Comments on: Hindenburg Design and Technology

By: Kristen

Kristen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:59:35 +0000

I was wondering, how much cargo could the Hindenburg carry? I can’t seem to find the information anywhere. Also what was the fuel capacity and the weight of the entire structure. Thanks for the website, it has been a huge help otherwise.

By: Mike Ogden

Mike Ogden — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:33:44 +0000

I am wondering if it was possible for the crew to get from the axial catwalk to the very top of the ship — i.e. the space between the top of the gas cells and the outer canopy. The drawings I have seen don’t show any access, but there must have been some way of repairing damage or doing routine inspections –on the ground, if not in flight.

By: peter

peter — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 21:00:06 +0000

I believe as hydrocarbon fuels become more expensive the airship will make a return. With todays advanced lightweight materials such as carbon fibre and titanium, and the availability of helium, airships can be made as safe as modern comercial airliners, if not safer.
Automated systems using sensors and computer control to control attitude during landing would reduce the large number of groundstaff needed thereby increasing their commercial attractiveness, and the “carbon footprint” of a modern efficient airship would only be a fraction of a large jet airliner.
I believe we will once again see airships gracing our skys, instead of the deafening roar of jets and helicopters.

By: Fred Jackson

Fred Jackson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:50:13 +0000

A good photo would be a good start.

By: Fred Jackson

Fred Jackson — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:46:59 +0000

No evacuated structure sufficiently strong to resist collapse can be built with any production materials. Not in ANY size.

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 21:14:35 +0000

This site is fantastic! What a wealth of information and images! To me the shape and proportion of the Hindenburg(and Graf Zeppelin II) has always epitomized the height and beauty of airship design, but one thing that does surprise me is the shape of the rings in the LZ-129. I’d always assumed that they were almost perfectly circular in shape, but in the cross section you provide, they appear somewhat elliptical or “flattened” on top and bottom. Is this a distortion of the image or was it actually it’s true shape?

By: belac

belac — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 03:17:06 +0000

Hi, i just want to say that I love this site, and find it very informative and interesting. I’m currently working on building a model of the hindenburg on my computer. Thanks to this site, I found a lot of information that has really helped me. I managed to find the site were the designs for the hindenburg on this site originally came from, with helped me get the models for the main rings down. however, most of the intermediate rings aren’t included, so I’m unable to create them. Do you have any suggestions for where I can find designs for all the rings?

By: John Eden

John Eden — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 19:50:28 +0000

Then a structural ridged air ship should achieve bouyancy with a complete evacuation of the air in it and have greater bouyancy than hydrogen. Thanks

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:07:55 +0000

The rule of thumb for the hobbyist building RC airships (which I’ve found to a be a bit overly generous on ones that I’ve done) is 1 ft^3 of helium = 1 oz of lift.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 15:05:15 +0000

It was discussed, but the power needed, plus the weight of compressors and storage tanks made it unfeasible.