LZ-129 Hindenburg statistics:
- Length: 245 m / 803.8 feet
- Diameter: 41.2 m / 135.1 feet
- Gas capacity: 200,000 cubic meters / 7,062,000 cubic feet
- Lift: 511,500 lbs
- Cruising Speed: 125 km/h (76 mph)
- Maximum Speed: 135 km/h (84 mph)
- Main Powerplant: 4 Daimler-Benz 16-cylinder LOF 6 (DB 602) Diesels
- Crew: 40 flight officers and men; 10-12 stewards and cooks
- Passengers: 50 sleeping berths (1936); 72 sleeping berths (1937)
- First flight: March 4, 1936
- Final flight: Crashed, May 6, 1937
Additional specifications and technical details are available on the following pages of this website:
- Hindenburg Flight Operations
- Control Car, Flight Instruments, and Flight Controls
- Hindenburg Design and Technology
Size comparison: Hindenburg and Boeing 747-400
Size comparison: Hindenburg and Goodyear Blimp
Size comparison: Hindenburg and earlier zeppelins
Relative sizes of LZ-11 Viktoria Luise, LZ-120 Bodensee, LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin. and LZ-129 Hindenburg
Hindenburg profile, showing major elements and numbering system for gas cells and frames. Drawing courtesy David Fowler. (click to enlarge)
Just wanted to ask if anyone knows of an excellent biography of Hugo Eckener { in English, or, GERMAN }; also excellent book on the LZ–129, and LZ–130. One other query, what was the cost of both Zeppelins from the Reichsmarks to U.S. Dollars—-Thanx a bunch! ! !
Here’s a suggestion for an Eckener bio: “Ein Deutscher namens Eckener” by Rolf Italiaander, Verlag Stadler, 1981. Whether it is indeed “excellent” or not, I cannot say (don’t read German), but at 561 pages in length, one is not likely to find a longer treatment. It is currently available from:… Read more »
Everybody needs to think plastic. All those Space ship movies have the space ships looking like steel. Think of them as Plastic. I have found a piece of honey combed plastic. If the whole “ship” was designed with the honey combed plastic in mind, it would be a very light… Read more »
hi Tom, please contact me: [email protected]
The Hindenburg is so amazing. I wish I was there in 1930’s to witness it magnificence. Thanks to this article. Very interesting!
I know it’s not the same but you can see the almost as amazing Graf zeppelin. This one is particularly good. https://youtu.be/tpSPEc3ZTKE
Just a thought, consider the ramifications of using several airships in tandem with a platform and selling the idea to NASA or the military as a platform for space travel. This moves the public safety factors due to a different set of regulations that the Military and NASA use and… Read more »
At sea level every liter of helium is about 1 gram lighter then the air it replaces. As you get higher, the air is thinner and thus weighs less. If you gain only half a gram since the air your replacing is lighter, you wont have enough lift to lift… Read more »
You are missing the point. If you can lift a rocket to 18000 feet for example, you are above 50 percent of the mass of the atmosphere. SO you use dramatically lees fuel.
Hi Martin,
What kind of altitude are you expecting to achieve by this method, and what would be on the platform?
That very idea has been studied in the US and USSR multiple times over multiple decades. It is very hard to do with a useful sized booster rocket. Among other issues ground handling remains an immense problem for any large airship and making the airships rigid enough to withstand the… Read more »
It is not that simple.First, the gas must be very light second of all, rockets and space shuttles travel at 23,000 +km so that it can escape gravity so airships must travel at a speed that they will soon burn up so uh,that is not possible
Dan,
Please don’t forget to add the height of the Hindenburg: I found it the ship was 149 feet tall.
Best Regards,
Francisco
Remember this old airships was running weekly between europe-south ameica and europe-new york for a decade without any crash before hindenburg burn up in new york with dangerous gas, now days they use safe gas. So why should it happen something .a crash, now days. People flying ballons all over… Read more »
Yes,now they use helium
If they could build a Hindenburg for 80 years ago, of course you can do better and cheaper nowdays.They were using animal skins to cover the balloon, aluminium was a problem,old engines etc…. Forget cabins and long hauls flights between newyork and london.There is nothing to see. But short trips… Read more »
Dear Sir I remember the airship going over my house in Brecon I was 9 year old my father and me coould hear music in it. it was very large there was a large wood by my home and the air ship was bigger.it was a lovely evening about 9pm.… Read more »
Mr. Prosser, I was just viewing a program on television on the Hindenburg. When I saw your post I found it quite intriguing that you have so accurately described the sheer size of the airship as well as being able to hear music as it flew over. I’m sure that… Read more »
As an AM in the Navy I attended LTA non-pilot School at Lakehurst NJ in early 1952 when the Hindenberg mast still stood and Admiral Rosendahl was in residence on the base. I was a rigger in my Squadron, ZP-4 stationed in Weeksville NC, flying K ships and training for… Read more »
There’s much discussion here on the viability of large passenger or freight airships today. Sadly, much of that discussion is well-meaning but I feel that a lot of it misses the point. I have had a lifelong fascination with the great rigid ships of the past; I have almost 1,000… Read more »
That is a very good analysis on the possibilities of a practical commercial airship service. Well done! However, I can provide a circumstance in which requirement 4 could be met. In rural Alaska (“Bush Alaska”) There is several hundred small communities that are: 1. Not connected to any road system… Read more »
Roger I think modern airships are feasible – I would certainly pay to ride in one. I believe the dangers of airships are overstated – one overlooks how safe they can be – A Goodyear blimp crashed over New York City with no fatalities -The Hindenburg only used hydrogen because… Read more »
The American refusal to sell helium had nothing to do with the Nazis. And I can’t resist noting the irony of citing Wikipedia for information about the Hindenburg while on this website. 🙂
Excellent analysis. There is one area where I could see a niche for a Zeppelin style airship. As a superyacht. A billionaires status symbol. The best private box at F1/Indy races, America’s Cup, Manx TT, WRC rallies, Tour de France etc etc etc. Half a billion should do it (even… Read more »