LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin

LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (; Registration: D-LZ 127) was a large German passenger-carrying rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. It was named after the German pioneer of airships, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who held the rank of Graf or Count in the German nobility. During its operating life the great airship made 590 flights, covering more than a million miles.

Design and development

The LZ 127 was originally planned to exploit the latest technology in airships, building on the advances of the earlier LZ126. Dr. Hugo Eckener had to campaign for its construction and only after two years of lobbying did that proceed at the Zeppelin works, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, at Friedrichshafen in Germany. The Graf Zeppelin flew for the first time on 18 September 1928 Puget Sound Airship Society 2007 and, with a total length of and volume of , was the largest airship up to that time. It was powered by five Maybach engines that could burn either Blau gas or gasoline.Scherz 2003 The ship achieved a maximum speed of 128 kilometres per hour (80 mph, 70 knots) operating at total maximum thrust of , which reduced to the normal cruising speed of 117 km/h (73 mph, 63 knots) when running with normal thrust of , ignoring wind speeds. Some flights were made using only Blau gas, and for this purpose 12 gas cells were used with a total volume up to 30,000 cubic metres. That amount allowed around 100 hours at cruising speed. At maximum capacity, the fuel tank allowed 67 hours' cruising. Using both gasoline and Blau gas could give 118 hours' cruising. Generally the Graf Zeppelin had a usable payload capacity of 15,000 kilograms for a 10,000 kilometre cruise. Initially it was to be used for experimental and demonstration purposes to prepare the way for regular airship traveling, but also carried passengers and mail to cover the costs. Two small ram air turbines attached to the main gondola on swinging arms generated supplemental electricity: one for the radio room, the other for passenger lighting, the galley appliances, and as a reserve. Accumulators stored the electrical energy produced so that radio operation was independent of airspeed.Busch 2006 The main electricity generating plant was located inside the hull and comprised two fuel-burning generators.Pilot und Luftschiff. LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin : Bilder aus dem Luftschiff (Photograph Elektrozentrale) The gondola also had a gasoline-fueled emergency generator.

Gondola layout

Behind the front command cabin through a door lay the map room, with two large open access hatches to allow the command crew to communicate with the navigators. From the map room an ascending ladder allowed access to a keel corridor inside the hull. The map room had two large windows, one on each side. A rear door led from the map room to a central corridor with the three-man radio room to the left and the electric kitchen to the right, and a short passage to the main entrance-exit door on the right (when facing front). The corridor ended at a door that opened into the main dining and sitting room, with four large windows. At the rear of this room a door opened into the long corridor to access the passenger's cabins and washrooms and toilet facilities. Each passenger cabin was by day set with a sofa which by night the crew would convert to two beds, one above the other. The crew's quarters were inside the hull and reached by a catwalk. The kitchen was equipped with a single electric oven with two compartments and hot plates on top.

Radio equipment

|} |} The Graf's radio room was outfitted with the most modern radio equipment for an airship at the time. Three radio officers served there communicating with ground stations and ships, performing radio navigation and receiving weather reports, as well as sending private telegrams for passengers. A one kilowatt valve transmitter (about 140 watt antenna power) was used to send telegrams over the longwave band of 500 to 3,000 metres. An emergency transmitter with 70 watt antenna power was available for both telegraph and radio telephone, using 300 to 1,300 metre wavelengths, powered either by the accumulator or the gasoline generator. The main antenna comprised two 120-metre-long wires, with lead weights at their ends. They could be lowered by electric motor or hand crank. The emergency antenna was a 40-metre wire stretched from a ring on the airship hull. Three high quality receivers, each with six valves, served the wavelength ranges 120 to 1,200 metres ( medium frequency), 400 to 4,000 metres ( low frequency) and 3,000 to 25,000 metres (overlapping low frequency and very low frequency). Additionally the room had a shortwave receiver for wavelengths 10 to 280 metres ( high frequency). A modern direction finder, as was then used for radio navigation in large passenger ships, used a steerable ring antenna to determine the airship's position from any two radio transmitters either land- or ship-based. 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

First intercontinental passenger airship flight

In addition to the passengers and crew, there was also a stowaway on the return flight from America, 19-year-old Clarence Terhune, who had secreted himself onboard the Graf Zeppelin in Lakehurst, New Jersey.Air Stowaway's Own Story, The San Antonio Light, 2 November 1928. He appears in a Gaumont Graphic Newsreel working for his passage in the airship's kitchen. Terhune was returned to the U.S. on the French liner SS Ile de France along with a number of airship crewmembers."First Stowaway Home From Germany." The New York Times, 14 November 1928. "Big Flight". Time, 11 March 1929.

