PLATE 31Zeppelin Victoria LouiseThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”, 1912.Zeppelin Victoria LouiseThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”, 1912.
PLATE 31
Zeppelin Victoria Louise
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”, 1912.
Zeppelin Victoria Louise
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”, 1912.
Twenty Zeppelins were built in the new shed, number one (Plate 16), which is 629.8 feet (192 meters) long, 129.23 feet (39.4 meters)wide and 91.8 feet (28 meters) high. Its double sliding doors are electrically operated.
Six of the larger Zeppelins were either built or reconstructed in another new shed, number two, erected to accommodate ships of 1,942,050 cubic feet (55,000 cubic meters) and more. It is 787.2 feet (240 meters) long, 150.8 feet (46 meters) wide and 114.8 feet (35 meters) high. Its sliding doors can be opened or closed within fifteen minutes. Both of the large sheds have long docking rails at each end which enables the Zeppelins to leave or return to shelter within a few minutes.
Another shed near the works at Loewental was turned over to Zeppelin by the Government. The Navy Zeppelin L-11 was built there in 1915. The last one was the navy ship L-72 which was completed as the armistice was signed. It was not inflated for delivery; and, therefore, remained the property of the Zeppelin Company.
In the spring of 1919 the L-72 was outfitted for a demonstration flight from Berlin to the United States and return; but it was prevented by the Allied Commissions which ordered it to be kept in the shed until delivered to France. All the Zeppelins assembled at Loewental were fabricated at the main plant and taken there only for final assembling of the parts.
PLATE 32Zeppelin Victoria LouiseThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”.The ship’s 1000th trip, totaling 40,000 miles in 1292 hours and during which 22,039 passengers were carried without injury of any kind.Zeppelin Victoria LouiseThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”.Count Zeppelin and Doctor Eckener beneath the ship.
PLATE 32
Zeppelin Victoria Louise
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”.The ship’s 1000th trip, totaling 40,000 miles in 1292 hours and during which 22,039 passengers were carried without injury of any kind.
Zeppelin Victoria Louise
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Victoria Louise”.Count Zeppelin and Doctor Eckener beneath the ship.
The Zeppelin plant at Potsdam was erected in 1912 as an airship harbor and the following winter became one of the main construction centers with shed, workshops, and other necessary equipment. Here the passenger Zeppelin “Sachsen” was lengthened early in 1914. The last of the sixteen ships built there was the armyZeppelin LZ-81 late in 1916, after which, because the shed was too small for the larger ships, it was used for building giant seaplanes. Later on it was converted into a special repair factory of all the airship motors. The airship personnel was transferred to the Staaken plant near Berlin.
The Zeppelin-Staaken plant (Plate 17), located in the outskirts of Berlin is considered the most modern airship factory in the world.
Into it were put all the knowledge and experience of ten years of practical airship production. There were at one time two large sheds 820 feet (250 meters) long, 150.8 feet (46 meters) wide and 114.8 feet (35 meters) high, with a ring building shed between them, great workshops, research laboratories, administration building, hydrogen plant and all accessories.
The latest and most efficient machinery and tools then devised were provided. A large airdrome was constructed, as it was planned to make Staaken the post-war center of Zeppelin airship activity.
Here it was planned to locate both stationary and rotary sheds, the latter turning like a locomotive turn-table, making it possible to point their entrances in any direction the prevailing wind might dictate, to insure safe launching or landing of the Zeppelins. Then there were to be airplane factories on the same airdrome. It was at the Staaken plant that the L-59 was fabricated for the record flight to German East Africa and return. In all, twelve Zeppelins were built there.
During the war two plants were put up in the vicinity of Friedrichshafen for making duralumin materials such as angle bars, strips, all kinds of girders, and other parts of the Zeppelin skeleton. They were operated for the most part with female labor.
PLATE 33Zeppelin HansaThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Hansa”, 1912.Zeppelin SachsenThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Sachsen”, 1913.
PLATE 33
Zeppelin Hansa
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Hansa”, 1912.
Zeppelin Sachsen
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Sachsen”, 1913.
A woodworking factory (HolzindustrieG.m.b.H.-Meckenbeuren)also was established near Friedrichshafen for the manufacture of propellers, etc. It has recently been enlarged and is operating at full capacity producing materials for buildings, dwellings, etc. During the war the specially designed Zeppelin propellers were made at Göppingen.
