Zeppelins: Demonstration Flights (1929-31)


Figure 1.--Here is the crowd assembled to Greet the Craf Zeppelin on the return from one of its demostration flights, we think the Count;s world tour in 1929.

The reputation of the Zeppelins were tarnished during World War I when they were used to bomb English cities. After the War, in demonstration flights, the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) traveled to the Arctic and to Palestine, and also circumnavigated the globe. The Zeppelins were first used for aerial excursions in Germany. Graf Zeppelin's round-the-world flight was an enormous sensation (1929). Tis was to demonstrate both the reliability of the Zepplin and the luxurous nature of Zepplin travel. Unlike fixed-wing aircraft, people did not have to be jammed in a cramped fuselage. And as the Zepplins traveled slower and had lift independence of engine operation, they seemed safer than fixed-wing aircrft. Zeppelin then undertook several trips around Europe. Then there was a flight from Germany to Recife, Brazil (May 1930). The new company operated Zepplins between Frankfurt and Recife. The flight took 68 hours. Subsequently the flights were conducted between Frankfurt and Rio de Janeiro, a more popular tourist destimnation with a stop in Recife. Perhaps the mpst spectascular demonstration of all was a research trip to the Arctic (July 1931). This had already been a dream of Zeppelin when he first began building the airships. He could not pursue thar dream at the time because of World War I. The U.S.Navy acquired a Zeppelin as part of its own dirigible program. Zeppelin based on the success of these demonsrtration flights decided to found a transatlantic airship line.







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Created: 11:17 PM 2/23/2014
Last updated: 11:17 PM 2/23/2014