The "interrupted flight"

As Dr. Eckener desperately looked for a suitable place to crash-land the airship, the French Air Ministry advised him that he would be permitted to land at the Naval Airship Base at Cuers-Pierrefeu about ten miles from Toulon to use the mooring mast and hangar of the lost airship Dixmude (France's only dirigible which crashed in the Mediterranean in 1923 resulting in the loss of 52 lives) if the Graf could reach the facility before being blown out to sea. 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."Zeppelin Battles Gale to Safety; Reaches Cuers, France, on One Motor; Eckener and Crew Avert Disaster" The New York Times, 18 May 1929. After making temporary repairs, the Graf finally returned to Friedrichshafen on 24 May. Mail carried on the flight received a one-line cachet reading "Delivery delayed due to cancelation of the 1st America trip" and was held at Friedrichshafen until 1 August 1929, when the airship made another attempt to cross the Atlantic for Lakehurst, arriving on 4 August 1929. Four days later, the Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst for another daring enterprise — a complete circumnavigation of the globe.

Round-the-world flight

] Starting there on 8 August 1929, Graf Zeppelin flew back across the Atlantic to Friedrichshafen to refuel before continuing on August 15 across the vastness of Siberia to Tokyo (Kasumigaura Naval Air Station), a nonstop leg of , arriving three days later on 18 August. Dr. Eckener believed that some of the lands they crossed in Siberia had never before been seen by modern explorers. After staying in Tokyo for five days, on 23 August, the Graf Zeppelin continued across the Pacific to California flying first over San Francisco before heading south to stop at Mines Field in Los Angeles for the first ever nonstop flight of any kind across the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific leg was and took three days. The airship's final leg across the United States took it over Chicago before landing back at Lakehurst NAS on 29 August, taking two days and covering .Geisenheyer, Max. Mit 'Graf Zeppelin' Um Die Welt: Ein Bild-Buch. Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei G.m.b.H., Frankfurt am Mein (Germany), 1929. The flying time for the Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days and 11 minutes. The entire voyage took 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes including the initial and final trips between Friedrichshafen and NAS Lakehurst during which time the airship travelled 49,618 km (30,831 miles) whereas the distance covered on the designated "Round the World" portion from Lakehurst to Lakehurst was 31,400 km (19,500 miles). Among the passengers on board the return flight from Lakehurst to Friedrichshafen, which departed on 1 September, were the newly-wed Arctic explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins and his bride Suzanne Bennett. They had married two days earlier and the trip was their wedding gift from Hearst. A carried on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst required $3.55 USD in postage, the equivalent in 2007 of roughly $43 if based on the CPI.Measuring Worth - Relative Value of US Dollars. link (Current data is only available till 2007)

The polar flight

In July 1930, Hugo Eckener had already piloted the Graf on a three-day trip to Norway and Spitsbergen, in order to determine its performance in this region. Shortly after this, Eckener made 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 when the submarine encountered recurring technical problems, leading to its eventual scuttling in a Bergen fjord.Ahern, J.J. "finally sunk on November 20, 1931". The Nautilus, American Philosophical Society, 2000. Note: The scuttling was mandated by US-UK treaty. Eckener instead began to plan a rendezvous with a surface vessel. He intended funding to be secured by delivering mail post to the ship. After advertising, around fifty thousand letters were collected from around the world weighing a total of about 300 kilograms. The rendezvous vessel, the Russian icebreaker Malygin, on which the Italian airshipman and polar explorer Umberto Nobile was a guest, required another 120 kilograms of post. The major costs of the expedition were met solely by sale of postage stamps. The rest of the funding came from Aeroarctic and the Ullstein-Verlag in exchange for exclusive reporting rights. The 1931 polar flight took one week from 24 July to 31 July 1931. The Graf traveled about 10,600 kilometres; the longest leg without refueling was 8,600 kilometres. The average speed was 88 km/h. Route:

Friedrichshafen–Berlin – 600 km in 8 hours (75 km/h)
Berlin–Leningrad – 1,400 km in 16 hours (87 km/h)
Leningrad–Kanin – 1,300 km in 12 hours (108 km/h)
Kanin–Franz-Joseph-Land – 1,200 km in 18 hours (67 km/h)
Franz-Joseph-Land–Nordland–Taimyr–Novaya Zemlya – 2,400 km in 32 hours (75 km/h)
Novaya Zemlya–Leningrad – 2,300 km in 25 hours (92 km/h)
Leningrad–Berlin – 1,400 km in 13 hours (108 km/h)
Berlin–Friedrichshafen – 600 km in 8 hours (75 km/h)

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.

Middle East flights

The highlights were:

Launched April 9 at 06:10, following the Rhone valley and over Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and Malta. By 05:15 the following morning, the Graf reached the African coast at Tripoli near Bengasi, then proceeded on towards Alexandria, the Bucht von Sollum at 09:00, flying over Alexandria at 13:00, following the Nile towards Cairo.
Flew 200 metres over the Giza pyramid complex, over the Pyramid of Cheops, then following the Nile towards Heluan. Late evening reached the pyramid of Saqqara.
Nightflight northwards along the Nile towards Damietta.
April 11 at 5:15 landed at Almaza (Almasy) airfield near Cairo. British air force soldiers comprising the ground crew. Thirty thousand curious onlookers must be held back with fire hoses.
After a short stayover, relaunched eastwards over the Suez canal and the bight of Gaza, 10:00 arriving in Jerusalem
100 metres over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre the engines were stopped and the ship floated "still" for several minutes.
Fly over Shechem, Emmaus, the limestone mountains over the desert, 16:00 arrived at Cairo, 17:00 landed at Almaza, half hour stayover, resuming flying towards Siwa Oasis, ( Libyan Desert). In the desert villages, many people fled into their huts before the airship.
Night: the airship crossed over Tripoli, by morning it was over Crete, then along the Albanian coast towards towards Split in Dalmatia. The ship flew 1700 metres over the Karst hills. By 21:30 Zagreb in Yugoslavia, midnight Vienna, Passau, Augsburg, Ulm
7:00 lands at Friedrichshafen.

Golden age

]1934 "Graf Zeppelin" South America Schedule.jpg|thumb|right|Schedule of 1934 Flights to South America]] Almost every flight had a reporter on board, who would radio a report to the ground via Morse Code. Such articles made Lady Drummond-Hay famous, and she would be pictured in advertisements featuring the Graf.Post & Tele Museum Danmark. News from the Sky Lady Drummond advertising Lucky Strike cigarettes: "I smoke a Lucky instead of eating sweets" In October 1933, the Graf Zeppelin made an appearance at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago, circling over the fair bomberguy 2008 from 09:00 to 09:30 circles then lands then landing and relaunching 25 minutes later. Despite the beginning of the Great Depression and growing competition from fixed-wing aircraft, D-LZ127 would transport an increasing number of passengers and mail across the ocean every year until 1937. Post and cargo provided most of the income for operating the Graf. In one transatlantic flight the Graf would carry 52,000 postcards and 50,000 letters, and by its last flight it had carried 53 tonnes of mail. Since 1912 Zeppelins were allowed to postmark and sort mail onboard and the Graf managed to deliver South America-bound about a week faster than by ship.Post & Tele Museum Danmark. Luftskibet Kommer images and movies on mail and cargo handling with the Graf However in general the operators, Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei, made a loss each year. When the Hindenburg entered service in 1936 prospects became better and a profit was expected for 1937 by delivering mail on both it and the Graf, but the Hindenburg's loss in May 1937 put an end to all commercial Zeppelin service.Jensen, Erik. Dansk Postbefordring med Luftskib