One of the accessory companies founded by Zeppelin in 1909 was the Maybach Motor Factory (Maybach-Motorenbau) (Plate 18), at Friedrichshafen. It was enlarged considerably during the war, supplying practically all the airship motors used. Today the Maybach works include three large three story factory buildings, parts of which are devoted to executive offices, two workshops of recent origin occupying two acres, many engine testing stands, laboratory, and a power plant fully equipped with the latest machinery. The entire plant is under the management of Mr. Maybach, inventor of the only motor designed for airships alone. One reason for the peculiar efficiency of the plant is the special workman’s training department which has received considerable attention from the executives.
PLATE 34Zeppelin Harbor at Frankfort a.M.“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Frankfort a.M., 1912.Zeppelin Harbor at Baden-Baden“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Baden-Baden, 1910.
PLATE 34
Zeppelin Harbor at Frankfort a.M.
“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Frankfort a.M., 1912.
Zeppelin Harbor at Baden-Baden
“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Baden-Baden, 1910.
The first Maybach motors were produced in 1912 (Plate 19), and were 140 and 180 horsepower. They contributed largely to the success of the commercial Zeppelin before the war. In 1915 a 240 horsepower motor was built, and this was the principal motor used on the military and naval Zeppelins. Maybach produced an entirely new motor in 1917. It supplied from 260 to 320 horsepower and is noted as the first supercompression motor. Quickly recognized as the best engine for airplanes, it became the leading German aviation motor until late in 1918 when other motors built on similar principlesappeared and were found more adaptable to the planes. Maybach, meanwhile, developed other types (Plate 20), principally 160 and 260 horsepower units for heavier-than-air craft.
The following table illustrates the development in types and performance of engines:
Apprentices and girls are given a thorough examination and test to determine their fitness for the work, which requires the utmost accuracy. Then they enter a twelve weeks probationary service. Their apprenticeship lasts four years. All apprentices are given instruction by engineers and foremen in physics, chemistry, knowledge of materials, model making, foundry work, algebraic calculation methods, the handling of graphics, curves, statistics, price calculation, machines and tools and particularly the principles and functions of internal combustion engines.
On January 1st, 1918, 1980 workmen were employed, 416 of them women. There were 57 women on the executive and office staff of 217. On November 1st, that year, 3300 workmen and 349 others were employed, 599 of them women.
PLATE 35Zeppelin Harbor at Hamburg“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Hamburg, 1912.Zeppelin Harbor at Leipzig“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Leipzig, 1913.“Sachsen” landing for first time after completion of harbor June 1913.
PLATE 35
Zeppelin Harbor at Hamburg
“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Hamburg, 1912.
Zeppelin Harbor at Leipzig
“DELAG”-Zeppelin Harbor at Leipzig, 1913.“Sachsen” landing for first time after completion of harbor June 1913.
In the fall of 1921 Maybach exhibited for the first time the 22-70horsepower gearless motor car, designed to simplify operation. Only what is termed the direct speed is used in driving; except for grades of more than 10%, and for the starting on these grades, when apart from the rest of the mechanism a single gear is used by pushing down a pedal. When it is released, the direct grip is automatically restored without noise or vibration. Backing is accomplished with the electric starting motor by means of a pedal. Smaller cars of this type are now under construction.
The early gas bags for the Zeppelins were made of rubberized cotton fabric. This material was comparatively heavy and further, it allowed the hydrogen gas to deteriorate during prolonged operations. Count Zeppelin experimented with various materials, particularly goldbeater skins, which are the big intestines of oxen and other cattle, treated until they become like leather and then they are very thin, tough and so durable that they wear much longer than fabric. Zeppelin learned that goldbeater’s skins held gas better, also, and unlike rubberized fabric, practically eliminated the danger of electrical sparks due to friction or tearing.
He organized the Gasbag Manufacturing Company (Ballon-HüllenG.m.b.H.) at Tempelhof in 1912, to carry out this development and goldbeater’s skins were used exclusively, as the loss of two Zeppelins that year was traced directly to the balloon fabric in the gas bags causing sparks which exploded the hydrogen. The ships were the LZ-12 and the Schwaben, the former exploding during inflation and the latter while moored at Dusseldorf.
PLATE 36Zeppelin Harbors at Liegnitz and Dresden“DELAG”—Zeppelin Harbors at Liegnitz and Dresden, 1913-14.Zeppelin Harbor and Manufacturing Plant at Potsdam“DELAG”—Zeppelin Harbor and Manufacturing Plant at Potsdam (near Berlin), 1915.
