Zeppelin Mania-Book Review: “Zeppelin Hindenburg”

Nothing excites the imagination more than does the great zeppelin Hindenburg. In 1936, the world was abuzz with airship fever. The fastest ocean liners were crossing the Atlantic in 5 days. The Hindenburg cut that time in half on the westbound flight. On the eastbound trip to Europe, she could sometimes make the flight in less than 48 hours.

Unfortunately, what sticks in our minds is this:

and Herb Morrison’s words, “Oh, the humanity!”, instead of this:

However, as spectacular as the disaster was, caught on the newsreel cameras of the day, the loss of life was comparatively small. Thirteen of thirty-six passengers, twenty-two of the sixty-one crewman, and one of the ground crew died.

In 27 years of commercial flight by the DELAG and its successor, the DZR, those thirty-six deaths were the only deaths that occurred. No airline today can boast of such a record.

For lovers of the airship and the Hindenburg in particular, Dan Grossman, Cheryl Ganz, and Patrick Russell have done us the supreme favor of writing the definitive book on the greatest of all airships. Zeppelin Hindenburg: An Illustrated History of LZ-129 tells the story of this great ship and captures the mood of the world when for the first time in history one could fly anywhere in the world on the DZR and its partner airlines.

The world was filled with optimism in 1936 because technology was shrinking the globe. And for those with money, the world truly was their oyster. In the midst of the Depression, there was hope that better days were indeed here again.

Zeppelin Hindenburg tells the story of LZ-129 through words and pictures. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book. The text is informative and gives us a picture into what life was like in those heady days of hope. Unlike like many books recounting history, this one isn’t as dry as week old toast.

We learn all about the Hindenburg and what it took to fly her. We learn all about her role as a flying post office. We learn what life aboard her was like for passengers and crew. (For the crew it was work, work, work.) We get a detailed look into the building of the great ship. Everything is here that any zeppelin aficionado could even hope for.

And we learn the details, the known facts, of the disaster. Grossman, et. al., also debunk several popular myths regarding the cause of one of the most spectacular aircraft tragedies ever caught on film.

Zeppelin Hindenburg: An Illustrated History of the LZ-129 is a must have for aviation enthusiasts, airship aficionados, and anyone interested in the optimism created by advancing technology.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Zeppelin Mania: Day 5-R 34 Arrives Home

The R 34 over the Royal Naval Air Service station at Pulham, Norfolk in 1919.

Throughout the morning of July 13, messages of congratulations poured into the airship’s wireless room. King George, the chief of the Air Service, the Board of Admiralty, the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, among many others.

From General Maitland’s log:

6.20 am—Over Pulham. Quite a number of people on the landing ground despite the early hour. Scott makes two circles of the ground, and puts the ship gently down into the hands of the landing party. Time of landing, 6.57 am. Total time of return journey from Long Island, New York, to Pulham, Norfolk, is therefore 75 hours and 3 minutes; or 3 days, 3 hours, and 3 minutes.

Seventeen years later, the faster Hindenburg’s average time from Frankfurt to Lakehurst, New Jersey was 66 hours and 37 minutes; and from Lakehurst to Frankfurt, 51 hours and 23 minutes. Certainly slower than a jet, but far and away much more luxurious. On par with a cruise ship of today.

The R 34 was a military ship. A copy of a 1916 German war zeppelin that had been captured, largely intact. A mere two years later the Germans were building even larger zeppelins, with greater range. A range they felt would enable them to bomb New York City. One of these “X” Class zeppelins, the LZ-114, was given to the French as war reparations. Renamed Dixmude, in 1923 she made a 4400 mile flight and was in the air for well over 118 hours without any problems. Her maximum range was calculated to be over 7400 miles. The specially rebuilt L 59, the Africa Ship, had a range of 10,000 miles and a payload over 104,000 pounds. She could have flown to America, bombed New York, and flown back to Germany without refueling.

At the time and for decades to come no airplane was capable of doing what the L 59, the R 34, or the Dixmude did. The airship in 1919 and in the following two decades was clearly seen as the wave of the future. Land-based passenger aircraft would not be able to cross the Atlantic non-stop until after World War II. The most famous of the 1930s flying boats, the Boeing 314 Clipper, introduced in 1939, could carry 74 passengers during the day or 36 at night, had a mere 10,000 pound payload capacity, and had a range of  3,685 miles. Certainly a plane to rival the Hindenburg, but only in speed. The airship still laid claim to greater range, payload capacity, comfort, and quiet.

