Those Magnificent Airships
A Brief History of Zeppelins
Zeppelins
occupied a brief but colorful period in aviation history. Originally
developed by (and named after) their creator, Count Ferdinand Graf von
Zeppelin, these remarkable behemoths of the sky awed millions of
spectators across the globe. Zeppelins inspired an entire generation of
pioneering inventors during what became a golden age of aeronautical
innovation. Owing to their heavy load-carrying capacity, early
20th century militarists naturally regarded zeppelins as better suited
to warfare than transportation. They were employed with some success as
bombers in the First World War and played a well-publicized role in the
1916 London blitz. However, a number of wartime zeppelins were shot
down and the end results did not justify the expense of building and
maintaining them. Although touted by peacetime proponents as "the
safest way to travel," early zeppelins remained inherently dangerous
because of the flammable hydrogen gas bags contained within. Once the
gas had ignited, there was no way to stop it and destruction was
assured. Later zeppelins used non-flammable helium gas (which the U.S.
monopolized in the era between world wars), which improved the odds of
a safe voyage. However, the zeppelin's inability to withstand wind
shear made it susceptible to structural failure. The helium-filled U.S.
Navy airship Akron suffered this fate when it crashed in 1933. Although
the vision of lighter-than-air travel had existed for centuries, the
seemingly-simple problem of creating a feasible, reliable airship was
not solved during their heyday, even after many attempts.
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Hot-air balloon designed by the Montgolfier brothers
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The 57-foot-hight hot-air balloon designed by the Montgolfier
brothers, and flown by Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier (1754-1785),
French chemistry and physics teacher and aviation pioneer; and Marquis
Francois Laurent d'Arlandes (1742-1809), French soldier and aviation
pioneer; in the first manned flight, both men rose in the balloon over
Paris, France on November 21, 1783, to a height of 280 feet before the
balloon started to catch fire and rapidly descend (the balloonists were
heaping dampened straw onto the fire of a small iron furnace installed
in the balloon to maintain the balloon's inflation of hot air); the
balloon nevertheless landed safely and both balloonists were unharmed;
aircraft.
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A dirigible balloon
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A "dirigible balloon" invented by Russell Thayer, is shown dropping
a dynamite bomb in a 1885 demonstration for the U.S. Army Ordnance
Board, which approved of the apparatus but did not provide a delivery
order; balloons.
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Search lights over London, 1915
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Search lights scouring the dark skies over London, England, in
search of German Zeppelins, 1915; the Zeppelins made their first
bombing raid on London on May 31, 1915, killing seven persons and
injuring thirty-five others; Wilhelm II, the German Kaiser, permitted
this and other Zeppelin raids only because French fliers had bombed
German towns; the most successful raid against London occurred on
September 8, 1915, causing a half million pounds of damage, most of
this achieved by one Zeppelin, L13, which flew high and directly over
central London before dropping its bombs, causing more than half the
material damage created by all the German Zeppelin raids against
Britain in 1915.
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Policeman on a bicycle city in 1915
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A policeman on a bicycle rides through a street in London, England,
wearing a placard alerting citizens to take cover as German Zeppelins
approach to bomb the city in 1915; the Zeppelins made their first
bombing raid on London on May 31, 1915, killing seven persons and
injuring thirty-five others; Wilhelm II, the German Kaiser, permitted
this and other Zeppelin raids only because French fliers had bombed
German towns; the most successful raid against London occurred on
September 8, 1915, causing a half million pounds of damage, most of
this achieved by one Zeppelin, L13, which flew high and directly over
central London before dropping its bombs, causing more than half the
material damage created by all the German Zeppelin raids against
Britain in 1915.
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Damage to Sphinx at Cleopatra's Needle 1915
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Damage done to the Sphinx at Cleopatra's Needle, London, England,
1915, as a result of bombings by German Zeppelins; the Zeppelins made
their first bombing raid on London on May 31, 1915, killing seven
persons and injuring thirty-five others; Wilhelm II, the German Kaiser,
permitted this and other Zeppelin raids only because French fliers had
bombed German towns; the most successful raid against London occurred
on September 8, 1915, causing a half million pounds of damage, most of
this achieved by one Zeppelin, L13, which flew high and directly over
central London before dropping its bombs, causing more than half the
material damage created by all the German Zeppelin raids against
Britain in 1915.
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Remains of the German Zeppelin L-15
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Remains of the German Zeppelin L-15, shot down off the coast of Kent
on April 5, 1916; the Zeppelins made their first bombing raid on London
on May 31, 1915, killing seven persons and injuring thirty-five others;
Wilhelm II, the German Kaiser, permitted this and other Zeppelin raids
only because French fliers had bombed German towns; the most successful
raid against London occurred on September 8, 1915, causing a half
million pounds of damage, most of this achieved by one Zeppelin, L13,
which flew high and directly over central London before dropping its
bombs, causing more than half the material damage created by all the
German Zeppelin raids against Britain in 1915.
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Apprehensive Parisians in 1918
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Apprehensive Parisians in 1918 look to the skies for the appearance
of either German long-range bomber planes or Zeppelins, which
occasionally bombarded the Paris, France during World War I.