PLATE 36
Zeppelin Harbors at Liegnitz and Dresden
“DELAG”—Zeppelin Harbors at Liegnitz and Dresden, 1913-14.
Zeppelin Harbor and Manufacturing Plant at Potsdam
“DELAG”—Zeppelin Harbor and Manufacturing Plant at Potsdam (near Berlin), 1915.
The goldbeater skins possessed certain disadvantages, however. For one thing, they were difficult to handle because of their smallsize; so they were shingled on to thin cotton fabric. Since 1917 silk has been used, the combination when prepared being so light and thin as to be transparent. In fact, the Zeppelins hulls are themselves nearly transparent, the fabric envelope and gas bags being so thin that one can make out figures silhouetted on the opposite side of the hull when it faces the light.
The Tempelhof factory, with Mr. Trenkmann as Manager, now includes many buildings and workshops, several put up recently for dyeing and treating fabrics. During the war a thousand persons were employed. The gas bags used in all the German airships were made there; and the factory working with another firm under a patent license agreement, made a majority of the German observation balloons.
It was not long after the war started that Count Zeppelin had difficulty in securing delivery of cog-wheels, etc. In 1915 he co-operated with Mr. Maag, a Swiss engineer, in starting the Friedrichshafen Cog-wheel and Gear Factory (Zahnradfabrik FriedrichshafenG.m.b.H.), another subsidiary (Plate 18.). The plant is as modern as they could make it. The buildings occupy three acres. They include office buildings, workshops for hobbing, heat-treating, grinding and polishing cog-wheels and the complete gear transmissions. Aluminum castings are obtained from the foundry of the parent company, Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin.
The gear works is equipped throughout with automatic machines built on the Maag patents. His cog-wheel involves a new principle, giving utmost safety and freedom from wear and noise. Specially designed testing machines are used, guaranteeing precision of the gear wheels.
PLATE 37Zeppelin Route Chart“DELAG” Zeppelin Route Chart, 1912-13.
PLATE 37
Zeppelin Route Chart
“DELAG” Zeppelin Route Chart, 1912-13.
During the war the company made all the gearing on the Zeppelinsand airplanes. The factory is now operating at full capacity, employing 500 men, making motor car gears, transmissions, etc. The manager is Dipl. Ing. Count von Soden.
Back in 1913 a subsidiary was founded, first as a consulting engineering concern; but soon thereafter it became the Zeppelin Hangar Construction Company (Zeppelin HallenbauG.m.b.H.). Through long practical experience it is prepared to build and equip complete airship harbors and dock yards, prepare landing fields and airdromes. One of the principal developments with which it has been accredited is the rotary shed, single or double. It has erected special workshops, gas plants and all the accessories of a modern flying terminal.
The company designed and constructed the two modern sheds at Friedrichshafen, the entire Staaken plant, the “DELAG” airship harbors and nearly all the other airports in Germany. Many hangars and workshops in Germany today were put up by the company using specially patented construction methods. In all some twenty-four complete airship harbors have been built from start to finish by this organization, which is under the management of Mr. Milatz and his staff of experts varying between 20 and a hundred members.
In 1916, the airship building personnel conducted experiments with airplanes made of airship duralumin girders covered with fabric. The object was to secure a plane which would meet the technical requirements of aerial photography. Though their activities were devoted to the airship building programme, the engineers managed to produce an experimental machine of that type. On itsfirst trials, it proved so superior to existing types that the army urgently requested early delivery of a number of machines. There was little time to do the work, however, and at the end of the war only twenty had been completed. They were destroyed, afterward, under the terms of the Versailles treaty.
PLATE 38Zeppelin Bodensee“DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee”.
PLATE 38
Zeppelin Bodensee
“DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee”.
There were other airplane enterprises organized by Count Zeppelin, which remain today leaders in their respective fields. Zeppelin was the first person to conceive of the giant all-metal flying boats (Plates 21and22), and all-metal airplanes.
He organized a small group within the parent company, Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, in 1912. It was the first concern exclusively engaged in all-metal airplane construction. Today the great plant of Dornier MetallbauG.m.b.H.at Seemoos, near Friedrichshafen is noted the world over for its remarkable development in heavier-than-air craft, which are named Dornier, after the manager and chief engineer. From the first Count Zeppelin placed at the disposal of Claude Dornier ample funds with which he was able to follow utterly new and original methods in developing all-metal planes on a strictly scientific basis.