So what happened? In part, the airship herself was to blame. Expensive to build, operate, and maintain, no private company was willing to expend the capital. The rigid airships that were in existence were mostly military vessels and as a weapon of war, the zepp’s days had come and gone.

The R 34 is a prime example of government neglect. The British press hailed the event and the Air Ministry ignored it and its potential for future military application. In fact, the Air Ministry went to great lengths to scrap their rigid airship program—completely ignoring the role the rigid airship could have played as a transport ship in supplying far-flung and isolated military installations with speed and efficiency. Much as the L 59 had tried to do in 1917, in her attempt to resupply the army in German East Africa.

Then, as now, the rigid airship, while not the fastest aircraft, had the ability to carry tons of cargo vast distances to anywhere in the world. The airship needs no airfield or expensive airports. The problem of huge landing crews was solved by the US Navy. A dozen men and a motorized mooring mast handled the 785 foot long (239 m) USS Akron and USS Macon.

More than anything, our desire for speed killed the airship—in spite of its practicality.

Yet, in the early days of aviation, it was Count Zeppelin’s dream that conquered the skies. The crew of the R 34 deserve high praise for their brave accomplishment. Doing what no one had done before.

Today let’s take a moment to celebrate their great achievement.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this touch of Zeppelin Mania. As always, comments are welcome. Until next time, happy reading!

Zeppelin Mania: R34’s Flight Home Day 4

The Route Map of the R-34's Historic Double Trans-Atlantic Crossing in 1919.

The Orange Line is the Crossing from Scotland to New York and the Blue Line is the Crossing from New York to Pulham.

Saturday, July 12, 1919 began beautifully. The weather began clearing and the sea was visible at 2500 feet.

At 5 am, General Maitland recorded: “Magnificent sunrise; the sun slowly appears above the cloud bank ahead of us in a blaze of golden light, and we head straight into it.”

An hour later, the ship is running on three engines only as the after engine is being repaired. The airspeed is 32 knots. Major Scott takes the ship down to 900 feet to sight the water. Ground speed is only 15 knots at that altitude, so he returns to 2800 feet where the ship’s ground speed is 36 knots, or 41 mph (67 kph). The R-34 is approximately 760 miles from her base — and home.

General Maitland wrote, “Breakfast this morning is a festive meal, as we reckon it should be our last breakfast on board, and we are rather lavish in our issues.”

Wives, families, and sweethearts are gathering at East Fortune in Scotland awaiting the ship’s homecoming. But at 10 am, the Air Ministry instructs the R-34 to land at Pulham in Norfolk, England instead. The message is not understood as the weather is better for landing at East Fortune then it is at Pulham.

By noon, the weather has turned very cold and once again the R-34 is fighting a headwind. Everyone realizes they will be breakfasting on board ship tomorrow morning and feel disappointed.

In the evening, the ship runs into two sudden squalls. Maitland notes the ship is very steady. Then at 7:25 pm land is in sight off the starboard bow and at 8 pm the R-34 crosses the coastline a little to the north of Clifden, County Mayo, Ireland. From the coast of Long Island to the coast of Ireland, flight time was 61 hours and 43 minutes.

The euphoria is dampened however, when at 11:30 pm the Air Ministry repeats the message to land at Pulham. Major Scott increases altitude to 5000 feet and sets course for Pulham.

No explanation has ever come to light as to why the R-34 was redirected to land at Pulham instead of East Fortune. Especially when the weather, critical for airship safety in landing, was better at the Scottish base.

Patrick Abbott, in his book Airship: The Story Of R-34, gives the following possible explanation:

Those who supported only an aeroplane programme may have contrived the altered destination in order to avoid the publicity of the great welcome that was being planned at East Fortune. Pulham, by contrast, was comparatively isolated… so ensuring the minimum fuss and excitement. If this theory is true—and it accords with later policy development and the shabby treatment soon meted out to everyone on board—then the manoeuvre was an unworthy affront to servicemen who could neither disobey nor complain.

I think Mr Abbot makes a valid point. Given the subsequent history of the British government’s bureaucratic antipathy towards building and maintaining an airship fleet, it seems only logical the R-34 and her crew ended up as victims of bureaucratic politics and cost-cutting excuses.

Britain was in an admirable position to seize the day and exploit the commercial possibilities of the airship. However, as with their American cousins, the British largely saw the airship as a military craft. However World War I had clearly shown the future of the giants was not as a weapon of war, but as a tool of peace. Only Doctor Hugo Eckener of the Zeppelin company realized this and was intent on pursuing the true future of the rigid airship. If he’d had the capital and didn’t have the animosity of the Allies and their wreaking of vengeance on the German people, he would have succeeded.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow the epic voyage comes to an end. Prepare to give the memory of those brave men the recognition they truly deserve. A recognition denied them in their day due to petty politics.

Zeppelin Mania: R34’s Flight Home Day 3

Control Car

Flight-Sergt. Watson steering. Flight-Sergt. Mayers at the elevator wheel. Altimeter (large dial) needle shows the ship is at about 1,200 feet above the sea.

Friday, July 11, 1919 started out with clear weather and a moderate sea. A planned flyover of London had to be abandoned when one of the two engines in the rear car broke down and could not be repaired. Later in the day, the forward engine had to be shut down to replace broken valve springs.

Otherwise the day was uneventful. The airship made good and rapid progress towards home base in Scotland.

Below are extracts from General Maitland’s log to give a first-hand flavor to the idyllic world of airship travel, even in a military ship.

10.30 pm—Beautiful cloudscapes on port beam. Cloud formations, in so far as they indicate whether, are like an open book profusely illustrated, and with a story that changes almost completely every few hours.

12.30 pm—Lunch. Meal-times are always most welcome, as they give the more responsible members of the crew a much-needed interval.

The new gramophone [given by Edison, himself] is going strong after lunch and, as I was descending the ladder into the forward car, I caught a glimpse of Luck and Harris doing quite a nice one-step together!

3.30 pm—Still at 3000 feet; in and out of the clouds. We have not seen the sea since 8:30 am.

4.30 pm—Scott brings his ship down for a glimpse of the sea, and so get an idea of our speed; but at 900 feet [the clouds are] still quite thick and he abandons the attempt.

Coming down from the 3800-foot level to the 900-foot level, we pass through no less than five distinct and separate layers of cloud, of which every two layers contain a world in themselves, with separate sky above and cloud horizon beneath. A most fascinating spectacle, and one which impresses me more, perhaps, then anything I have yet seen on either journey.

4.45 pm—We emerge above the clouds for a few blissful moments, and see a beautiful cloud panorama—range upon range of alternate white and slate colored mountains with wide deep valleys, and an occasional glimpse of bright blue sky immediately above.

The glare is almost blinding, and we can only look at them for a moment moment or two at a time.

7.05 pm—Passing through wet rain cloud—it has been raining very heavily since five o’clock.

Scott tries the 5000-foot level in the hopes of getting out of it, but with no success, so returns to the 3000-foot level. Very cold and dark, and all doors and windows shut.

8pm—Supper, and a very good one too. We are well equipped with little luxuries, having learnt from experience on the outward journey exactly what is necessary and what isn’t.

Delicious fresh honey, also “candies”, and chocolates… The gloom does not affect our appetites in the very slightest.

Crew Space Inside Hull

One of the crew peeling potatoes for dinner. Lieut. Shotter and Sergt. Gent in background.

11.25 pm—On long journeys like these, it is the engineers upon whom the heaviest strain falls and, on the outward journey, some of them had difficulty in sleeping when off watch. On this return journey we issue them a “tot” of rum before turning in, with very beneficial effect. [Note: an engineer on an airship is a mechanic and had responsibility to keep the engines running smoothly at all times, as well as perform any other mechanical repairs that were needed.]

12 midnight—Still pouring with rain… the whistling of the wind completely deadens the distant hum of our engines. It is indeed a “dirty” night at sea. For some reason or other I cannot get off to sleep, and lie awake in my hammock with a feeling of complete confidence and security…

I think the General summed up flying by airship quite wonderfully: “a feeling of complete confidence and security”. Especially in 1919, when a one- or two-seater open cockpit airplane, flying in “a ‘dirty’ night at sea”, would have been an experience worthy of a new level in Dante’s Inferno.

Stay tuned! The R 34’s voyage continues tomorrow!

Zeppelin Mania: R34’s Flight Home Day 1

R 34 Flying Just Above Dense Clouds On The Outskirts of a Depression.

This illustration shows a typical cloud horizon.

(From the published log of General Maitland.)

