Zeppelins

[margaret smith]

How many Zeppelins did Germany have in service during the war and was the Graf Zeppelin considered the largest?

[Simba]

Don't know about production figures, but I do know that Zeppelin's company built several series of airships, each an improved and larger development of earlier efforts. Schutte-Lanz built wooden-framed dirigibles for the German Army; they were generally smaller than the Zeppelin product.

'Graf Zeppelin' was a post-WW1 airship that successfully completed many trans-Atlantic crossings and a round-the world cruise in the 1930s before the 'Hindenberg' disaster ended public confidence in lighter-than-air travel.

Simba.

[Aerowallah]

Hi, Margaret

I've got a little list...

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_aller_Zeppeline :addup:


Rgds
John

[margaret smith]

:) Hello, Aerowallah, thanks for posting this site ! Lots of information here! My German isn't that great so it will take me awhile to read it . Thanks again!

[Rick]

! My German isn't that great so it will take me awhile to read it . Thanks again!
Margaret, look around on that site. There is an English language translation, over on the left side as I recall, and a little ways down. R.

[margaret smith]

Thanks , Rick!:D

[Cigogne]

Margaret,

The German Navy and the German Army were two different rival arms of the German Military. The Navy used them to a greater degree than the Army, but they both used them.

Zeppelin built the larger portion, and also Schutte-Lanz. Zeppelin airships were built of duralumin while the Schutte-Lanz airships were framed with wood.

The Navy used them to a greater extent. You can read about their use, design, and missions in the book, "The Zeppelin in Combat" by Dr. Douglas Robinson. Go to Schiffer's website and you can order it there. It discusses only the Navy's use.

[Jim]

There are several websites where you can type in or copy/paste text in one language and push a button and it gives you a translation into another language. Most of them also let you type in the URL of a webpage and it will translate the entire page. The state of the art of this type of "machine-only translation" is still evolving, but if you use them with the understanding that you will get a few odd results or incorrect words when a word has several meanings and the machine picks the wrong one, they can be very useful.

Here is one of the better sites for this:

http://babelfish.altavista.com

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Margaret Smith:
From 1 August 1914 to !! November 1918, the Zeppelin company built 89 Zeppelin airships. The Zeppelin Company had factories at Manzell,(6) closed before the war. Friedrichshafen,(56); Frankfurt Am Main,(1); Potsdam,(16); Lowenthal, (20) and Staaken,(12) This is the total from before to the endof the war=111.
The other firm was Schütte-Lanz, they built 9 at Rheinau, 1 at Sandhofen, 1 at Darmstadt, 6 at Leipzig and and 3 at Zeesen, total= 20
on 1 August 1914 there were 7 Armee airships and 2 Marine and 3 Delag training airships at the front.
On 1 August 1915, 8 Armee Airships, 11 Marine, 3 Delag Airships.
On 1 August 1916, 15 armee airships, 17 Marine, 1 Delag.
On 1 August 1917, 8 Armee Airships, disbanded during August 1917.
and 21 Marine, 0 delag.
On 1 August 1918, 18 Marine airships. End of the war, Marine had 16 Airships.
The Marine Airships of 1918 were big ships 196.6 to, 211.5 to 226.5 meters long, 1200 to 2030 hp, with airship up to 81 mph. Ceiling of 21000ft. Useful lift of 98000 lbs and a range of 7460 miles.(L.70).
This is a thumbnail description.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[margaret smith]

Thank you so much Dan-San for this information! They certainly made an impressive sight and it's too bad none are around today this size. The Goodyear blimp is a poor substitute for these beauties!

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Margaret Smith:
I think it was 1927, anyhow the German Graf Zeppelin made a round the world flight sponsored by William Hearst, when it arrived over San Francisco my Father took my brothers up in his Swallow and we flew along side of the airship from the stern. It was going around 80 mph and we were going a little faster and it took a long time before we passed her. Brilliant aluminum, absolutely beautiful.
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Graeme]

From Wikipedia:

"In August 1929, LZ 127 departed for another daring enterprise: a complete circumnavigation of the globe. The growing popularity of the “giant of the air” made it easy for Zeppelin company chief Dr Hugo Eckener to find sponsors. One of these was the American press tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who requested the tour to officially start in Lakehurst. Starting there on August 8, Graf Zeppelin flew across the Atlantic back to Friedrichshafen. She stopped there to refuel before continuing across vast Siberia to another stop in Tokyo. Dr Eckener believed that some of the lands they crossed in Siberia had never before been seen by modern explorers. From Japan, the Graf Zeppelin continued across the Pacific to San Francisco, before heading south to stop at Los Angeles. This was the first ever nonstop flight of any aircraft across the Pacific Ocean. The ship continued thence across the United States, over Chicago and back to Lakehurst on August 29. The entire voyage took 21 days, 5 hours and 31 minutes. Including the initial and final trips Friedrichshafen to Lakehurst and back, the dirigible travelled 49,618 km (30,831 miles). The distance travelled between departure from Lakehurst and return to Lakehurst was 31,400 km (19,500 miles)."

Parseval also produced airships, I think about 27 in total, at least one of which survived until 1917 in Japanese service. I've got a note that the German naval service used at least one, PL19, that carried out a single bombing raid before its loss in an accident on 22 January 1915.

Graeme