It had never been done before. The plant in six years developed from a small experimental workshop to one of the largest in the world. At Seemoos there are located a great hangar, office buildings, workshops, turntables, slips and other facilities for landing and withdrawing the huge Dornier flying boats. Another great factory was erected at Lindau in 1918 but has not been used for reasons of economy.
PLATE 39Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern”, 1919.A sister ship of the “Bodensee.”Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Interior view of the passenger cabin.
PLATE 39
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern”, 1919.A sister ship of the “Bodensee.”
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Interior view of the passenger cabin.
As progress was made in designing, constructing and testing metal planes, Dornier devoted the work practically toward perfection of internally braced monoplanes. The monoplane principlewas maintained from the beginning. Today it is recognized generally as the most desirable type. New designs, methods of handling metal, experiments with various kinds of construction, newly invented machine tools, experimental planes and models, each an advance in efficiency, invariably something newly discovered in the infant science of aerodynamics—these were the activities of Dornier and his staff in six years.
The results were Dornier’s all-metal planes, possessing from 55 to 2,400 horsepower. They had just started quantity production of big planes and flying boats in the factories at Lindau and Seemoos when the German revolution halted all activities. Since then, though hampered by the treaty stipulations, the company has developed a series of commercial types unexcelled in construction, performance and safe operation. Since the war both commercial land planes and flying boats powered with from one to three engines have been produced.
During the war their products included pursuit planes, single motor two-place fighters (Plate 23), two and three motored bombing planes and four and multi-engined giant planes—all for over land flying. Seaplane types included single engine two-place fighters, two and three motored flying boats and four and multi-engine giant flying boats. More than one hundred domestic patents were held and more than 250 filed in foreign patent offices. Twenty-one different designs for experimental types had been produced, seventeen of them worked out in as many machines which were flown, and fourPlates 24-25-26-27made into modelsPlates 24-25-26-27. The following is a list of the experimental personnel year by year:
PLATE 40Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Landing at Friedrichshafen September 1919.Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Floating in the large shed at Friedrichshafen.
PLATE 40
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Landing at Friedrichshafen September 1919.
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Floating in the large shed at Friedrichshafen.
But there was another angle to the Zeppelin airplane activities.Count Zeppelin held the rank of General in the German Army. He had long been in a position which kept him informed of the needs of the fighting forces. For several months after the declaration of war he observed the heavy tasks to which his airships were put and then undertook the development of larger airplanes, far larger than any existing in the world at the time.
He consulted the noted aviator Hellmuth Hirth, and together they conferred with Professor Baumann of the technical university at Stuttgart. Baumann was already noted for his work as an aeronautical engineer. Within a few months they produced a multi-engined giant bomber. It proved successful. To produce these machines in quantity the Zeppelin works at Staaken were erected at the same time as the airship building plant. The airplane factory at Staaken soon employed more than a thousand men in turning out the giant night bombers, numbers of which were flown in the raids over London and Paris in 1917 and 1918.
The plant at Staaken was complete, including two great airplane assembling sheds, workshops, offices, etc. It is now closed. Other German firms have built similar bombing planes under the Zeppelin patents. Twenty-six of them were built at Staaken, however.
They had a 137.76 foot (42 meters) wing span, carried 4.5 tons useful load, could climb to a height of 14,760 feet (4,500 meters) with their motors which aggregated 1,250 horsepower. Their average speed was 90 miles per hour (Plate 23).
PLATE 41Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Leaving Friedrichshafen for France. Note the progressive increase in the size of the sheds.Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Passengers enjoying an excursion over Berlin.
PLATE 41
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Leaving Friedrichshafen for France. Note the progressive increase in the size of the sheds.
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Passengers enjoying an excursion over Berlin.
Other machines were built, smaller, but of all-metal construction. After the war “The Staaken Giant” (Plate 24) was put into commission. It, too, was all-metal, carried four motors and wasdistinctly a commercial plane. During many successful trials it carried eighteen passengers at a speed of 145 miles an hour. Later on, a two-engine commercial land plane was nearing completion when the Inter-allied Aeronautical Commission ordered all work stopped, and the activities at Staaken ceased.
One of the main requisites for success in any industry is the welfare of the men and women employed; and the establishment of the great Zeppelin organization created a community of employees in the small town on Lake Constance which demanded increasing attention as the organization expanded.
