PLATE 47Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Interior view gas bags not inflated.
PLATE 47
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Interior view gas bags not inflated.
New and larger sheds were built for the “DELAG†as the fleetincreased in size. When they first commenced flying there were only two airship sheds in addition to the one at Friedrichshafen. These were at Baden-Baden and at Dusseldorf. They owned the shed at Baden-Baden and leased from the municipality the one at Dusseldorf. Toward the end of 1911 others were available, one at Johannisthal near Berlin and one at Gotha. In 1912 two more were ready, one at Frankfort on the Main, owned by the “DELAG,†and one at Potsdam, owned by Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin. In 1913 the municipalities of Hamburg, Leipzig and Dresden erected sheds. (Plates 34-35-36.) In the beginning the sheds were single but the ones built after the “DELAG†had started regular schedules, accommodated two ships side by side. Some of the sheds were huge, often 196.8 feet (60 meters) wide.
They were provided with electric lights, water supply and docking rails, which extended from either end. Special piping conveyed the hydrogen from plant to shed. All sheds had railway connections, and were equipped with waiting rooms for passengers and crews, as well as workshops and accessory buildings. The airship harbors built by the “DELAG†and Zeppelin had particularly extensive workshops, for besides the regular maintenance work, they produced many new parts and instruments for navigating Zeppelins.
PLATE 48Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Power gondola (side) containing one 260 horsepower Maybach motor. Note ladder communicating with interior of ship.Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Power gondola (rear) containing two 260 horsepower Maybach motors. Note ladder communicating with interior of ship.
PLATE 48
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Power gondola (side) containing one 260 horsepower Maybach motor. Note ladder communicating with interior of ship.
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Power gondola (rear) containing two 260 horsepower Maybach motors. Note ladder communicating with interior of ship.
At every shed there was a meteorological station fitted with barometers, barographs, thermographs, and a theodolite for measurement of the wind velocity in the upper atmosphere. Weather observations were made each morning and telegraphed to all other stations. This enabled all Zeppelin pilots to be thoroughly informed before setting out on a flight. The special data supplied by the Zeppelin stations was more adequate for airship requirements thanthat from the Government official weather bureau. Wireless equipment was installed late in 1913.
The average commercial flight was from 37 to 62 miles (60 to 100 kilometers) from 1½ to 2½ hours. When the flights were from one airship harbor to another they often lasted four and sometimes eight hours. The fare was determined by the length of the flight, or the mileage. Round trip flights, which were comparatively short, cost from 25 to 50 dollars (one to two hundred marks.) The long distance trips ranged from 60 to 150 dollars (250 to 600 marks). Many single flights were made over the North Sea. The “Victoria Louise†often flew to Helgoland, Sylt and Norderney, the “Hansa†to Copenhagen and the “Sachsen†to Vienna. These flights were characterized as pleasure trips; and as such none was undertaken during the winter months. Instead, the Zeppelins underwent a thorough overhauling. Sometimes, however, a Zeppelin was kept in service all winter to train airship personnel of the army or navy.
Naturally “DELAG†became noted for its successful operations; and its ships were repeatedly chartered by the military or naval personnel for training flights.
The “DELAG†has been credited with the entire development of airship navigating technique. For one thing, it was the only organization of its kind, training airship personnel in practical operations. The “DELAG†airships and airship crews were used almost exclusively for training purposes when war was declared. At that time there were two other airship construction companies in Germany, Schütte-Lanz and Parseval. Both of these organizations procured their airship pilots from the trained personnel of the “DELAG.â€
PLATE 49Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.â€Rear view of rear power gondola containing two 260 horsepower Maybach motors.
PLATE 49
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.â€Rear view of rear power gondola containing two 260 horsepower Maybach motors.
All of the flights listed in the following table were made withouta single injury to passengers or crew. TheDeutschlandhad been repeatedly damaged while entering or leaving her shed and was rebuilt. The “Schwaben†was burned at her moorings during a severe storm. It is now known that all these accidents could have been avoided, in view of the progress that has been made in the science of lighter-than-air. Experience has materially increased the performance and qualities of safety in airships. Better motors, controls, gas bags and other parts of the Zeppelin have been so improved as to preclude possibility of accidents such as those which occasionally hindered the operations of “DELAG†before the war. Each of the flights listed here averaged two hours, 68 miles (109 kilometers), traversed with 22 passengers. All the flights aggregated 107,180 miles (172,535 kilometers), more thanfour times the girth of the earthat the equator.
PLATE 50Zeppelin BodenseeZeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Front and rear views of rear power gondola. Note radiator temperature control and ladder.Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Interior view showing location of fuel tanks.
PLATE 50
Zeppelin Bodensee
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Front and rear views of rear power gondola. Note radiator temperature control and ladder.
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€Interior view showing location of fuel tanks.
In the early days of the war the “Victoria Louise†mademore than a thousand training flights for more than 39,852 miles (64,152 kilometers) in 1292 hours, flying time, all after she had been added to the military training forces. Finally, her framework became so worn that she was dismantled. The “Sachsen†and “Hansa†(Plate 33) performed similar service.
From the Managing Director to the mechanics, all of the “DELAG†personnel entered the service during the war, where they were instructors, and it was due to them that the numbers of Zeppelins launched for war service were manned by crews qualified to operate them.
The real work for which the “DELAG†was created, “to develop commercial air transport†was of necessity put aside during the period of the war, but these activities were resumed early in 1919 when it was decided to start a regular daily passenger service, at first between Berlin and Friedrichshafen, a distance of 373 miles (600 kilometers) and afterward extend it to Switzerland, Italy, Spain in the south and to Sweden in the north. The pre-war personnel of the “DELAG†was assembled at Friedrichshafen and the route to Berlin started by the new Zeppelin “Bodensee†on August 24th, 1919 (Plate 38).
The “Bodensee†was designed and built in six months (January to July 1919), by Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin. She was the same size as the pre-war Commercial Zeppelins,but had twice the engine power, carried twice their useful load and maintained a speed equal with the former ships using only one-half of their engine power.
PLATE 51Zeppelin Bodensee20-30,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee†Type.
PLATE 51
Zeppelin Bodensee
20-30,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee†Type.
The “Bodensee†was 426.4 feet (130 meters) long, after shehad been lengthened by 32.8 feet (10 meters). Her diameter was 61.3 feet (18.7 meters) and she carried 794,475 cubic feet (22,500 cubic meters) of hydrogen. Her useful load normally was 25,353 pounds (11,500 kilograms). Her four motors were of 260 horsepower each. They turned three direct-driven propellers, one in each of the port and starboard motor gondolas which hung from the sides of the ship. The third propeller was driven by two engines in the rear motor gondola. The propellers averaged from 1,300 to 1,400 revolutions a minute. The “Bodensee†was capable of making 80 miles an hour. Her cruising speed was 75 miles an hour.
At this pace she could carry thirty passengers comfortably. They were seated in a luxurious salon (Plate 41) built in the pilot car under the forward part of the Zeppelin. Nearby in the same car were a kitchen and lavatory.
The “Bodensee†was maintained on the Friedrichshafen-Berlin route to experiment further in commercial air transport. While the “DELAG†did not attempt to make a profit, expenses were kept as low as possible and the prospects of monetary returns were generally favorable.
From August 24th until December 1st, 1919, the “Bodensee†made 103 flights in 98 days; on several days making two flights, one a short sightseeing trip over Berlin in addition to her regular run. Seventy-eight flights were made between Lake Constance and Berlin and two between Berlin and Stockholm, eighty trips on schedule in ninety-eight days. There was no flying for ten days owing to general overhaul and repairs. On three occasions the regular flights werepostponed because of heavy cross winds which made it difficult and dangerous to start the Zeppelin from the fixed shed of the airdrome at Staaken. This meant the loss of six trips. Two of the regular trips were omitted because of the flights to Sweden.