All good things must come to an end, so it is said. For 3 days the crew of the R34 have partied hearty. However, bad weather was on the horizon and Major Scott must make the decision to take off and head for home before the forecast storm hits.

From General Maitland’s log:

Time 11.30 p.m. (New York summer time)—It is very dark, and the wind is gusting up to thirty miles per hour on the ground.

Our final preparations are made in the ghostly light of powerful searchlights.

We have made hosts of friends during our three wonderful days in America, and they are all here on the ground to see us off.

11.40 p.m.—Last farewells. Crew are all aboard and Scott releases ballast to ensure the ship being light when starting. At the last moment another bag of mails and a case of rum are thrown in through the open window of the forward car.

11.54 p.m. (July 9th, New York summer time, or 3.54 a.m., July 10th, Greenwich mean time).—Away.

A great cheer comes up to us as we rise into the sky and steer straight for New York…

Again that strange feeling of loneliness—as sudden as it is transient.

And the R34 is away! Motoring into the night sky on her way from Long Island to the heart of the Big Apple.

[Note:—While in the midst of last minute research, I made the most wonderful discovery: The Log of H.M.A. R34: Journey to America and Back by Air-Commodore E.M. Maitland.

What an exciting find! The book is available online and in ebook form at https://archive.org/details/logofhmajourney00maitrich

General Maitland, with wit, humor, and an eye to the poetic, gives us a most extraordinary travelogue. This book is his actual log that he kept almost minute by minute on the R34’s voyage to America and back. The publishing of he log in 1920 is made all the more important by the fact General Maitland died in the R38 tragedy the following year. His death was a huge blow to the British rigid airship program.

For me, having relied on a host of secondary sources for my accounting of the voyage, the discovery of his log emphasized the importance of primary sources in research. For according to General Maitland, the rough journey depicted in the secondary sources of the flight to America simply wasn’t the case. There were only a couple episodes of violent movement, according to Maitland. At all other times the ship’s movements were slow and deliberate. Nothing like a storm-tossed ship on the sea. He makes numerous comments of never feeling “seasick” or more appropriately, as he noted, “airsick”.

However, not being able to find the source of the “rough” journey stories, I must consider the political aspects. General Maitland was a dyed in the wool airshipman. He wrote numerous times of the future airliners and what the R34’s flight demonstrated was needed in them. His job was to make an assessment of the feasibility of long-distance airship travel. Could it be the General “softened” his account of the actual conditions? Possible. After all, he needed to convince the Air Ministry bureaucrats that airliners were not only possible but desirable.

So where did my secondary sources get their “rough” journey information? Perhaps newspaper accounts drawn from the crew members, who may have exaggerated the dangers to make themselves look even more heroic and to please the journalists looking for a hot story.

Whatever the case, and hopefully I can find out by the time of the R34’s centenary in 2019, do read the log. It is an exciting and extraordinary travelogue. An adventure back in time as well as to a fantasy land that exists above the clouds.]

There is more to come as the R34 makes her way home to Britain. So stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventure!

R34 moored out at Mineola. Viewed by searchlight.

(From the published logbook of General Maitland.)

Zeppelin Mania: R-34’s Crew Feted in America

New York wined and dined the crew of the R-34. Stowaway William Ballantyne was treated as a celebrity and followed by news-hungry journalists trying to milk his story to the full. Major Scott, the airship’s captain, was mobbed and pieces of his clothing torn off for souvenirs.

A rigid airship had never been in America before and New Yorkers welcomed their British cousins as heroes. When General Maitland had a tooth repaired, the dentist requested his signature in lieu of payment.

But not all Americans viewed the R-34’s crossing as a good thing. An article in The New York Times contained in this statement: “John Bull is hard-headed and business-like. He is set on being master of the air. What is Uncle Sam going to do about it?”

And there were those who weren’t very impressed with the airship itself. Aircraft designer Grover Loening wrote: “My first impression was how ‘unrigid' it really was… Close up one was astounded to see how the frame squeaked, bent and shivered with the cloth covering almost flapping in wind gusts… I was shocked at its flimsiness… frantically the crew and many others tugged and pulled on ropes and handrails to restrain the monster…”

Concerning Loening’s last statement, we must bear in mind there were no proper landing facilities for a giant airship in America. No shed. No mooring mast. The R-34 was literally a giant balloon over two football fields long that was staked to the ground!

In addition, Loening’s statement could equally be applied to the airplanes of his day. Back then anyone who took to the air was brave and daring.