At first questions of industrial and social welfare were settled by a special department within Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, but in September, 1913, a separate organization (Zeppelin WohlfahrtG.m.b.H.) was provided. Count Zeppelin specified that homes for the men be provided immediately; that they should be built “economically but that they should make for comfort.” One hundred and one single family houses were completed in July, 1916, and the new community was named Zeppelindorf (Zeppelin village) (Plate 29). Each house sits in a garden which enables the occupant to raise his own vegetables and fruits.
The club house was opened in March, 1917. Here is a large dining room for the workmen, which is also used for concerts, plays, meetings and other social activities. There are several club rooms. Nearby are the laundry, ice plant, steam plant, and other common utilities. The “Inn” and general store are also patronized by the people of Friedrichshafen.
Later an agricultural department was established for the purpose of supplying good food at low prices. Five large farms are worked by this branch and cattle raising and fruit growing have made it one of the most notable institutions in Central Europe.
PLATE 42Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”The crew at the finish of the ship’s 100th flight between Berlin and Friedrichshafen, December 1919.Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Control car, front view.
PLATE 42
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”The crew at the finish of the ship’s 100th flight between Berlin and Friedrichshafen, December 1919.
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Control car, front view.
There is a savings bank which pays slightly more than the ordinaryinterest rate which followed the erection of the public library where all employees are encouraged in self-instruction. All sorts of scientific books, popular works and magazines are provided, beside the many lectures. Courses in domestic science are held for the women.
There was so much building to be done that a brick factory became one of the most important institutions in Zeppelin Village, which has also acquired an athletic field under the direction of an instructor in physical culture.
Practically the same community, with all the institutions, etc., has been created for the Zeppelin workers at Staaken, on the outskirts of Berlin.
PLATE 43Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Elevator Rudder and Altitude Controls.Station Engine TelegraphsChief Engineer’s Station Engine Telegraphs.Steering Wheel and CompassSteering Wheel and Compass.
PLATE 43
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Elevator Rudder and Altitude Controls.
Station Engine Telegraphs
Chief Engineer’s Station Engine Telegraphs.
Steering Wheel and Compass
Steering Wheel and Compass.
Attractedby Count Zeppelin’s earlier flights, hundreds of persons made reservations for the regularly conducted commercial trips, when in 1910 he organized the Deutsche Luftschiffahrt, A. G. (German Air Ship Transportation Co.), briefly called the “DELAG”. There was apparently a popular demand for commercial airship transport. Zeppelin founded the “DELAG” to meet this demand, and also to provide operating personnel and train pilots and crews for the other services, which he knew, would be necessary in case of emergency.
The “DELAG” was capitalized for 3,000,000 marks (approximately $714,000) and while it was a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, there also participated in this commercial operating organization a number of capitalists, whose faith in commercial air transport was fully justified by the success of the “DELAG” despite much difficulty the first year or so due to lack of meteorological data and inexperience.
PLATE 44Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”On an excursion over lake district near Potsdam.Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Passengers at Friedrichshafen embarking for Berlin.
PLATE 44
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”On an excursion over lake district near Potsdam.
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Passengers at Friedrichshafen embarking for Berlin.
During the latter part of 1910, minor accidents occurred which sometimes damaged the airships and disrupted the service, but in 1911 a comparatively regular service was established and maintained. The principal ship was the “Schwaben,” (Plates 5and30) which was far superior to her predecessors and which had the advantage of new and larger sheds at the Zeppelin-“DELAG” airports. The schedule maintained by the “Schwaben” justifies the assertion that the “DELAG” operated the first commercial aerial transport company on earth. Her success encouraged expansion, and in 1912, twoadditional ships, the “Victoria Louise” (Plates 31-32) and the “Hansa” (Plate 33) were built and entered the “DELAG” service, to be followed the next year by the “Sachsen”, (Plate 33).
The German Army commandeered all these commercial Zeppelins at the start of the war. They were used partly for military duty and partly as training ships for the many necessary crews. The first year of the war, they added hundreds of flights to the commercial record they had already made; but gradually became obsolete and were dismantled to make room for the newer and more efficient types being turned out at the Zeppelin Plants.
The headquarters of the “DELAG” were at Frankfort. It was from that city that the chief executives controlled operations. The Business Manager had charge of the financial and commercial activities. He supervised salaries, purchase of supplies, materials, etc. Flying operations were in charge of a Director of Flight. He had charge of the personnel at the air harbors; and all technical problems were put up to him.
