Lot 3284 – Postcard written by Hindenburg mechanic Albert Thasler

The Thasler Postcard

The postcard was written by Hindenburg engine mechanic Albert Thasler, who often sent mail to himself and family members. Thasler was ill and not able to join Hindenburg’s last flight so he gave several pieces of mail — at least nine cards and three letters –  to friend and fellow Hindenburg mechanic Robert Moser.

Moser gave the items to navigation officer Max Zabel — who also functioned as Hindenburg’s postmaster — during the flight to America. Zabel planned to cancel the items during the return flight to Germany and he stored them in Hindenburg’s post office, where they were later found amid the wreckage. Moser was in one of Hindenburg’s engineering rooms deep inside the airship at the time of the accident and died in the crash.

More than 17,000 letters and postcards were carried on Hindenburg’s last flight but only 372 were recovered from the wreckage, and they are documented in Dieter Leder‘s definitive book, LZ-129 Hindenburg Zeppelin Crash Mail (Meersburg, Germany: Topo|Verlag, 2012).

The Felzmann Auction

The Thasler postcard is among hundreds of items of zeppelin mail being offered in Auktionshaus Ulrich Felzmann’s Auction No. 158. The items are too numerous to describe here but can be viewed online.

The auction also includes a “drop bag” used to drop mail from LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin; several pieces of mail from early DELAG passenger zeppelins; postcards from Graf Zeppelin’s Polar Flight; and items sent or signed by well known zeppelin crew members including Max Pruss, Albert Sammt, and Willy Speck.

Lot 3064 – Mail Drop Bag from LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin

Lot 3134 – A913 postcard from LZ 17 “Sachsen”

Lot 3224 – Graf Zeppelin postcard signed by Max Pruss

Lot 3242 – Graf Zeppelin postcard mailed by Albert Sammt

Lot 3215- Graf Zeppelin postcard signed by radio officer Willy Speck

Lot 3223 – Cover from Graf Zeppelin Polar Flight that was passed to the Soviet icebreaker Malygin

Lot 3281 – Hindenburg cover from multiple 1936 North and South American flights

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Hindenburg and United States Capitol

Hindenburg and R.M.S. Queen Mary:

Hindenburg and Boeing 747-400:

Hindenburg and Goodyear Blimp (GZ-20A):

But then again, Hindenburg needed room for interiors like this:

Hindenburg’s Dining Room

The post Hindenburg Size Comparisons appeared first on Airships.net.

Nelson Rockefeller in Navigation Room of Hindenburg

Passengers on the “Millionaires Flight” were leaders in the fields of finance, industry, government, and aviation. The guests included powerful financiers such as Winthrop W. Aldrich and Nelson Rockefeller; U.S. and German government officials and naval officers; and leaders in the aviation industry including Eddie Rickenbacker of Eastern Airlines, Jack Frye of TWA, Eugene Vidal, and perhaps most importantly, Juan Trippe of Pan American Airways.

Juan Trippe had been a director of the Pacific Zeppelin Transport Company, founded in 1929 to operate a never-realized 36-hour zeppelin service between California and Hawaii. Airships appeared to pose direct competition to the flying boat airliners Pan Am wanted as operate across the Atlantic, and in fact shortly after the Millionaires Flight, Trippe and his wife Betty embarked on a round-the-world voyage by air that included a flight on Hindenburg from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro. Trippe was invited on the Millionaires Flight to stimulate his interest in investing in a zeppelin venture but, firmly invested in Pan Am’s clipper flying boats, he likely accepted the invitation to check out the competition.

Juan Trippe on Hindenburg flight to Rio de Janeiro, 1936 (photo Elizabeth Trippe, courtesy panam.org)

The flight was jointly organized by the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei (DZR) and Standard Oil of New Jersey (Esso), which supplied diesel fuel and hydrogen to the Hindenburg, and the passengers were hosted during the flight by Hugo Eckener, Ernst Lehman, and DZR’s American representative, F. W. “Willy” von Meister. NBC radio reporter John B. Kennedy did live airborne broadcasts from the ship over the NBC Blue and Red networks in the afternoon.

Each passenger was given a souvenir ashtray with a glass model of the airship filled with Esso diesel fuel

The Flight

The flight was a leisurely day-long cruise over the fall foliage of New England.

Passengers boarded a specially chartered Pullman train at New York’s Pennsylvania Station on the evening of October 8, 1936, and settled into sleeping compartments. The train traveled to Lakehurst overnight and parked at a railroad siding a few hundred feet from the mooring mast, and at 5:00 AM the passengers were awakened for breakfast and then taken to the airship.

Hindenburg left Lakehurst at 6:57 AM and flew up the Hudson River to New England, passing over Hartford, Springfield, and Worcester, and reaching Boston around Noon.

The ship circled over Boston while the VIP guests enjoyed a midday meal of Swallow Nest Soup, cold Rhine salmon, tenderloin steak, Chateau Potatoes, Beans a la Princesse, Carmen salad, and iced melon, accompanied by beer and wines including a 1934 Piesporter Goldtröpfchen and a 1928 Feist Brut, and followed by Turkish coffee, pastries, and fine liqueurs.

After lunch the airship turned south and passed Providence, New London, and New Haven before reaching New York City at around 3:00 PM, and finally headed back to Lakehurst.

Despite a heavy fog (which grounded the American Airlines DC-3’s taking passengers back to New York from Lakehurst), Hindenburg landed without difficulty at 5:22 PM and then departed for Germany as scheduled on its last transatlantic crossing of the 1936 season.

Complete Passenger List

Winthrop W. Aldrich, 1950s

Winthrop W. Aldrich
Chairman of the Chase National Bank

Sherman Altick
Aviation Editor

J. W. Bancker

William J. Baxter
Baxter International Economic Research Bureau

R. H. Blake

Lt. Gen. Friedrich von Boetticher
German Military Attaché to United States (“Hitler’s Ambivalent Attaché”)

Harlee Branch
Chairman of U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board; City Editor and Washington correspondent for The Atlanta Journal

William J. Brewster

Ray Brock

Harry A. Bruno
Aviation Public Relations Executive

Juan Trippe of Pan American Airways

William A. M. Burden
Wall Street aviation analyst; great-great-grandson of railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt

Reginald M. Cleveland
Aviation Reporter; New York Times, Scientific American

Colonel J. C. Cone
Director of Air Regulations, Aeronautics Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce

Rear Admiral Arthur B. Cook
Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics, United States Navy

William F. Cutler

H. Morin de Linclays
U.S. General Manager of the French Line (Compagnie Générale Transatlantique)

Harry L. Derby
President, American Cyanamid and Chemical Corporation

Jack Frye of TWA around the time of the Millionaires Flight

Robert Dorman

Frank Durand
President of New Jersey Senate

Byron C. Foy
President of De Soto Motors and son-in-law of Walter Chrysler

Frederick H. Frazier

Jack Frye
President, TWA

Alvin T. Fuller
Former Governor of Massachusetts (perhaps best known for his refusal to pardon Sacco and Vanzetti); Wealthy automobile dealer and art collector

Commander Garland Fulton
U.S. Navy airship officer

Robert L. Hague
Vice President, Standard Oil of New Jersey

John Augustine Hartford
Chief Executive, Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P)

John D. Hertz
Founder of Yellow Cab Company; Partner in Lehman Brothers investment bank; Transportation investor

H. E. Hildebrand

H. L. Hughes

J.L. Hughes

Thomas Hughes

Harry P. Kelliher

John B. Kennedy
Reporter, National Broadcasting Company

James L. Kilgallen
Famed Report with Hearst’s International News Service; Father of reporter Dorothy Kilgallen who made a round-the-world flight by air, including a leg on Hindenburg

Robert D. King

Juan and Betty Trippe disembarking Hindenburg after a flight from Frankfurt to Rio de Janeiro, 1936 (photo Elizabeth Trippe, courtesy panam.org)

John E. Lamiell
Director of the International Service, United States Post Office

Roman Lapica
United Press Staff Correspondent

Arthur Levy

Thomas Lewis

Karl Lindemann
Director of the Hamburg-Amerika Line and an officer of Standard Oil

Paul W. Litchfield
President of Goodyear Tire & Rubber, and the leading force behind American commercial airship endeavors

Hans Luther
German ambassador to the United States; Former chancellor and President of Germany and President of the Reichsbank

Paul MacKall
Bethlehem Steel Executive

Lucius B. Manning
President, Cord Automobile Corporation

Thomas McCarter
Former New Jersey Attorney General and founder of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, one of America’s largest utility companies

Edward O. McDonnell
Director of Pan American Airways; Banker with Grayson M.P. Murphy (an investor in the Pacific Zeppelin Transport Co., of which McDonnell was a director)

Joachim Meyer

R. Walton Moore
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State

A. L. Murphy

Ed Neil

Pat O’Brien

Rear Admiral William S. Pye
United States Navy

W. M. Rapsher
United States Customs Service

Eddie Rickenbacker in his Eastern Air Lines office (Auburn University Library)

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker
Famed aviator, WWI fighter ace, and General Manager of Eastern Air Lines

Joseph P. Ripley
Vice President, National City Bank; Investor in Pan American Airways, NYRBA, and United Aircraft; Director of Pacific Zeppelin Transport Co.