In spite of the few party poopers, the R-34’s arrival in New York fueled America’s zeppelin fever. We wanted one ourselves! And we got one four years later. The ZR-1 Shenandoah.

Tomorrow, the R-34 takes off for England and the completion of its historic flight. Stay tuned!

Zeppelin Mania: R-34 Day 5

The Landing of the R-34 in America!

Before dawn on Sunday, with the fuel situation desperate, Major Scott, the R-34’s captain, radioed the US Navy: “Will land Montauk.”

Shortly after 4 AM, the crew of the airship spotted the distinctive outline of Cape Cod and at long last the rough weather began to abate and a following wind increased the ship’s ground speed.

Chief Engineer, Second Lieutenant J D Shotter, organized a foraging party to drain every last drop of fuel from the ship’s 80 fuel tanks. Armed with pots and pans and jars, the party drained the tanks until they were bone dry and poured the fuel directly into the gravity-fed tanks above the engines.

At 7:20 in the morning, the airship appeared over Montauk. With only 90 miles to go, Scott decided to press on to Roosevelt Field in Mineola — the R-34’s original destination. And make it, she did. Thanks to Lieutenant Schotter’s foraging party. In fact, enough fuel had been collected to enable the giant airship to fly for another two hours at full speed.

When the R-34 appeared over Roosevelt Field, on the ground was a huge crowd of spectators and 500 military police to control them and 1000 men from the US Navy’s Air Service. However, a rigid airship had never been to America before and there was no experienced officer to direct the landing. The British team that was supposed to be on hand had gone to Boston when it was thought the airship would make a fuel stop in Massachusetts.

The decision was made for Major J E M Prichard to parachute to the ground and direct the landing operation. He landed heavily and in doing so became the first person to arrive in America by air. He was instantly mobbed by reporters, one of whom asked, “Can you tell us what your first impressions of America are, sir?”"Prichard responded, “Hard.” He then rode off on a motorbike to direct the landing of the airship.

When the R-34 finally came down at 9:54 AM that Sunday morning, the 6th of July 1919, she’d been in the air 108 hours and 12 minutes — setting a new endurance record. General Maitland recorded, “We couldn’t have cut it much finer.”

The R-34 in Mineola, NY

The R-34 was the first aircraft to make the difficult east-west crossing of the Atlantic. Just a few weeks earlier, Alcock and Brown, in a Vickers Vimy, had made the west-east flight. But clearly in 1919 the way of the future was the airship. Alcock and Brown flew in an open cockpit, at times upside down, had flown a shorter distance, and ended up nose first in an Irish bog.

The R-34 carried 31 men in relative comfort, flown through weather no airplane could, and had arrived at their destination intact. And at the time had made the crossing no airplane could — flying from Europe to America. It wasn’t until 1938 that a specially modified version of the Focke-Wulf Condor made the first non-stop flight from Berlin to New York City. Airships had been making regular non-stop flights for years by then.

In my research, I came across this wonderful site — Vanderbilt Cup Races — which has loads of pictures and video of the R-34. Do take a look. It’s fabulous.

The second video is labeled an unknown field; however, I’d guess it was the R-34’s homecoming since the ground crew was walking her into her shed.

Today, when air travel is taken for granted, it’s difficult to imagine the euphoria created by the flight of the R-34. True, it was an airplane that made the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic — but that flight did nothing to inspire dreams of air travel, the air travel we all now take for granted. It was the flight of the R-34 that fueled the dream of the possible that eventually became reality.

Stay tuned! There’s more to come! After all, the R-34 has to now fly home. Until next time, keep your eyes to the sky! The zeppelins are coming!

Peppino Mangravite mural of R-34's landing.

Located in the US Post Office in Hempstead, NY.

Zeppelin Mania: R-34 Day 4

All day the giant airship butted strong headwinds. Major Scott, the ship’s captain, ran only three engines in order to economize on fuel and to avoid the worst of the winds, flew at 800 feet.

With great reluctance, Scott radioed for US Navy destroyers to stand by off Cape Cod so the airship could refuel at sea or be taken in tow. He also presented the possibility of refueling at the Naval Air Station at Chatham, Massachusetts or at Montauk, on the eastern tip of Long Island.

During the afternoon, the situation grew more desperate. The compass card began spinning like a top and that meant only one thing: an electrical storm was approaching. And then the squall hit. The winds pushed the ship up and down at alarming angles. The gravity fed engines couldn’t operate properly at the steep inclines and would cut out and then cut in again. Dangerous tongues of flame spurted out of the exhaust pipes.

