Musical Accompaniment: Bring Back Those Happy Days by Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

 

Here’s the post I promised with beautiful pictures of dirigibles! But first, I must confess to something.  I’ve said many times how much I like dirigibles, but it’s not true.  I love zeppelins specifically.

All zeppelins are dirigibles but not all dirigibles are zeppelins.  A dirigible is any lighter-than-air craft but they might not be rigid airships, like the magnificent zeppelins. It could be the Goodyear Blimp, a decidedly unfascinating mode of air travel.

Let’s take a look at the wonderful zeppelin and I’ll tell you something wonderful.

The zeppelin was named for its founder, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin. He was born on July 8, 1838 in Konstanz, Baden in modern-day Germany.  He served as a general in the Prussian and Württemberg armies. A cavalry general,  von Zeppelin’s military reputation was built fighting on horseback, yet his name is forever linked with air travel.   

Graf is the German word for Count so I’ll call him Count von Zeppelin. He was an intriguing fellow who received a military commission in 1858, at the age of 20.  In 1863, he traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota and it was there that a seed was planted.

Count von Zeppelin made his first hot air balloon ascent there, acting as a military observer for the Union Army.  This experience left a lasting impression on the 25-year-old Count and shaped the course of his life. 

Starboard Side of a Dirigible  (the people at the bottom give an idea of the scale)

By 1866, the Count was back on the battlefield for the Seven Weeks’ War and again for the Franco-German War. He retired from the military in 1890 and redirected his life and finances to center around his beautiful dream of a rigid airship.

This dream didn’t come easily.  The Count’s early attempts were fraught with problems. His LZ-1 was introduced in Germany in July 1900 and made for a short, shaky flight. Still, von Zeppelin was encouraged. His rigid-frame concept could work.

Interior Hull of a Dirigible before Gas Cells were Installed 

You see the first Zeppelin was flown before the Wright Brothers made their famous first flight in December 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These massive society-changing inventions happening around the same time prove Thomas Edison was right when he said, “Ideas are in the air.” 

Count von Zeppelin didn’t have the advantage of knowing his idea would work. He only had his obsession. One prototype after another failed mechanically, leading to several crashes. The Count was nearly bankrupted but his idée fixe sustained him.

If you’ve ever seen the film Gaslight, Gregory was like that. He told his wife Paula, “I don’t ask you to understand me. Between us all the time were those jewels, like a fire—a fire in my brain.”

Rear Control Car of a Dirigible

Things looked brighter when the Count introduced his LZ-4 in 1908. Germany was captivated. Later, the ship crashed in a storm, the public donated 6 million German marks to build a new zeppelin. The Count, with his wealth restored, cofounded Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft (DELAG), the first commercial airline in the world in 1910.  DELAG was already routinely carrying passengers across Germany before the Great War. 

Navigation Room in a Dirigible 

Count von Zeppelin died in March 1917 before his dream of transatlantic flight was achieved. The Graf Zeppelin, the Count’s namesake, did cross the ocean.

The Hindenburg disaster in 1937 ended the glorious ascent of the zeppelins. Its destruction as it attempted to land in Manchester, New Jersey occurred in less than 40 seconds.  Local WLS newscaster, Herb Morrison’s cry “oh the humanity!” is still recognizable today.  Here’s the full broadcast, which is about 90 seconds: