Graf Zeppelin Interiors
The control room and passenger areas on the Graf Zeppelin were both located within the airship’s 98′ long gondola.
Gondola of LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin. (click all photos to enlarge)
As seen in the deckplan included in this 1934 brochure, the ship’s control room was located at the very bow of the gondola, just ahead of the chart room, radio room, and kitchen.
Deckplan of Graf Zeppelin's Gondola. (click all photos to enlarge)
The Control Room, Chart Room, and Radio Room
The control room contained rudder and elevator control wheels, gas and water ballast release controls, engine telegraphs, and flight and navigation instruments.
Graf Zeppelin Control Room
Graf Zeppelin Control Room
Chart Room of Graf Zeppelin
Radio Room of Graf Zeppelin
The Kitchen
Across from the radio room was a small kitchen containing electric burners and ovens, an electric water heater, a refrigeration unit, and compact storage and preparation areas. Obviously, no open flames were allowed on the hydrogen-filled airship.
Kitchen of Graf Zeppelin
The Passenger Lounge and Dining Room
Aft of the kitchen was a combination lounge/dining room, approximately 16′ square, which was the only public passenger space aboard the ship.
Lounge and Dining Area on Graf Zeppelin
But while the surroundings were luxurious, they were also unheated, and during the winter months, or when the ship flew over the North Atlantic, or during the flight over Siberia as part of the 1929 Round-the-World flight, passengers often spent much of their time wrapped in heavy winter coats or covered by layers of blankets while ice crystals formed on the windows.
As frequent passenger Lady Grace Drummond Hay described it:
We have a million cubic feet of gas but no heat. . . . Merciless cold driving through the canvas walls of this flying tent. … I have visualized myself gracefully draped over a saloon window ledge romantically viewing the moonlit sky. The men . . . have reminded each other not to forget evening jackets and boiled shirts in their baggage. We have drawn ourselves lovely pictures of dining elegantly in mid-air with Commodore Eckener at the head of a flower-decked table . . . but . . . leather coats, woollies and furs will be our evening dress. Hot soup and steaming stew more welcome than cold caviar and chicken salad.
Lounge and Dining Area on Graf Zeppelin
Dinner on the Graf Zeppelin
Graf Zeppelin China
The Passenger Cabins
Accommodation for the ship’s twenty passengers was provided in ten small cabins, containing upper and lower berths similar to those aboard a railroad sleeping car, and which could be arranged for daytime or nighttime use. Like the rest of the ship, the cabins were unheated. The cabins were located on a narrow corridor, at the end of which were separate washrooms for men and women.
Steward making up berth
Passenger Cabin of Graf Zeppelin
Passenger Cabin aboard LZ-127 during the Day
Passenger Cabin aboard LZ-127 at Night
Passenger Corridor on Graf Zeppelin
Women's Washroom on Graf Zeppelin
Deckplan of Graf Zeppelin's Gondola. (click all photos to enlarge)
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
I purchased a crew member’s badge from the Graf Zeppelin last year at an antique shop, and it came along with a post card showing just the airship itself. I was trying to find out when the badge was from or which crew members might have worn it, but so far I haven’t found any information. It’s apparently very early, perhaps 1929. The badge has a picture of the Graf flying over water surrounded by the name of the airship framed in green. I don’t know if the green means anything or not. Not sure if you could help, but if you know anything that would be great. Thanks.
-John
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Keith Roberts Reply:
June 25th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Hi John from the UK! I now have 3 of the known 4 versions of this wonderful badge. The colours that I have are mid-yellow, a dark brown, the same mid-green one that you acquired, and I’m now chasing the final, light blue one! I’m told there were 2 different manufacturers, but all my badges bear the ‘FLL’ logo on the back – This is for Friedrich Linden, of Ludenscheid, a city north of Koln, (Cologne). My research is not vast so far, but I’ve talked to UK dealers who say that neither they, nor their suppliers in Germany, know what, if any, significance applies in the colours used. I’ll keep digging too! Best Regards!
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Does anyone have any information about a dinner that was given in Los Angeles in honor of the Graf’s visit to the city?