The girders creaked like the timbers of an old sailing ship. During one violent lurch, the chief engineer was almost thrown through an open hatch into the sea. He saved himself by hooking a foot around a girder.

Violent updrafts and downdrafts tossed the ship up hundreds of feet and then let it drop hundreds more. The tail flexed alarmingly with the strain.

During the night, the crew wore parachutes and kept lifebelts close at hand.

Stay tuned! More to come about this epic voyage!

Zeppelin Mania: R-34 Day 3

July 4 (a Friday in 1919) brought with it a beautifully wonderful sunrise and a very welcome reprieve from the rough winds of the night’s stormy weather.

The fog still obscured a view of the sea, although the occasional break did occur which revealed bluish-green patches of water and large number of icebergs.

General Maitland remarked that the airship liner of the future will be immune from the risk of hitting one of those floating ice mountains. It must be remembered, a mere seven years earlier, the Titanic had struck one and sunk with a terrible loss of life.

Shortly before 1 PM a celebration broke out in the control car. From the log book:

Land in sight. Hooray! First spotted by Scott on starboard bow. A few small rocky islands visible for a second or two through the clouds and instantly swallowed up by them. Altered course S.W. to try and get a closer look at them. Eventually make them out to be north coastline of Newfoundland. This is quite the most thrilling moment of our voyage — great excitement on board. Whether or not we now succeed in getting through to New York, we have at any rate successfully accomplished the first stage of our adventure, and are the first to bridge the gulf from east to west by way of the air.

However, not all was bliss. Mineola Field on Long Island was still many miles away and the airship’s progress was reduced to a crawl due to strong head winds. And to make matters worse, the R-34 was running out of fuel.

More to come, so stay tuned!

Zeppelin Mania: R-34 Day 2

July 3rd, Morning. Over halfway to Newfoundland. Beyond wireless range. Southeasterly wind picking up.

Midday. Lunch of cold roast beef and only one cold potato for each crew member. General Maitland lamented, “We are short of potatoes, having eaten too many yesterday!” However, there are plenty of provisions still onboard: bread, butter, cheese, chocolate, and tea. And thank God for the tea!

One of the assessments the General had to make was that of the airship’s potential for future long-distance flights and to suggest improvements. Food is an important relief to the monotony of a long flight, especially when all there is to see are clouds. Future airships will definitely need cooking facilities.

Afternoon. The southeasterly wind has grown stronger. The sea has become very rough. Heavy rain is falling.

Evening. The thick fog is making life on the airship unpleasantly cold. There is an air of anxiety amongst the crew. To make matters worse, fierce squalls are causing the ship to pitch up and down. A log entry reads:

The rain is driving through the roof of the fore car in many places, and there is a thin film of water over the chart table. The wind is roaring to such an extent that we have to shout to make ourselves heard. Time for evening meal, but no one gives it a thought while this entertainment is going on.

What a miserable night for the crew of the R-34; but the ship motors on, heading for America.

More to come! Stay tuned!

Zeppelin Mania: LZ-1 and R-34

The LZ-1 Over the Bodensee

One hundred sixteen years ago today, at 8:03 in the evening, the LZ-1 slowly floated upward from the surface of the Bodensee and made history. The first successful rigid airship had taken flight, realizing the dream of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. For 17 minutes, the Count and four others flew over the lake; until engine trouble and the jamming of the pitch control device forced the airship to land.

The flight was an inauspicious beginning to the dream that has fueled the imagination of men and women ever since. For who hasn’t wished he or she could float in the air just like a cloud and at the same time have the ability to go not only where the wind wishes but to also go where the wind does not wish. For 116 years lighter than air travel has captured our imagination as the airplane never did. The luxury of the Hindenburg has never been equaled by any aircraft before or since.

But today is not only the anniversary of the first flight of the first zeppelin, it is also the anniversary of the realization of the dream of intercontinental flight. In 1919 airplanes first flew across the Atlantic from west to east. However they could not do so in one hop, they had to stop and refuel in the Azores. Or are they made the short flight from Newfoundland to Ireland. Also airplanes did not have enough power to make the east to west flight across the Atlantic against the prevailing winds.

