Graf Zeppelin's Round the World Trip of 1929
The Graf Zeppelin was the most successful of all Zeppelin airships, making several hundred trips across the Atlantic between Europe and the Americas. In 1929, a new age of air travel dawned when the Graf Zeppelin flew around the world in just three weeks. On its circumnavigation, the Graf Zeppelin left New York and took in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. As Zeppelin's star commander, Hugo Eckener, promised: "You don't fly in an airship, you go voyaging" (Archbold, 102).
Completed in 1928, the airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin was named after the founder of the company, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917). The LZ 127 measured 775 feet (237 m) in length, had a diameter of 100 feet (30.5 m), and a gas volume of 3.7 million cubic feet (105,000 m³). The airship would have been even bigger, but its final design was limited by the size of the hangar in which it was constructed.
The Graf Zeppelin had a top speed of 80 mph (128 km/h). Power came from five 550 hp Maybach VL2 engines, which used gas for fuel. This was an important innovation since previously, the use of liquid fuel meant that as that fuel was consumed, the loss of weight necessitated some of the airship's hydrogen gas to be released to compensate. With the new system, as the gas fuel was only slightly heavier than air, when the fuel was consumed, it could be replaced by simply admitting more air into the fuel cells, and the precious hydrogen was preserved. The special gas fuel was called 'Blau Gas' after its inventor, Dr. Hermann Blau.
The gondola suspended beneath the airship could carry 20 passengers and measured 98.5 feet (30 m) in length and 20 feet (6 m) in width. It had the control room forward and included a map room, radio room (essential for weather reports), an electric-powered galley equipped with a refrigerator, and a central lounge-dining area with panoramic windows on both sides. Each passenger cabin had its own window, and its couch folded up to provide two bunks, much like in train sleeping cars of the period. Toilet and washing facilities, separated for men or women, were located at the end of the accommodation corridor. Space was at a premium, and each passenger was only permitted to bring on board 50 lb (22.7 kg) of luggage. The crew of 43 slept in cabins built inside the hull and had separate washrooms from those available to the passengers.
A Gallery of Zeppelin Airships
The Zeppelin was a category of rigid airship first designed and built in Germany by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. The first Zeppelin airship flew in...
The airship was christened on 8 July 1928 on what would have been Count Zeppelin's 90th birthday. After a series of test flights, Graf Zeppelin crossed the Atlantic in October 1928, where, upon arrival in New York, it received a rapturous welcome and a ticker-tape parade. The maiden voyage had hit bad weather in its final stages, but a normal run of 2-3 days meant passengers could now cross the Atlantic faster than any contemporary ocean liner.
Wherever it flew, the Graf Zeppelin caused a sensation. Once, at London's Wembley Stadium, a football cup final had to be halted while the Graf Zeppelin flew over the crowd. The giant Zeppelin certainly captured the public's imagination. As the contemporary journalist Lady Grace Drummond Hay (1895-1946) remarked: “The Graf Zeppelin is more than just machinery, canvas and aluminium. It has a soul" (Archbold, 102).
Admiration, even adoration, could not fund an airship. The Graf Zeppelin was a hugely expensive endeavour. Ticket prices were only affordable to the very wealthy, but the running costs were tremendous: a large crew on board and an even bigger number of ground staff for each landing, tons of fuel, expensive gas, and non-stop maintenance between flights all meant the airship needed to be flying more often than not. The German authorities were reluctant to provide any further investment beyond what they had provided to help build the airship, and so Zeppelin's owners had to seek funding from unusual sources. The answer to the cost problem would be found in two places: the press and stamp collectors.
⇒ Graf Zeppelin's Round the World Trip of 1929