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Jason Wallace Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Dear Amy there has now been info on a ZEP DINNER on the site enjoy
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HI I have what I believe is an original canvass oil painted advertisement of a Graf Zeppelin ” it reads Nach Sudamerika in 3 Tagen!” and has LZ HAPAG emblem. I bought it in a french junk shop because my husband loves airships I wondered if these were rare or if it is worth anything it has hung on our wall a long time.
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Es famoso aqui en Buenos Aires y Montevideo el viaje del Zeppelin a estos lugares, tambien lo son las fotografias tomadas con él y el Palacio Salvo en Uruguay y con el Palacio Barolo en Argentina.
Me imagino que desde el dirigible, sus pasajeros deben haber tomado una infinidad de fotografias, ¿alguien sabe de alguna?
Trabajo para el Barolo y seria un sueño encontrar una foto aerea del mismo tomada en esa epoca
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Los dirigibles tipo Zeppelin demostraron, a pesar de sus entonces primitivos medios de navegación y pilotaje, que eran unas excelentes aeronaves con grán futuro en la aviación.Saludos.
Luis
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A fascinating documentary very well put together although some of the shots, perhaps, of doubtful provenance. The cameraman wearing straw boater on the skyscraper shot;may be genuine, or may not, as I can’t remember the full scenario of the Buster Keaton film ‘The camera man’. However, people in those days did have a devil may care view of safety us cosseted moderns may find hard to believe. Look at the shot of the rigger crawling along the top of Graf Zeppelin with just a slack rope to hold onto to stop him tumbling to his death. Or the guys who climbed down into the engine cars-no safety harness’s then!
One question I have about Graf Zeppelin-where did the crew sleep or eat off duty?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
March 7th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Crew quarters were along the keel, inside the hull.
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to reply to those who wonderedwhy not build new airships? They ane. Google airship images and you’ll see the plans and progjected images for new airship by Aeros. Very cool looking.
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Hi there, I have just purchased an ashtray,possibly aluminium,with a Zepellin on it as well as a postcard with Graf von Zeppelin and on the reverse-”Official postcard for the ZeppelinEckener Spende den deutschen Volkes”.
The reverse of the ashtray has the number 890 stamped in.
Would you be able to tell me what airship this item came out of? I am led to believe it could have been the LZ129?
I have seen the exact ashtray on a website-thevintageaviator.co.nz. It is the oblong sized one with the Zepellin on the top of the ashtray.
Your help would be most appreciated!
I note that
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Have you by chance any idea of the menu? What exactly was cooked in the kitchen and served in the lovely dinner hall?
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Thanks for posting these pictures and the narrative. I have always wondered about the interior of the Graf Zeppelin and was never able to find much information. This is great! Good website.
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I also find it unfortunate that someone has not built a large passenger-carrying airship of the modern era. The current zeppelin-NT airships provide over-priced excursion flights that really do not come close to reflecting the true passenger carrying abilities of airship travel.
I wait for the day when a 700+ foot passenger airship, called the America, flies scheduled flights between Los Angeles and the San Francisco bay area… with select cross-country flights across America for all to enjoy.
The best of airship history lies in the future. Someday such a wonderful aircraft will take to the skies and the world will again enjoy the spectacle of travel by airship.
Dennis M. Zermeno
Gilroy, Ca
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Arthur Reply:
September 25th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I agree. Sit and relax [in a proper chair],have a decent meal and enjoy the scenery and not the tops of the clouds.
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I concur. Airships have stayed with an unfair image for too long. With the technology of fabrics, metal, polymers and computers, this design of flying machine it’s far better in terms of passenger accomodations and luxury. This pics make a first class jet accommodation look cheap and undesirable. Hopefully open fresh minds will embrace the Airship and try to reach a new limit, and these days there is no limits to human ingenuity. Maybe in some near future we will get on board a airship and wonder how did we ever travel in the steel tubes so comfortable…not to mention the airports line. Kudos for a so well prepared and maintained site.
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Dear Dan:
How wonderful to have found your photographs online, since I was a kid I admired the elegant and comfort of the Zeppelins, even now I wonder why can’t a company beguin building them again, being much more efficient in the use of energy than the tin cans (planes) we have to use now, not to say how much dangerous are planes, even when the Hindemburg was falling on flames most passengers could scape, something impossible on a heavy gas can when falling down as we so frequently see,
hugs
Serge Lira
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I Have a photo of the Graf Zeppelin flying over Seville (Spain). Could you tell me the date or dates that the ship flew to Sevilla?