Successor abandoned

Dr. Eckener intended to supplement the successful craft by another, similar Zeppelin, projected as D-LZ128. However the disastrous accident of the British passenger airship R101 in 1931 led the Zeppelin company to reconsider the safety of hydrogen-filled vessels, and the design was abandoned in favor of a new project. D-LZ129, which was to eventually be named the Hindenburg, would advance Zeppelin technology considerably and was intended to be filled with helium. After the Hindenburg disaster the story arose that an embargo imposed by the United States because of the looming war prevented German access to the required large quantities of helium, leading to the conversion of the Hindenburg to a hydrogen design. However it is now known that Eckener successfully visited President Roosevelt himself, who promised to supply helium, but only for peaceful purposes. But after the annexation of Austria in March 1938, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes refused to supply helium, and the Graf Zeppelin II was ultimately inflated with hydrogen. It has been suggested that the use of helium was ruled out on financial grounds.

End of an era

After the Hindenburg disaster in 1937, public faith in the safety of dirigibles was shattered, and flying passengers in hydrogen-filled vessels became untenable. D-LZ127 Graf Zeppelin was retired one month past the disaster and turned into a museum. The end for the Graf Zeppelin came with the outbreak of World War II. In March 1940, Hermann Göring, the German Air Minister (Reichsluftfahrtminister), ordered the destruction of the remaining dirigibles, and the duralumin parts were fed into the German war industry.

Legacy

As evidence of how it caught the imagination of the world, a number of countries issued postage stamps either commemorating flights of the Zeppelin or for use on this (and later) airships. Some are fairly common, others quite rare. A considerable number of covers (envelopes) carried on flights still exist and are avidly collected. In addition, a board game was made in its name.

Specifications

[[File:Zeppelin-LZ-127 internal and gas cells.svg|thumb|right|upright=2|Internal components and gas cell locations shown schematically, excluding passenger and engine gondolas. Key: ACP = Auxiliary control post red = AC = axial corridor running from main ring -2 to the front mooring hub blue = LC = lower corridor running from main ring 20 to ring 211 ending at ladder to axial corridor orange = WC = crew's toilet beige = CQ = crew's quarters with tables, chairs and berths beige = B = berths or cargo space blue stripes = A = ventilation shaft green stripes = CS = climbing shaft brown stripes GE = exhaust gas shaft brown box = O = oil tanks yellow box = P = petrol tanks light blue box = W = water tank OP = Observation post on top of hull pink cell = H2 = hydrogen gas cell magenta cell = BG = Blaugas cell]]

References

Notes

Bibliography

Archbold, Rick. Hindenburg: An Illustrated History. Toronto: Viking Studio/Madison Press, 1994. ISBN 0-670-85225-2.
Bomberguy. Graf Zeppelin Bomberguy Aviation History, selected clips. Retrieved: 11 June 2008.
Botting, Douglas. Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of Air Travel. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-8050-6458-3.
Brewer, G. Daniel. Hydrogen Aircraft Technology. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8493-5838-8.
Busch, Heinrich. "Funkverkehr auf dem Luftschiff LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin". (in German), 14 August 2006. Retrieved: 5 July 2008.
Dick, Harold G. and Douglas H. Robinson. The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships Graf Zeppelin & Hindenburg. Washington, D.C. and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985. ISBN 1-56098-219-5.
Duggan, John. LZ 129 "Hindenburg": The Complete Story. Ickenham, UK: Zeppelin Study Group, 2002. ISBN 0-9514114-8-9.
Geisenheyner, Max. Mit 'Graf Zeppelin' Um Die Welt: Ein Bild-Buch. Frankfurt am Mein, Germany: Frankfurter Societäts-Druckerei G.m.b.H., 1929.
"Honors to Dr. Hugo Eckener: The First Airship Flight Around the World." National Geographic Magazine Vol. LVII, No. 6, June 1930, pp. 653–688.
Lehmann, Ernst. Zeppelin: The Story of Lighter-than-air Craft. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1937.
Puget Sound Airship Society. Zeppelin Airships 1918-1940, 2007. Retrieved: 5 July 2008.
Scherz, Walter. Bau und Einrichtung des Luftschiffes "Graf Zeppelin" (in German)- LZ127 in construction JADU 2003. Retrieved: 2 June 2008.

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