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Wrecked zeppelin 1916
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The wrecked gondola and skeletal remains of a zeppelin shot down by French gunners, 1916.
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The Norge
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A 1926 image of the derigible The Norge as it touches down with the help of many technicians:
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The Graf Zeppelin
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Advertisement by N.W. Ayer & Son for its advertising agency. The
ad features The Graf Zeppelin which was used commercially from
1928-1937, and named after the German manufacturer Ferdinand Graf von
Zeppelin (1838-1917). The ad associates the high soaring dirigible with
the bright horizons offered by their agency; Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania; services.
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Graf Zeppelin
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A worker on the Graf Zeppelin repairs a damaged oil-tank
off the coast of the Madeira Islands. Named after the German
manufacturer Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin (1838-1917), the Graf Zeppelin was used commercially from 1928-1937:
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Veedol Motor Oil
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An advertisement by Tide Water Oil Sales Corporation for its new Veedol Motor Oil. The ad features the famous Graf Zeppelin
and claims that the dirigible used their specific brand of motor oil.
Named after the German manufacturer Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin
(1838-1917) the Graf Zeppelin was used commercially from 1928-1937.
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Dirigible (blimp) R.101
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Photograph in 1929 of the dirigible (blimp) R.101 at mooring in England which crashed the following year.
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R-101 Crash, Beauvais, France, 1930
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French police and soldiers sort their way through the twisted
girders and broken framework of the British dirigible R-101, built by
the British Airship Guarantee Company, the craft was 777 feet long and
was powered by six Rolls Royce Condor engines; it was caught in a
violent storm, its hulk splitting in two, exploding in a fireball and
crashing to earth, killing forty-eight persons on board; six survived.
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USS Akron
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USS Akron (ZRS-4), a rigid helium-filled dirigible (airship)
of the U.S. Navy, shown in its hangar with crew members before it in
1931; the 780-foot-long airship, along with its sister ship Macon (ZRS-5), were twenty feet shorter than the German dirigible Hindenburg, but were still among the largest flying objects in the world; the Akron
saw seventeen months service before crashing off the New Jersey coast
on April 4, 1933, seventy-three men out of seventy-six on board at that
time being killed; airships; aviation; aviators; dirigibles.
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Akron Crash, New Jersey Coast, 1933
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The skeletal remains of the U.S. Navy dirigible Akron is lifted from
the sea by a huge crane on a salvage ship after the craft crashed
during a storm, killing seventy-three crew members, while three
survived; the helium-filled dirigible had been built at a cost of $5
million and its poor construction, equipment and management plagued the
ship with many mishaps before its destruction; 785 feet in length, 132
feet in diameter, it was propelled by eight 12-cylinder Maybach engines
totaling 4,480 horsepower and was the largest airship in the world to
date, permitting five airplanes to take off and land while the ship was
in flight.
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Hindenburg
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The German-made hydrogen-filled commercial passenger rigid airship Hindenburg
(LZ 129) explodes while attempting to dock at its mooring mast, totally
engulfed in flames within thirty-seven seconds; of the 36 passengers
and sixty-one crew members, thirteen passengers and twenty-two crew
members died; the cause of the explosion was never fully determined,
authorities believing that the highly flammable hydrogen was ignited by
accident or on purpose through an intentional act of sabotage;
airships; aviation; disasters.
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Hindenburg, Lakehurst, New Jersey, 1937
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The flaming skeletal remains of the huge dirigible Hindenburg, which
was destroyed by a gigantic explosion of hydrogen gas beginning at the
tail section of the craft at 7:23 p.m., while the passenger ship was
attempting to moor at its dock following its sixty-third flight from
Germany; Captain Max Pruss wisely decided to allow the flaming tail of
his ship sink to the ground, which undoubtedly saved the lives of
sixty-two persons on board, including his own; thirty-five others died
in this spectacular air disaster; unsubstantiated claims held that the
cause of the explosion was from sabotage, a bomb hidden in the ship and
ignited by a disaffected crew member or an opponent of Hitler's Nazi
Germany, which had widely promoted the flights of the dirigible.
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Later Successes and the End of an Era
Despite
the perils and failures, zeppelins performed some of the earliest
trans-oceanic and trans-continental crossings. The most successful
zeppelin ever built, the Graf Zeppelin, traveled completely around the
world in a single voyage in 1929. Publisher William Randolph Hearst
placed a reporter (Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay) on board, thus
permitting her to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by
air. Although unable to turn a profit, the Graf Zeppelin nevertheless
logged more than a million miles on nearly 600 flights, without injury
to any passenger. In spite of the success of the Graf Zeppelin,
the engineering problems persisted and many zeppelins met with tragic
ends. The tide of public perception shifted dramatically in 1937 with
the well-publicized crash of the Hindenburg in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
More cost-effective and less dramatic travel by commercial airlines was
gaining wider acceptance and soon became commonplace. By 1939, all
commercial zeppelins had been withdrawn from service. Although
none of the original gigantic airships have survived to the present
day, new-technology dirigibles are still being constructed -- and flown
by enthusiasts worldwide.
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