Thanks
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 8:16 am
LZ-127 flew over Seville (Sevilla) on numerous occasions, including many of the ship’s South American crossings.
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my mother ethel webster was a 14 year old when she saw the first zepperlin brought down by capt robinson in 1916 she liveed with her mother @ father at 84 bertram road enfield the whole street turned out to se it crash in flames in near by cuffley …..my mother moved south to littlehampton and in 1940 watched the battle of britton taking place overhead my father sergent sidney knight served in the controlroom at tangmere fighter station he had a narrow escape when stukas attacked the aredome my mother never saw the end of the war she died in in 1943 …..jon at jedbells sussex
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This is self-advertisement, I am afraid, but at least it is relevant to the subject of the site!
I am just in the process of publishing a novel that involves a fictional airship – the Bismarck, built by the Zeppelin company. The Bismarck includes some features of the Graf Zeppelin I(the crew sleep in the hull, for example), some from the Hindenburg (the passenger accommodation is aft of the separated control nacelle), and some from the British R101 (the passengers board through a gangway in the nose).
If this is of interest to you, please feel free to visit the book site at http://www.beneath grayskies.com – and order a book (details on the site) – downloadable as a PDF if you don’t want paper.
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Dear Dan,
I am in the midst of reading a novel, The Reserve” by Russell Banks. The Hindenburg is part of the plot.
Ruthy Rosen
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Hi Dan,
I need some information on when the Graf Zeppelin flew over Scotland, specifically Edinburgh or close to that. I am complileing a scrapbook for my father in law who will be 90 in October and he saw this airship fly over and has never forgotten it. Are you able to help?
Thanks
Cathie
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Graf Zeppelin toured Britain on August 18-19, 1931, on a flight which began and ended at Cardington in Bedford.
I hope this helps, and best of luck with your scrapbook!
Dan
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Where did the crew sleep?
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
The crew quarters were in the hull of the ship, along the keel. You can see the location of the crew berths on the profile drawing at the Graf Zeppelin Design & Technology page.
There is also a plan view and photographs of the crew quarters on Hindenburg on the Hindenburg Interiors page.
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john hansen Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:11 am
the main keel extending from bow to stern was used as a passage way and storage area, an innovative feature-an axial gangway- enabled crewmen to reach and service the gas cells. the crews mess and bunks were also situated there
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Dan (Airships.net) Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 9:40 am
There were no crew bunks nor crew mess along the axial corridor, and in fact the riggers were the only members of the crew allowed to access that area.
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My grandmother’s cousin flew on one of the trips to Brazil. I have the vinyl (?) bound book passengers were given and if you’re interested, I’ll find the passenger names and send them to you. You might want to start a collection of them for folks like Myriam L. Russo.
Paul
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These are absolutely incredible photographs!
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I found a picture of the GRAF Zeppelin in my mothers old album. It was taken in 1928 in Lakehurst, New Jersey. I think the two men in the picture are the captain and maybe my family’s close friend, Harry Lawrenson, who was a photographer with Fox Movie Tone News.
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Dan (admin) Reply:
January 28th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Thanks for your comment!
If you would like to send me a scan of the photo, I can try to identify the ship’s officer. And if you like, with your permission, I would be happy to post the picture here for other people to see as well.
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My father, Antonio Fernandes Lima traveled on the Zeppelin when it was traveling from the north of Brazil to Rio de Janeiro.
I would like to find out if there is a list of passenger from that time, so I can find out the actual date of his trip.
I remember him telling us how wonderful the trip was and how steady the Zeppelin fligh was, whem he even balance a pencil on its end on a table…
Could you, help me, please?
Thank you, Myriam Russo
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admin Reply:
January 5th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Unfortunately I don’t have any Graf Zeppelin passengers lists. (I have lists from most of the Hindenburg’s Atlantic crossings, but not Graf Zeppelin.) I am sorry I can’t help, but thanks for your comment!
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