Upon landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey (USA), the German airship named Graff Zeppelin became the first flying ship of its kind to circumnavigate the world.
This type of air craft was considered an evolution of hot air balloon technology (invented in the 18th century), based on the principle that hot air tends to rise.
The historic zeppelin was named in homage to German air navigation pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who rose to the rank of Graf or Count in the German nobility (according to German usage the particle “von” in the name is omitted when using a title as “Graff”).
After Count von Zeppelin’s death in 1917, before the end of the Great War, Hugo Eckner would take over as head of the Zeppelin company.
Eckener’s initial idea was to use the aircraft for experimental and demonstration flights, carrying passengers to cover costs.
After the success of the first flight of the new Eckener model, the LZ127 made its first trips to Germany, Italy, Palestine and Spain.
In August 1929, Eckener commanded what would be his greatest challenge: the circumnavigation of the globe.
After successfully traveling around the world, he embarked on a new adventure in 1931, when he made an exploratory trip to the Arctic, thus fulfilling an old dream of Count von Zeppelin that he could not achieve due to the outbreak of the Great War.
The large LZ 127 airship flew for the first time on September 18, 1928 and made 600 trips, flying over the Atlantic 150 times and a regular cargo and mail line was established in 1936 with South America.
The sad end of this historic ship came in the context of World War II, in 1940, when it was scrapped to build a combat plane with its parts.
The most famous zeppelins
Hindenburg and its twin the Graf Zeppelin II were the two largest airships ever built.
The most famous was the Hindenburg, which at that time was one of the fastest zeppelins of all time, capable of making a transoceanic trip in two days.
The Hindenburg was named in honor of the President of Germany Paul von Hindenburg.
It was longer than three Boeing 747s together and had a top speed of 135 km/h.
Originally, it had a capacity for 50 passengers and a crew of 61 people. Inside, passengers enjoyed all the luxuries of the time. The furniture and decoration were inspired by the Bauhaus.
The Nazi regime appropriated the image of the Hindenburg as a sign of the greatness of German power. On August 1, during the opening of the Berlin Olympic Games, the airship flew over the Olympic stadium before the appearance of Adolf Hitler.
decline of aircraft
In its beginnings, the airships had enough guarantees in terms of their safety soaring through the sky.
However, the enormous expansion of the airship fleet and its excessive growth ended up changing this statistic. Gradually, aircraft designers became overconfident and careless.
A series of tragic accidents were then unleashed that ended up removing the airships from the skies.
On May 6, 1937, after having crossed the Atlantic, the Hindenburg approached New Jersey (USA) and, while casting off the moorings, and approaching the tower, a flash of extensive sparks of static electricity was observed astern. (there was a thunderstorm and the air was electrically charged). Suddenly, a fire caught on top of the stern, spreading almost instantly.
It was completely destroyed in less than 40 seconds. Despite the shock of the disaster, of the 97 people on board only 35 died.
His skeleton lay in the ground for a long time until it was sold for scrap.
After the disaster and subsequent investigation, Adolf Hitler ordered the end of the fleet of commercial airships.
The great media coverage of the accident had a great impact on the future of passenger airships. The images of the accident went around the world, ending the confidence that was had in this transport.