The Graf Zeppelin, Hindenburg, U.S. Navy Airships, and other Dirigibles

On this day in 1911 the DELAG airliner LZ-8 (Deutschland) was destroyed in an accident.

Hugo Eckener was in command of an airship for the first time and LZ-8 had barely left its hangar when it was pulled away from its ground crew by a gust of wind.  The ship smashed against the roof of the hangar, but the passengers and crew escaped without injury by climbing down a long fire ladder.  The ship itself was a total loss.

The day’s gusty wind conditions made the flight ill-advised from the start and the wreck of LZ-8 contributed to the extreme caution for which Hugo Eckener became famous.  Eckener learned an important lesson from the accident, and he was determined never again to sacrifice safety to accomodate pressure from passengers, the public, the government, or any other source.

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I am flying to the UK this weekend in connection with several projects, including a documentary film, and I am looking forward to my visit to Cardington to meet with several people from the wonderful Airship Heritage Trust which has done such great work on the history of British airships.

Of course I am also looking forward to seeing the famous Cardington airship sheds.  So far the owner of Shed 1 is reluctant to allow us inside the building because it is undergoing a major renovation, but perhaps they will change their minds and allow us just a peek.  I am happy to wear a hardhat and just poke my nose in the door.  

Trevor Monk has kindly agreed to be my guide and I am very much looking forward to the visit.  And I will also get a chance to see a number of good friends in London while I am in the UK.

The Airship Sheds at Cardington
(Photo credit: G1MFG)

New Television Documentary in June

On an unrelated subject I am featured in a new television documentary about the Hindenburg that will be broadcast in the USA for the first time in June.  I just saw the final cut and it looks great, and I will be able to publish details and a trailer in a few weeks.

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On this day in 1915 the British ocean liner R.M.S. Lusitania was torpedoed by a German submarine.

For those who might be interested, here is a piece I wrote about ocean liners and the Anglo-German rivalry in the years before World War I:

Public Symbols and Private Enterprise: Transatlantic Ocean Liners, 1897-1914

As I wrote in the introduction:

The famous transatlantic ocean liners of the early 20th century were important national symbols in the rivalry between Britain and Germany.

Or at least, that’s the traditional view.

But the construction and interior design of these ships indicate that their owners were actually more concerned with profits than with patriotism. While the shipping lines may have paid lip service to nationalism — especially when it helped them win public support and government subsidies — their real motivation was a simple desire to appeal to fare-paying passengers.

An examination of ships like the Mauretania, Lusitania, Olympic, Titanic, Imperator, Vaterland, and others reveal a striking dichotomy between the way the ships were described at the time and the way they were actually designed.

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Today is the 76th anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster on May 6, 1937.

Hindenburg was the first airliner to provide scheduled passenger service between the United States and Europe.  The ship made made ten successful round-trip flights between Germany and the U.S. in 1936, as well as flights between Germany and South America.

Hindenburg crashed on its 63rd flight, while landing at Lakehurst, NJ after its first North American crossing of the 1937 season.

The horrific crash was documented by newsreel films and press photographs, making the Hindenburg catastrophe the first major disaster seen by the public.  The giant ship was completely destroyed by fire within 32 seconds and people today are still surprised to learn that most of the passengers and crew survived; of the 97 persons on the ship, 62 survived the disaster.

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