ZEPPELIN > Passenger Ships

Passenger Ships

In 1949, Pan American and Imperial Airlines initiated transatlantic passenger flights.

In 1957, Pan American began non-stop passenger flights between New York and London.

But in 1929, the LZ127 "Graf Zeppelin" flew around the world!

In the mid-1930s, when airplanes were lucky to fly a few hundred miles, the Zeppelins flew regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger service between Friedrichshafen, Germany and Lakehurst, New Jersey in the US. They also flew 6,852 statute miles, carrying up to 91 people, on flights between Friedrichshafen, Germany and Rio de Janero, Brazil!

In 1908, Count Zeppelin established

Zeppelinstitung zur Foerderung der Luftfahrt
(Zeppelin Endowment for the Propogation of Air Navigation)

as the exclusive shareholder of the

Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, Gmb. H.
(Zeppelin Airship Building Co., Ltd.)

the construction firm which built the airships operated by

Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-A.-G. ---> DELAG
(German Airship Transportation Company)

the airship passenger and mail service. These were giants such as the world had never seen before ... or since.

	LZ 7 Deutschland 1910 19,300 cubic metres three 120 hp engines
	LZ 10 Schwaben 1911-1912 250 flights without a single accident "Yes, there's no help for it; the ship does do 20 metres per second." Herr von Parseval, quoted in Hugo Eckener's "Count Zeppelin: The Man and His Work", page 269.
	LZ 11 Viktoria Luise 1912-1915
	LZ 13 Hansa 1912-1915
	LZ 17 Sachsen 1913-1916
	LZ 120 Bodensee 1919-1920
	LZ 121 Nordstern 1919-1921
	LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin 1928-1937 (dismantled 1940) Perhaps the most succesful passenger airship of all time, logging in over a million miles during its life -- including the first round-the-world flight in 1929! It inaugurated aerial transatlantic passenger service.
	LZ 129 Hindenburg 1936-1937 Entered the transatlantic service, flying to both Brazil and the United States. It was designed to fly using helium. When the Zeppelin Company could not obtain a supply, it flew using hydrogen.

LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin II 1939-1940 (dismantled 1940) It's true. The brother of the Hindenburg was nearing completion when the LZ129 burned at Lakehurst. It was designed for transatlantic passenger service. Instead, it was used for passenger flights only over Germany. The Nazi military used it for electronic reconnaisance flights off the coast of England. It was the last of its kind.
	LZ NT 1997- The new breed of Zeppelin carries 14 passengers on short excursion flights. Three are now flying in Germany. Passenger flights are available via DZR. Goodyear is now flying three NTs in the USA.

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