian monarch Alexander III.
Zeppelin's military career came to an end. He turned 52 years old. With the rank of lieutenant general, he resigned and it was accepted. Now he could devote himself entirely to aeronautics and start building an unprecedented airship.
By 1887, Zeppelin substantiated his idea in detail and presented it to the King of Württemberg in the form of a special memorandum. Of course, there were many critics, especially among the military, but the count’s will turned out to be much stronger. A joint-stock company called the “Society for the Promotion of Aeronautics” was organized, with an authorized capital of one million marks (more than half of this amount was Zeppelin’s own funds) and began the design and construction of the first airship I.Z-1.
The count's plan found the support of the Württemberg King Wilhelm II. The latter provided Zeppelin with free use of a large plot of land on the shores of Lake Constance and a significant part of the water area of the reservoir itself. A boathouse was built on the water for assembly and storage of the airship.
Giants of the air
The airship was designed as a warship. It was the largest of all those created before - almost 130 m long and about 12 m in diameter. The ship could hold over 11 thousand cubic meters of hydrogen and could lift up to three tons of payload.
On July 2, 1900, a crowd of thousands gathered on the shores of Lake Constance watched with excitement as a small steamer brought out a giant cigar - the airship LZ-1 - from a floating boathouse. In the middle of the lake, the crew of four people, including Count Zeppelin, took their places in the gondolas of the airship. To the enthusiastic screams of the spectators, the ship took off from the water and rose into the air.
The first flight will not last long, about 20 minutes. During landing, the airship received minor damage. Later he made a couple more flights. And again an accident occurred during landing.
It was considered advisable to dismantle the damaged airship. To build a new zeppelin, a lot of money was required. They were obtained using a lottery device. With the funds raised, the airship LZ-2 was built, exactly the same dimensions as the first, but with an improved design.
The airship turned out to be unlucky. When he was being taken out of the boathouse, on November 30, 1905, he, caught by a gust of wind, buried his nose in the water. The hull was damaged. It took more than a month to repair.
Finally, the airship took off, but during the flight the front rudder suddenly failed. Then one of the engines stopped. Zeppelin (he was on the ship) decided to land on land. The landing was successful, and at night a hurricane struck the airship and completely destroyed it.
Two failures in a row were a heavy blow for Zeppelin, but they did not break the will of the stubborn count. He firmly believed that he was on the right path and success would come.
Death of LZ-4
The search for funds to build a third zeppelin began again. It was ready by the fall of 1906 and soon took off. Finally, the luck that Zeppelin dreamed of came. The LZ-3 airship was able to stay in the air for eight hours without landing. Its speed reached 50 kilometers per hour.
Seeing such excellent results, the German government purchased an airship and ordered Zeppelin another one, capable of flying without landing for a whole day, landing both on land and on water.
The fourth zeppelin was noticeably larger than the previous ones, with a volume of 15 thousand cubic meters.
In the wheelhouse of a German military zeppelin LZ-38
On the way back, due to a strong headwind, the crew was forced to change course. In addition, one of the engines failed. We had to make an emergency landing.
The Hindenburg over Lakehurst Airport
In a short time, over six million marks were collected throughout the empire. Ferdinand Zeppelin becomes one of the most famous Lyuli, a real national hero.
Strikes in London
Starting work on his airships, the count, first of all, tried to find a use for them in military affairs. It is no coincidence, therefore, that the largest number of Zeppelins were built during the First World War - 61.
In total, of the 119 zeppelins created in Germany over the years, 101 were military - army and naval. They were used for reconnaissance and bombing.
On the night of January 19-20, 1915, the first Zeppelin air raid on England was carried out. On May 31st the bombing of London began. Zeppelins improved and became larger. Their flight altitude increased to 6-7 thousand meters, the speed exceeded 100 kilometers per hour, and the load capacity reached 10 tons or more. The old count (on July 8, 1913, his 75th birthday was solemnly celebrated) was able to see this flowering of airship construction with his own eyes.
But an insidious disease was already eroding his once powerful body. At the end of February 1917, he went to Berlin on business and felt unwell.
The doctors insisted on surgery. It was done, but, unfortunately, did not lead to recovery. On the contrary, the count’s health deteriorated even more, and on March 8 he died in one of the Berlin hospitals.
After Count Zeppelin
The funeral took place in Stuttgart, in the cemetery where the ashes of Ferdinand Zeppelin's father had rested for more than 30 years. More than 20 thousand people saw off the creator of airships on his final journey. Fob Zeppelin's guard of honor was the lancers of the regiment in which he happened to serve. Airships and planes circled over the cemetery, saluting the great conqueror of the air...
After the end of World War I, German companies that built airships found themselves in a difficult situation. Defeated Germany was prohibited from building zeppelins with a volume of more than 20 thousand cubic meters.
