Sources and Credits

Airshps.net is a non-commercial, non-profit, educational resource for the public.

Acknowledgments

This website has been prepared with the assistance of the following historians who have kindly acted as an informal advisory board to review the site, offering thoughts and suggestions, and most importantly correcting errors when necessary.  The author expresses his deep gratitude and appreciation for their assistance:

  • Cheryl GanzSmithsonian Institution, Chief Curator, National Postal Museum
  • Andreas Horn – Airship Modeler and Historian
  • Dennis Kromm – Airship Historian and Consultant
  • Dieter LederZeppelin Mail Authority and Expertiser and Airship Historian
  • Patrick RussellHindenburg Historian; Editor, Faces of the Hindenburg
  • Rick ZitarosaHistorian, Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

Images

Most of the images on this site are from the author’s personal collection of unpublished material, since one goal of this website is to share images that might not otherwise be available to the public.  Items from other sources are noted in the captions or text.

Text

The text on this site was written entirely by the author (and is protected by copyright), and is based on personal research using the primary and secondary sources which I believe to be the most accurate and reliable.

Primary and Secondary Sources

The archival primary sources on which I have relied are too numerous to detail on this page and are not easily available to the general public.  But to allow readers to follow in my footsteps with published and generally available materials, these are some of the principal sources on which I have relied and which I believe to be the most definitive:

Contemporary Sources:

  • Hugh Allen: The Story of the Airship (7th ed., 1931)
  • Hugo Eckener: Die Amerikafahrt des “Graf Zeppelin”
  • Hugo Eckener: Count Zeppelin, The Man and his Work
  • Hugo Eckener: My Zeppelins
  • Rupert S. Holland: Historic Airships (1928)
  • Ernst Lehmann: Auf Luftpatrouille und Weltfahrt
  • Ernst Lehmann and Howard Mingos: The Zeppelins
  • P.W. Litchfield: Why Has America No Rigid Airships? (1945)
  • C.E. Rosendahl: What About the Airship? (1938)
  • R101 – The Airship Disaster, 1930 (1931)

Recent Secondary Sources:

There are, of course, many other fascinating books about airships; some of these are highly reliable while others were written with less rigorous research:

  • Douglas Botting: Dr. Eckener’s Dream Machine
  • Douglas Botting/Time-Life: The Giant Airships
  • Christopher Chant: The Zeppelin
  • Wilbur Cross: Zeppelins of World War I
  • Mike Flynn: The Great Airships
  • Thom Hook: Flying Hookers, The Last Great Rigid Airship Adventure
  • Thom Hook: Shenandoah Saga
  • Hans Knausel: Zeppelin and the United States of America
  • Ces Mowthorpe: Sky Sailors, The Story of the World’s Airshipmen
  • J.E. Morpurgo: Barnes Wallis
  • Norman Richards: Giants in the Sky

For the beautiful illustrations by Ken Marschall, as well as the text, I need to make special mention of Rick Archbold’s Hindenburg, An Illustrated History.

I have, of course, also read Michael M. Mooney’s The Hindenburg and Adolph A. Hoehling’s Who Destroyed the Hindenburg, but each time I read them I am amazed at how casually, carelessly, and misleadingly they were written.

For the material on Clara Adams, I have relied on her own writings, supplemented and verified by secondary sources, including Jon E. Krupnick’s Pacific Pioneers and his revised Pacific Pioneers – The Rest of the Story.

A new book I have not yet read is Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship.

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Mike Bakeland
Mike Bakeland

Dr. Ludwig 1924 Durr’s book, 25 years of Zeppelin Construction, has been translated to English. It is available form this distributor on the internet; http://www.lulu.com/shop/dr-ludwig-d%C3%BCrr/25-years-of-zeppelin-airship-construction/paperback/product-20930314.html It has very valuable information on all construction aspects of especially the zeppelin frames and girders, gas bags, engines and gondolas. The illustrations are wonderfully… Read more »

Mark
Mark

Hi–I discovered a novel about the Hindenburg by a German author–Henning Boetius–Phonix aus den asche. His father was the elevator man on the H’s last trip. Fortunately for me it was translated into English as The Phoenix [there are also Spanish and French translations] I am enjoying the read. The… Read more »

David Vieira

Hi Dan, Thank you for allowing me to use the photo of Lady Hay sitting on Clara Adam’s lap in my book. I decided not to use it after all. However, I did finish my book and it has been published. It is called Zeppelin Stowaway and it is historical… Read more »

Mike Roll
Mike Roll

Dan, Congratulations on a superb website! You’ve managed to popularize a forgotten part of history in an authoritative, yet fascinating on-line format that a reader can’t help but be drawn into. I especially appreciate the way you display a variety of unique, detailed photographs. Please add more, if possible. My… Read more »

Sophie G.
Sophie G.

Dan, this website is just fantastic! Have you ever thought about publishing it in a printed way? Or would there be copyright problems? If you ever do so, please keep me informed. I’m a history student but rather of early modern europe – though airships are the only modern topic… Read more »

Rip Tragle

Dan,
I highly recommend reading “Slide Rule” by Nevile Shute.
He worked with Wallis on the R-100 as a calculator. To relieve the boredom
of this job he took to writing at night. I believe his best known work is
“On the Beach.” cheers, Rip Tragle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevil_Shute
http://www.amazon.com/Slide-Rule-Autobiography-Nevil-Shute/dp/1889439185

Michael Bilyk
Michael Bilyk

This website is so amazing. I am doing a project on airships for my material science class and this website has proven to be the greatest help to me ever.

Dan (Airships.net)

@ Michael: Thank you for your comments! I would love to know more about your project, and to see/read it when it is finished, if you would like to share it with me. In any event, thank you for taking the time to post your comment, and best of luck… Read more »

Tael Neilan
Tael Neilan

I’ve read both “The Great Dirigibles” and “The Giant Airships” for a research project I did on the Hindenburg. Tolland’s “Dirigibles” is one of my favorite books now, it allowed me to stand right next to Graf Zeppelin as his LZ-4 burned, I felt his pain as he knew his… Read more »