PLATE 52Passenger Zeppelin50,000 Cubic Meter Passenger Zeppelin.For medium distances and training purposes.
PLATE 52
Passenger Zeppelin
50,000 Cubic Meter Passenger Zeppelin.For medium distances and training purposes.
Nevertheless, in that period 2,380 passengers were carried, exclusive of crews, about 11,000 pounds (5,000 kilograms) of mail and 6,600 (300 kilograms) of express, freight and baggage. The “Bodensee†was in the air 533 hours, flying in all 32,300 miles (52,000 kilometers) an average of 62 miles an hour. Notwithstanding the many unforeseen difficulties due to uncertain political and economic conditions in Germany during the last quarter of 1919, the technical results of the “Bodensee†operations were excellent.
A sister ship of the “Bodensee†was built during the last quarter of 1919, and named the “Nordstern†but in December, that year, the Inter-Allied Air-Control Commission ordered the airship operations stopped. The “Bodensee†was delivered to Italy and the “Nordstern†to France in 1921.
Once more the aeronautical world became interested in Zeppelins. The last cruise of the “Bodensee†under German management took her from Friedrichshafen to Rome. She cruised over Zurich, Bern, Geneva and Avignon, often making 160 kilometers an hour, to the Mediterranean, near St. Rafael. Visitors at Cannes, Nice and Monaco saw a rigid airship for the first time as the “Bodensee†held to her route passing directly over Corsica and Elba, and finally to the airdrome in Ciampino, between Rome and the Albanian mountains. She had made more than 825 miles (1,329 kilometers) in 12 hours and 49 minutes, at an average speed of 64.6 miles (104 kilometers) an hour for the entire distance.
PLATE 53Fast Passenger Zeppelin60,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin.For medium distances. Accommodations for eighty passengers besides the necessary crew.Fast Commercial Zeppelin100,000 Cubic Meter Fast Commercial Zeppelin.Trans-Atlantic mail and express service.
PLATE 53
Fast Passenger Zeppelin
60,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin.For medium distances. Accommodations for eighty passengers besides the necessary crew.
Fast Commercial Zeppelin
100,000 Cubic Meter Fast Commercial Zeppelin.Trans-Atlantic mail and express service.
TheZeppelin organization today is prepared to build, deliver and operate rigid airships for any purpose. It has under contract virtually all the competent airship personnel in Germany. Practically all the engineering staffs and workmen employed in developing Zeppelins have been retained, one way or another, that they may be prepared to guarantee satisfactory performance of any Zeppelin turned out.
Actual construction work was discontinued early in 1920. The Allied Powers so interpreted the Treaty of Versailles that the German aircraft industry was not able to produce ships or planes having the least possible military value. Further restrictions were defined in the London Ultimatum. They have been enforced by the Allied Control Commission.
Notwithstanding this severe handicap, the Zeppelin organizations have been kept intact. There has been sufficient work on motor cars, motor boats, motors, gears, aluminum foundry work, etc. to keep the workmen occupied. Where some of the plants have been closed, the entire personnel has been transferred into the other active organizations. In each branch of the Zeppelin organization design and research work on airships and aerial navigation have continued and progressed.
Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin has been particularly active in developing as far as possible the many ideas and inventions originating before and during the war. Many of their new airship designs havebeen completed, others partly finished. It is now possible to produce quickly any type of commercial airship from of 700,000 to 7,000,000 cubic feet (20,000 to 2,000,000 cubic meters) capacity.
PLATE 54Fast Commercial Zeppelin100,000 Cubic Meter Fast Commercial Zeppelin.Trans-Atlantic mail and express service.Zeppelin blueprintControlandNavigation CarPassengerandOfficers’ QuartersForZeppelin AirshipEntw. 270
PLATE 54
Fast Commercial Zeppelin
100,000 Cubic Meter Fast Commercial Zeppelin.Trans-Atlantic mail and express service.