That all changed at 1:42 AM on the morning of 2 July 1919 when the British airship R-34 lifted off from Scotland; her destination being Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York. On board were 30 persons. The captain was Major George Herbert Scott, the most skillful British airship pilot. The ship was a near copy of a captured German World War I zeppelin and was a magnificent vessel. Her sleek streamlined hull was 645 feet long and was filled with nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet of hydrogen gas.

She was a military vessel and had no creature comforts. In order to serve the crew hot meals on the flight, a metal plate was welded to one of the engine manifolds and the food cooked on it. Off duty crewmen slept in hammocks suspended between the girders. A somewhat perilous endeavor, for if one had the misfortune to roll out of bed he would find himself plunging through the thin fabric covering and on to the ocean far below.

The senior officer onboard was General Maitland, who was the driving force behind Britain’s airship program. He was a popular officer and had devoted his career to innovative flight of all kinds and he was a great believer in the rigid airship. Just before the R-34 lifted off, Maitland wrote in his logbook, “What more wonderful or more delightful adventure could anyone be called upon to undertake?”

Groping its way over the Scottish hillside in the dark and heavy cloud cover, the R-34 headed west and at 5:25 AM, two hours after the sun had risen behind the ship, the R-34 passed the last island off the north Irish coast. The great adventure had begun.

Twelve hours into the flight, when the airship was well out to sea, Aircraftsman Second Class William W Ballantyne revealed himself. He had been cut at the last minute to save weight, but was so eager to make the trip he stowed away. In the afternoon another stowaway was discovered onboard, Wopsie the cat. Ballantyne’s action very nearly jeopardized the voyage. Weight is critical on an airship. His 200 extra pounds deprived the ship from carrying that weight in fuel, which as it turned out nearly caused the voyage to end in failure.

When the airship had just gotten underway, General Maitland described the experience as follows:

When flying at night, possibly on account of the darkness, there is always the feeling of utter loneliness directly one loses sight of the ground. We feel this loneliness very much tonight; possibly owing to the fact that we are bound for a totally unknown destination across the wide Atlantic.

But the necessity of work soon dispelled any feelings of loneliness. The airship required careful flying because of the darkness and the heavy cloud cover, which, when the sun rose, became a heavy fog. 

Lunch on board the airship was beef stew, potatoes, chocolate, and water. Not five star, but a hot meal is always welcomed.

In the evening, as the temperatures fell, Major Scott increased the height of the airship to 2000 feet. For a time, the R-34 flew through a heavy cloud bank and the crew found themselves in a dream-like enchanted setting over the ocean. One person recorded it this way, “We feel in a world of our own up here amidst this dazzling array of snow-white clouds. No words can express the wonder, the grandeur, or the loneliness of it all…”

And thus the R-34 flew on into the night, heading for America.

Tomorrow, we continue the adventure. Stay tuned!

Zeppelin Mania

This past Tuesday I wrote about the flight of the world’s first airliner — the LZ-7 Deutschland.

That post was a prelude to a series I'll be writing throughout the rest of the year chronicling the triumphs of the rigid airship. More commonly known as the zeppelin, after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who built the first successful rigid airship. 

Airship Types

There are three types of airship. Here is a diagram:

The earliest type was non-rigid, what we call a blimp today. There is no framework to maintain the shape of the envelope. The shape is maintained by gas pressure.

The second type of airship is the semi-rigid, like the new Zeppelin NT. The semi-rigid has a frame to maintains the length. Gas pressure maintains the width.

The famous Norge which crossed the North Pole in 1926.

The third type is the rigid airship. The shape of the envelope is held in place by a framework. The lift gas is contained in bags (called cells) within the framework.

The ZR-3 USS Los Angeles

Why The Rigid Airship Is Better

The problem with non-rigid and semi-rigid airships is that they cannot be built large enough to be commercially viable. Blimps proved of value in anti-submarine warfare in World War II, but they and semi-rigids can’t carry sufficient cargo to be of large scale commercial use. The new semi-rigid Zeppelin NTs are basically used for advertising and sightseeing excursions.

The rigid airship solves the problem. The frame provides shape and strength and can be scaled up as large as the vessel needs to be. The rigid airship made the dream of long-range strategic bombing and intercontinental flight a reality.

Tomorrow is a double anniversary: the first flight of the first zeppelin and the start of the first east-west crossing of the Atlantic by air and the first round trip trans-Atlantic flight by an aircraft. An auspicious day indeed!

So get a glass of bubbly ready. Tomorrow we party!

Comments are always welcome. Until next time, happy reading!