Hindenburg Statistics

In your layouts of the Hindenburg, there are numerous oval-shaped objects along the Keel. Are those storage containers for fuel or something else entirely? I’m also curious as to why the keel did not go all the way to the tail. I was also under the impression that there was a lookout post on the tail. Is that just something that was on American airships or am I off altogether? One last thing, on the vertical lines that are labeled as gas vents, were there also ladders there for crew to be able to go from the keel to the axial corridor, and then up to the top, or is that just Hollywood nonsense? (The Rocketeer) Hope my bombardment with questions isn’t too annoying.

[Reply]

The only thing I either haven’t seen or just plain missed is, what was it’s cruising altitude, generally?

[Reply]

Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 8:53 am

Hindenburg’s cruising altitude is discussed here, on the page about Hindenburg Flight Operations. Thanks for your question!

[Reply]

You have a well done site. I’ll be baaack! for info.

[Reply]

The Hindenburg was less fuel efficient than a modern jumbo jet. A jumbo jet consumes 16-17litres of fuel per kilometer travelled and carries 420 passengers. The distance between Frankfurt and New York is 6430km. So fuel consumption per passenger is 260kg. The Hindenburg carried 110 people and consumed 32,500kg fuel for the same trip. That is 295kg of fuel per person carried. If we only count the passengers, fuel cost goes up to 450kg each – 70% more than a jumbo jet. When one considers the additional embedded energy in the massive aluminium structure of the airship, it would be a fair estimate to say that total energy cost of a Hindenburg trip across the Atlantic was double that of a modern jumbo. High labour costs involved in operating and docking the ship damaged its economics even further.

Cutting the airship’s speed by 1/3rd would have reduced its fuel consumption by about half. Doubling the length of the ship would have similarly reduced fuel consumption by half.

There is some speculation that high fuel prices will result in a resurgance of the airship. This will only be the case if the new generation of airships are very large, they travel more slowly than Hindenburg and there are considerable reductions in the manning levels required to operate and dock them. Frankly, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[Reply]

Bryan McFarland Reply:
November 10th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

Just to compare apples to apples (or contemporary technologies), how does the Hindenburg’s consumption figures match up against a Boeing 314, Sikorsky S42, Short Sunderland, or Empire?

[Reply]

Frighteous Reply:
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:31 am

The Hindenburg wasn’t created for economy. It was created by Nazis for propaganda purposes, and to make people aware of what Germans are capable of building and to raise morale in Germany. No other nation had anything comparable to the Hinden. American sources such as Rockefeller and Carnegie funded the birth of Nazi Germany, and along with Henry Ford, more than likely paid for a good piece if not all of the Hindenburg.

[Reply]

could you please email me those drawings as well?

Ever since i read the book “Airborn” which is a wonderful book, i have had an odd obsession with zeppelins and anything in relation to them.

Infact, i have created a few modern zeppelin designs myself, that use helium for their main lifting gas and a small gas bag filled with hydrogen located in the tail of the design. as i read on your site about how the zeppelin company would use blaugas as a fuel due to the fact it would not add extra weiht to carry and would not cause the ship o lose mass when burned off, i figured it would work even better if you used hydrogen as a fuel source. the advantage of hydrogen is that it is a lifting gas itself (which you obviously already know) and will contribute to the lift. However, with hydrogen, you could make it in the air as you fly, if you have solar panels on top of the ship to collect energy, you can use the system of electrolosis to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, you can pump the hydrogen into the gas bag and store the oxygen elsewhere to be used n high altitude flying.

This is a wonderful website, and of the other airship/zeppelin based websites i’ve visted, athis one ranks #1 in the amount of pictures and historical data. I’m marking it on my favorites list. very very interesting.

[Reply]