Zeppelin blueprint
ControlandNavigation CarPassengerandOfficers’ QuartersForZeppelin AirshipEntw. 270
Some of the principal types for which specifications have been completed and the performance of which are guaranteed and further, backed by more than twenty-five years of experience, include:
Airships for national defense are available, such as scouting, long distance patrol ships and others for mine spotting and short radius patrol.
From actual experience during the war Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin is able to build and guarantee the performance of airplane carrying airships which permit large or small planes being launched or taken aboard while in flight.
Bombing and raiding airships have been developed; but on the other hand the military development is considered of secondary importance to the vast amount of knowledge and experience acquired for commercial airship operations.
PLATE 55Fast Passenger Zeppelin135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin.For long distance passenger and mail service.Zeppelin Blueprint
PLATE 55
Fast Passenger Zeppelin
135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin.For long distance passenger and mail service.
Zeppelin Blueprint
The Zeppelin Operating Company (“DELAGâ€) have collaboratedin assembling all possible data relative to the operation and navigation of the great rigids, with a view toward having it available for immediate use and the instruction of other personnel when and wherever circumstances permit or require.
Aerial transport requirements of the future have been the subject of exhaustive study and research. Many new inventions have resulted from this knowledge of what is necessary to realize even part of the almost limitless possibilities in airship communication. Innumerable ideas have been created and passed upon by experts who have decided finally as to their practicability and financial worth.
The “DELAG,†which it will be noted, is the navigating company of the Zeppelin organization, has retained all of its 1919 personnel and has added to it such forces as the outlook for the future seems to warrant. The “DELAG†has about all of the qualified airship personnel in Central Europe.
The parent company, Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, has so arranged its organization that it can handle any development arising from the new situation both politically and economically.
Heretofore the management was under Director-General Alfred Colsman alone. Today it is divided into three divisions, operating, constructing and financial. Mr. Colsman handles the financial divisions and various subsidiary companies. Dr. Ludwig Dürr the construction, and Dr. Hugo Eckener the operating division which includes also the technical phases and all outside relations, domestic and foreign. Dr. Eckener, meanwhile, retains his position as managing Director of the “DELAG†and as one of the Directors of the Zeppelin endowment.
PLATE 56Fast Passenger Zeppelin Drawing Room135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin Drawing Room.Fast Passenger Zeppelin Stateroom135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin—Stateroom.
PLATE 56
Fast Passenger Zeppelin Drawing Room
135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin Drawing Room.
Fast Passenger Zeppelin Stateroom
135,000 Cubic Meter Fast Passenger Zeppelin—Stateroom.
Considered from all angles, due to the present development andknowledge of the science of lighter-than-air, it is possible today to provide satisfactory airship service for any route contemplated or which may be planned for the future.
Carefully prepared calculations on some 600 flights made up and carried out from daily weather maps of the north Atlantic on methodically selected periods, have convinced the Zeppelin officials that a two and a half day Zeppelin service could be maintained between Europe and America.
Zeppelin engineers worked incessantly making the North Atlantic flights across the weather maps. When they had completed their 600 theoretical trips they knew as much about what actually could be done, as if they had flown such a service for two or three years. With the exception of a few details, easily worked out in a brief experimental period, the Zeppelin organization could put such a service in operation at once, if permitted.
There has been considerable speculation relative to the New York-Chicago route. Several announcements have been made that either an airplane or airship service was about to be started. The Zeppelin engineers came to the United States not long ago and made a preliminary survey of that route. They based their report on a thorough examination of daily weather maps and reports for the last thirty years and stated that a New York-Chicago route could be operated successfully. It was pointed out that the New York-Chicago line would assume more responsibility for the fair name of commercial airship transport than anywhere on earth, more so, even than the trans-atlantic route which, technically, is far less difficult.
PLATE 57Zeppelin Bodensee, the new palace at PotsdamThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodenseeâ€.The new palace at Potsdam as seen enroute.Zeppelin Bodensee, ReichstagThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Reichstag Building and Unter den Linden, Berlin.
PLATE 57
Zeppelin Bodensee, the new palace at Potsdam
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodenseeâ€.The new palace at Potsdam as seen enroute.
Zeppelin Bodensee, Reichstag
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Reichstag Building and Unter den Linden, Berlin.
When asked to cooperate in a New York-Chicago airship line,the Zeppelin organization has consistently pointed out the many problems to be met. Their preliminary survey shows that they can maintain a twelve hour schedule, with almost 100% regularity in summer, from 80 to 90% in winter, or an average yearly performance of from 93 to 96%.
In addition, the Zeppelin organization supports its conclusion with a fund of engineering data. Considerable research work has resulted in solving many problems including passenger accommodations and the structure of larger airships, improvement of the gasoline engine, the steam turbine and the Diesel engine. They have provided for the safety of gas containers, eliminating fire and lightning risk, even producing a nitrogen mantle.
Gearings, reversible propellers and modern methods of ballast recovery have been perfected or improved.
Various devices for launching ships, rotary sheds accommodating two giant Zeppelins yet revolving under light power from electric motors, and many other docking facilities are primarily of Zeppelin origin.
Zeppelin has also improved methods for fabricating all-metal commercial planes.
PLATE 58Zeppelin Bodensee, Brandenburger GateThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Brandenburger Gate—Berlin in Winter.Zeppelin Bodensee, BerlinThe “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Berlin in Winter.
PLATE 58
Zeppelin Bodensee, Brandenburger Gate
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Brandenburger Gate—Berlin in Winter.
Zeppelin Bodensee, Berlin
The “DELAG†Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.â€View of Berlin in Winter.
Many of the problems in commercial airship operations or design will be solved shortly after actual operations are started. The aim of Zeppelin engineers has been to increase the efficiency of the airship as it has been proven that the financial returns from airship transport are, or should be, proportionately increased by the use of larger ships. The Zeppelin efforts, therefore, is to secure greater efficiencywhich will allow better financial returns with smaller units and less expense.
While this has been one of the principal objectives of the engineering branch, the operating staffs have developed new methods of handling the big ships commercially; improved organizations, and methods and apparatus for making coast and geodetic surveys by airship, forest fire patrol, and scientific explorations.
Their investigations of weather and technical conditions have extended throughout the world; one of the principal surveys of proposed routes being between Spain and Buenos Aires, in which it was learned that a normal schedule can be maintained regularly with ninety-six hours allotted for non-stop flights between the two terminals.
Of course, the public must be converted to the use of the airship, just as the people of Germany were converted—by actual operations. There probably exists no other field of human endeavor so essential to our civilization as that of transportation. The traveling public has accepted other mediums of conveyance after they had demonstrated inherent qualities of safety and reliability. So it is with aircraft. Heavier-than-air machines have gradually popularized flying. Persons are riding by the air route in constantly increasing numbers, here and abroad. Their faith in commercial aviation is due solely to the BRAVE pioneering efforts of a few men of vision these last twenty years. Popularity and general use depends on the efficiency of the organizations which now carry on the work so well begun.
PLATE 59Zeppelin Fountain at FriedrichshafenZeppelin Fountain at Friedrichshafen.Dedicated by the townspeople to the memory of Count Zeppelin.
PLATE 59
Zeppelin Fountain at Friedrichshafen
Zeppelin Fountain at Friedrichshafen.Dedicated by the townspeople to the memory of Count Zeppelin.
It is the privilege of Zeppelin to participate in this developmentalong the lines laid out by the founder, to the end that the rigid airship may do its part in bringing men and nations more closely together and facilitate mutual understanding and good will throughout the world.
ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BYWELLS AND COMPANYCHICAGO