The crew of a commercial Zeppelin included the pilot, a reserve pilot, a flight mechanic, helmsmen and engineers, the number depending on the nature of the flight, a wireless operator and a ship’s steward. The crew usually aggregated twelve men.
As far as practicable, each Zeppelin was assigned to a definite air harbor, which was known as its home station, or terminal. Here all the repairs and maintenance were done. The members of the crew were assigned to suitable homes, all located in that immediate vicinity. The maintenance crews for airships and sheds were also stationed there. These auxiliaries averaged thirty persons under thedirection of a foreman. They, too, formed the nucleus for the landing party necessary to handle the airships on arrival or departure. Each air harbor had a manager and his assistants to handle business details.
PLATE 45Zeppelin BodenseeThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Crew’s Quarters.Water Ballast BagWater Ballast Bag, Capacity 300 Kilos.Wireless RoomWireless Room.
PLATE 45
Zeppelin Bodensee
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”Crew’s Quarters.
Water Ballast Bag
Water Ballast Bag, Capacity 300 Kilos.
Wireless Room
Wireless Room.
When the Zeppelin arrived at its home port, and during its sojourn there the pilot was in sole command of both ship and air station. He was held strictly accountable for the safety of his ship; and acted as both station master and flying officer, subject only to instruction from the Director of Flight. The pilot alone made the decisions as to whether or not he should make a flight, when he should start and the number of passengers and crew he would carry. It is interesting to note that this system was adopted for the entire German airship force during the war. In fact, practically all airship personnel was trained by the “DELAG.”
There was no special organization for selling passenger accommodations. Agents of the Hamburg-American Line (“HAPAG”) which had offices in all German cities, also represented Zeppelin, and reservations were made on the same basis as for ocean going vessels.
The “Deutschland” was the first Zeppelin operated by the “DELAG.” The motors, however, were not very dependable; and the low speed of the ship, combined with lack of experience made it susceptible to minor accidents. TheDeutschlandwas so badly damaged, finally, that Zeppelin was compelled to rebuild her. During the period that she was being reconstructed the Zeppelin LZ-6 was substituted.
The first ship to fill the requirements essential to safe and steady commercial operations was the “Schwaben” built in the summer of 1911. She was 459.2 feet (140 meters) long, 45.9 feet (14 meters) indiameter, and of 615,580 cubic feet (18,000 cubic meters) hydrogen gas capacity. Her three Maybach 145 horsepower motors gave the “Schwaben” a speed of 43 miles an hour (19.3 meters per second). She had a useful lift of 8,818.4 pounds (4,000 kilograms). During the latter part of 1911 more than a hundred flights were made with the “Schwaben” between Lake Constance, Niederheim, Gotha, and Berlin. These flights warranted larger ships.
PLATE 46Zeppelin NordsternThe “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Interior view with gas bags removed.
PLATE 46
Zeppelin Nordstern
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Nordstern.”Interior view with gas bags removed.
In March 1912, the “DELAG” put into operation the new Zeppelin “Victoria Louise” (Plates 31-32) and in the summer, her sister ship the “Hansa”. These Zeppelins were 485.4 feet (148 meters) long and 45.9 feet (14 meters) in diameter. They each held 670,890 cubic feet (19,000 cubic meters) of hydrogen and their useful lift was 11,023 pounds (5,000 kilograms). Motors had been so improved that the “Victoria Louise” and “Hansa” were able to make 44.7 and 46.9 miles per hour respectively.
Each Zeppelin accommodated twenty-four passengers besides the crew. Warm meals were served from the up to date electrical kitchen. There was wireless aboard, also.
The ships gave complete satisfaction during hundreds of flights made over constantly increasing distances. They won the confidence of the traveling public; and equally important, had supplied much valuable experience and information, for they operated in all kinds of weather at all seasons of the year.
In 1913, the new Zeppelin, “Sachsen”, (Plate 33) was added to the “DELAG” fleet. She had a length of 459.2 feet (140 meters) and a diameter of 49.2 feet (15 meters) which increased the lift because she carried 670,890 cubic feet (19,000 cubic meters) of hydrogen which gave her a useful lift of more than 13,227.6 pounds (6,000 kilograms). Her speed was better than 48 miles an hour and she carried twenty-four passengers.