I am looking for an information about the relative weight of accomodation and living quarters compared to the rest of the LZ 129 Structure.

Many times I read that LZ 129 payload capacity was only 10 Tons of freight. For me, such a calculation is not an absolute result considering tha Hindenburg was a Passenger ships. So, if you remove the accomodation quarters, restaurant, saloon, water for the passengers, foodstuff etc…. We should get to a different figure.

I wonder what a LZ129 “Freight version” would have been able to achieve… 80 100 Metric tons payload ?

I cannot see airships ever replacing the jet liner. Jet liners are now basically airborne commuter trains. Aside from the first class and business class accommodations on longer flights, they offer no more than a seat to sit in while rubbing elbows with the passenger next to you.

I firmly believe the large rigid airship’s future lies with the sightseeing, vacationing traveler. The same folks who want to fly a helicopter over Hawaii’s cliffs, the Grand Canyon, or take river boat tours or even cruise ships, would enjoy the airship’s abilities. It would not be a competitive alternate to the cruiseship as airships are limited to their onboard capabilities. Cruiseships can make their own water, while airships have to carry thier’s aloft. That equates to short showers and no pools.

The airship traveler of the future will be one who wants to connect with the nostalgia of flight that has been erased with the TSA pat downs, long lines at airports, and tiny seats in packed, cramped cabins. They want to take their time going someplace and leisurely look at the countryside passing beneath them while sipping a cocktail. Making a connection at LAX is far less important than spotting a pod of whales broaching under them, or seeing the water casade off Niagra Falls from under a thousand feet above. It’s not when you get there, it’s all bout HOW you get there that will make the airship traveler of the future pay the premium (yes, it will be a costly affair as it was before) to fly someplace for the sake of flying.

The marketplace is ripe for this alternate way of traveling. The folks who are tired of fighting for a spot to toss a carry on bag into overhead storage, tired of getting a small cup of soda and a bag of peanuts tossed at you for a meal will be very interested in checking into a small, private room, walking to the forward lounge, or visiting the aft observation deck, and eating a gourment meal served at a sit down table with one hell of a view.

Airships back then were commanded, not piloted. The “flight deck” of control room of the airship was run very much like the bridge or wheelhouse of a steamship of the day. A commanding officer would direct three to four persons in the control room to fly the airship. The rudderman’s post was at the forward-most part of the control gondola, and the elevatorman’s post was usually located just aft, on the port or left side of the control car, facing out the left side of the control car, not forward. There was also a crewman who monitored the engine telegraphs which sent messages to the individual engine cars from the control room. Lastly, there was a crewman who monitored the ballast panel and kept the ship’s static condition in check. There was also a navigator located nearby as well as a radio man, again, all set up based on the operational methodology of a ship at sea, not a piloted aircraft.

All the men in the control room were usually officers of some sort or another. It took years of training to man these posts. The elevatorman in the Hindenburg earned his pay by keeping the ship absolutely level while in flight to prevent glasses and things from falling off tables. That was a bragging point for the airship against the steamship passenger liner – no seasickness!

The large control surfaces of these airships were controlled by cables that were run the length of the ship through a complicated series of sheaves and pulleys. Large counterweights attached to the control surfaces balanced the huge fins so that human arms could operate the fins. They can be seen on the USS Akron and Macon. There was no electrical or hydraulic assist on these control surfaces, and many times, two men had to handle the controls in heavy weather. It was a laborious task to hold the rudder and elevator wheels from spinning out of control against the wind forces acting on the fins. When catastrophe happened, the cables linking the control surfaces to the gondola’s control room typically carried away, and the steering wheels inside the gondola spun uselessly. This was a sure indication to those in the control room that something bad was happening aft.

Lastly, men in the control room stood at their posts during their entire watch. There were no huge banks of gauges and dials like in a old B-17 bomber in the control room of an airship. Contrast this to the flight deck of the Zeppelin NT, which has a seated pilot / copilot positions with joystick controls much like an airplane.

http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/interiors/control-car-flight-instruments

http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/flight-operations-procedures

I have only one question: What exactly were the rudders and elevators? What did they look like? I’ve come across a lot of information about the controls, but not exactly a lot about what the controls controlled. Maybe I missed something somewhere. Can anyone help me here?

The Hindenburg had a typical lower central keel as well as central keel running the length of the ship from the rudder post to the bow. The lower keel stopped at the lower fin. The middle keel ran to the rudder post aft. The last bay of the ship had no aft platform and was dedicated to a gas cell. There may have been a small platform back there.

The Hindenburg had 3 ladders leading up to the control valves located at the top of the ship.

The Akron and Macon were military ships and had a full platform aft that was serviced by a lower single lower keel. It was designated as an “observation” platform. The Akron and Macon both had three keels, one each side, located up each side of the hull where the engines were. There was also a keel running along the top of the hull with access to a forward “observation” platform. There was no lower, central spine of a keel on those ships. To get anywhere vertically, the crew would climb the central rings (deep triangular round rings every 22 meters. These rings would connect all three keels along the ship’s length. The top keel ran from the leading edge of the top rudder fin to about 23 meters back from the bow. The side keels also ran from 23 meters from the bow to the tail fins.

The Hindenburg had a very small platform in the lower fin for observation. The Akron and Macon had a auxiliary control station located in the leading edge of the lower tail fins.

Crewmen of those ships were called riggers, and for good reason. You had to have the skills of those who climbed the rigging of the square riggers of old sailing days inside the tangle of wires and girders of a rigid airship hull.