Two relatively small airships were built as reparations for Italy and France. A larger one, with a volume of 70 thousand cubic meters (it was called “Los Angeles”), was built by Germany for the USA.
All advanced countries have begun to acquire airships. The British copied their first Zeppelin from a German one captured during the war. Four years later, the famous English company Vickers built the R-34 airship. This zeppelin became famous for being the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in July 1919.
The American rigid airship Shenandoah (which means “daughter of the stars” in the Indian language) took to the skies in 1923. It was the first zeppelin filled not with hydrogen, but with safe, non-flammable helium
German airship designers finally breathed freely when, at a conference of ambassadors in Paris in the spring of 1926, all restrictions on the construction of giant zeppelins in Germany were lifted.
And almost immediately work began on the creation of the LZ-127 airship with a volume of over 100 thousand cubic meters - the largest and most advanced zeppelin.
Tragic chronicle
Its construction took about four years. And so on July 8, 1928, Countess Elsie von Brandepstein-Zeppelin named the new airship after her famous father Ferdinand Zeppelin.
This wonderful ship later made almost 600 flights, covering a total distance of 1,700 thousand km. Regular passenger air flights from Europe to North and South America have become a reality. In 1929, “Graf Zeppelin” made a trip around the world with three intermediate landings, and in 1931 he went on an Arctic expedition.
Successes and achievements, unfortunately, were interspersed with accidents and disasters. Of all the zeppelins built, more than half were lost. About 500 people died.
Like airplanes, airships suffered disasters from fires, destruction in the air, and pilot errors. The worst enemy of large airships was the wind. It was he who destroyed the airship LZ-5 in April 1910, when the ship made an emergency landing.
The death of the airship - Hindenburg"The most famous and terrible was the death of the Zeppelin Hindenburg. The dimensions of this giant airship were amazing: the hull was 250 m long, more than 40 m in diameter, and had a volume of 200 thousand cubic meters.
He was the pride and symbol of Nazi Germany. The Hindenburg was supposed to make a passenger flight across the Atlantic. He took off from Frankfurt am Main late in the evening of May 3, 1937. The flight proceeded normally.
The passengers enjoyed the comfort, and time passed unnoticed. By the evening of May 6, the airship reached its final destination, Lakehurst Airport, near New York. A large crowd of people and a mooring crew of 230 people were waiting for him.
As the ship approached the mooring tower, a bright flash flashed above its stern. There was a deafening explosion, and a huge fireball appeared above the airship. A hot flame quickly devoured the recently beautiful and majestic ship.
Most of the passengers ended up in the bow of the airship, high above the ground. People in despair jumped out of windows and hatches without any hope of staying alive. Others, who were at the opposite end of the ship, managed to jump out of the fiery inferno when the stern touched the ground.
As a result of the disaster, 36 people died. Many received burns and injuries. It later turned out that the fire was the result of a terrorist attack by a German anti-fascist who planted a bomb in the aft compartment of the ship. The death of the Hindenburg played a fatal role for airship construction.
Faith in giant airships was seriously undermined. The last was the airship LZ-130, Graf Zeppelin 2 - as huge as the burned-out Hindenburg. His fate turned out to be sad.
After three dozen test flights, it was dismantled in 1940 on the orders of Nazi Aviation Minister Hermann Goering, who hated airships. But the idea of rigid airships has not been forgotten.
In recent decades, many projects of similar airships have appeared, including those with nuclear engines, airships of unprecedented carrying capacity, speed and flight range. These will be new generation zeppelins.
To the collectors' forum about the voyage of the German airship LZ-127 to Moscow on September 10, 1930. At first I just wanted to repost a message from the forum about this flight and show photos, but after rummaging around on the Internet, I found that the topic was generally very interesting. And the LIFE photo archive haunts me.
Zeppelin LZ 127 “Count Zeppelin” (German: Graf Zeppelin) was built in Germany in 1928 and was at that time the largest and most advanced airship in the world. The airship received its name in honor of the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. LZ 127 had the happiest fate of all the hundred and fifty rigid airships built in the history of aeronautics. Over nine years of operation, the Graf Zeppelin spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.
In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and ally of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127. On July 8, 1928, on the day of Count Zeppelin’s 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened in his name by the count’s only daughter, and the airship LZ 127 “Graf” made its first flight Zeppelin" took place on September 18, 1928. In August-September 1929, an airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics. Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days with an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The main purpose of the flight was to promote the capabilities of rigid airships, and meteorological observations were made along the way.
From May 18 to June 6, 1930, Graf Zeppelin made a circular flight to South and North America. In 1931 LZ 127 began regular flights to Brazil. Beginning in 1936, part of the flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg, which opened an air line to North America (the technical capabilities of the Graf Zeppelin were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).
On September 10, 1930, “Graf Zeppelin” flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, for scientific purposes (unofficially also reconnaissance), it flew over a significant part of the Soviet Arctic, while taking detailed aerial photography. There were also Soviet specialists on board. During this flight, the airship splashed down in Tikhaya Bay (Franz Josef Land), where mail was exchanged with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin.
After the Hindenburg airship disaster, regular flights of the LZ 127 were stopped. Soon "Count Zeppelin" was turned into a museum. The end of German airship construction came at the beginning of World War II, when in the spring of 1940, by order of the German command, the LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin”, as well as the LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin” of the same name (built in 1938 on the basis of the LZ 129) were dismantled and their parts used in the military industry.
I also advise you to read the biography of the permanent commander of LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” Hugo Eckener (German: Hugo Eckener) -
Self-study links:
http://aerocrat.livejournal.com/52830.html - here’s another interesting post about the LZ-127 flight to Moscow.
http://info.dolgopa.org/album/06_17.htm
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(airship)
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckener,_Hugo
Pictures
Google is our everything.
Commander of LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" Hugo Eckener.
Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) in the new giant airship hangar.
Frankfurt, Germany, 1936
In the sky over London. 1931
Assembly of LZ-127. 1928
Assembly of LZ-127. 1928.
Fantastic design.
Assembly of LZ-127. 1928.
Incredible openwork design.
Assembly of LZ-127. 1928
Handsome Count Zeppelin in flight.
Germany, 1928.
The dimensions of the airship are still amazing: the length was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m³, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was housed in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.
Germany, 1928.
The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when filling bags intended for blau gas with hydrogen, it was about 55 tons), maximum speed was 128 km/h, cruising speed was about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew numbered 40-45 people.
From below, directly to the body of the airship, in the front part of it, the front gondola was rigidly attached, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction). In front of the gondola there was a control room, behind it were service rooms and then passenger rooms.
Crew members in the steering gondola. 1936.
suggests that this is the control room of the Hindenburg LZ-129
With this, I wanted to finish the photographs of the airship itself and move on to Moscow in 1931, but it is impossible to tear myself away from the LIFE photo archive. I’ll show you a couple more, and then we’ll move on to the flight to Moscow.
The caption does not say what kind of airship it is, it only says: Engineer of Count Zeppelin. 1936. This photograph really touches me.
It's not very clear where he's going. Those. It’s clear that it was filmed from the shell of an airship and the engineer is climbing up an external (!) ladder either into the engine nacelle or into the cockpit. And this is all in flight!
The crew climbs to the top of the airship to repair damage it suffered while flying during a storm over the Atlantic Ocean. 1934. What kind of airship this is is also not written.
On September 10, 1930, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the German airship LZ-127 under the command of Hugo Eckener flew to Moscow and circled over Moscow for two hours at an altitude of 150 meters, accompanied by several Soviet aircraft. At 12:05 the airship landed on the Khodynskoye field. About 200 Red Army soldiers helped the landing, and about 3,000 spectators watched all this. The airship LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" had on board 42 crew members, 23 passengers and 21 kg of mail. The airship covered a distance of 2,372 km in 26 hours. At 14:38 LZ 127 departed back to Germany via Rzhev, Nevel, Tilsit, Königsberg.
Unfortunately, I did not find any more photographs of Count Zeppelin in Moscow, so I will have to be content with only those that were on the forum. Yes, there is one unique photo there.
All photos are clickable to original size!
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior still stands, on the right is the pedestal of the monument to Alexander III
In this photo you can see part of Zaryadye and the densely built-up current Vasilyevsky Spusk. “Reconstruction” has begun in the Kremlin - the architectural design of the monument to Alexander II has almost been destroyed. The Ascension Monastery was destroyed, the Chudov Monastery is being destroyed.
A large photograph shows an incomprehensible barn opposite the mausoleum. They say on the Internet that until 1929, the Lenin Mausoleum was wooden.
Construction of the final, stone version of the Mausoleum began in July 1929 and ended in October 1930. At the same time, guest stands were erected on the sides of the mausoleum (architect I. A. French) and graves were decorated at the Kremlin wall.
Let me remind you that this photo was taken on September 10, 1930.
So, thanks to the German airship LZ 127, we see Red Square with the guest stands under construction and the Lenin Mausoleum a month before the commissioning of the facility.
Red Army soldiers help the airship dock. I wonder where the photo and film material from this flight, which was filmed by Soviet reporters, is stored?..
Red Army soldiers help the airship dock.
http://aerocrat.livejournal.com/52830.html - here’s another interesting post about the LZ-127 flight to Moscow.