Nelson Rockefeller
Chase National Bank; Grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller; future Governor of New York and Vice President of the United States

Commander Charles E. Rosendahl
Senior U.S. Navy airship commander

John F. Royal
Senior Executive, National Broadcasting Company

E. J. Sadler
Vice President, Standard Oil of New Jersey

Abel Alan (“Abe”) Schechter
News Director, National Broadcasting Company

Dr. D. A. Schmitz

John Schroeder

Edward L. Shea
Executive Vice President, Tidewater Associated Oil Co.

Richard Southgate
Chief of Protocol, U.S. Department of State
(One of Southgate’s predecessors as Chief of Protocol was Ferdinand Lammot Belin Sr., whose son (“Peter” Belin) survived the Hindenburg disaster)

Gene Vidal

Admiral William H. Standley
Chief of Naval Operations, United States Navy

Juan T. Trippe
Head of Pan American Airways; Director of Pacific Zeppelin Transport Co.

Eugene L. Vidal
Director of Aeronautics of the U.S. Department of Commerce; a close personal friend of Amelia Earhart

Lieutenant George F. Watson
U.S. Navy airship officer

M. G. B. Whelpley
Vice President, Chase Securities; President, American Express Bank & Trust; Former V.P. of Chase National Bank

Vice Admiral Robert Witthoeft-Emden
German Naval Attaché

H. C. Woodall

Henry Ford, Walter P. Chrysler, Alfred P. Sloan Jr., and Walter C. Teagle were among those who were invited but did not join the flight.

I would like to express my appreciation to Patrick Russell and John Provan, and Doug Miller of the Pan Am Historical Foundation, for their assistance with this post.

The post Anniversary of the Hindenburg “Millionaires Flight” appeared first on Airships.net.

The sole living survivor of the Hindenburg crash is now Werner Doehner, who was an 8 year old passenger traveling with his family.

Werner Franz was born in Frankfurt-Bonames on May 22, 1922, and he was only 14 years old when he joined the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei as cabin boy on Hindenburg, serving the ship’s officers and crew by shining shoes, making beds, setting tables, washing dishes, bringing coffee, and doing other chores.

Young Werner was clearing dishes in the officers’ mess when the Hindenburg caught fire while landing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station on May 6, 1937.  Franz heard a thud, and he felt the ship shake and point sharply upward as the burning tail crashed to the ground.  Hydrogen flames roared above and behind him as the ship titled more steeply, and then a ballast tank ruptured, dousing Franz with water.

With his water-soaked clothes offering some protection from the heat and flame, Franz made his way to a nearby hatch that was used to bring provisions aboard the zeppelin.  Franz kicked the hatch open and watched the ground approach as the airship sank toward the field, and dropped to the ground when it seemed close enough. Hindenburg’s bow rose up momentarily, as seen in films of the crash, allowing Franz to run from the flaming wreckage before it settled to the ground. He emerged from the crash almost completely unharmed.

The next day Franz went to the wreck site with a U.S. Navy airship officer, Lieutenant George F. Watson, to search for his pocket watch, a gift from his grandfather.  He knew exactly where to look and found the watch. 

Franz recounted his story in a book published in Germany in 1938, Kabinenjunge Werner Franz vom Luftschiff Hindenburg by W.E. von Medem

Franz returned to Germany with other surviving members of the crew and began an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic. Franz served as a radio operator and instructor in the Luftwaffe during World War II and worked as a technician for the German Federal Post Office after the war. He also served as a professional roller and ice skating coach whose students included Olympic figure skating partners Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel.

Franz is survived by his wife of 52 years, Annerose, and their children and grandchildren.  

News of Franz’s death was shared by family friend and noted airship historian Dr. John Provan.  The family requested that news of his death not be made public until after the funeral for reasons of privacy.

As Dr. Provan commented, “Werner Franz ““ das letzte Zeppelin Besatzungsmitglied ging von Bord.”  Werner Franz, the last zeppelin crew member has disembarked.

Werner Franz, 2003. (Photo: Dr. John Provan)

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Fortune estimates the current value of the payout at $81 million, but this is always a very tricky calculation, subject to various methodologies and interpretations, especially when it involves adjusting both for time (1937 to 2014) and for the conversion of one currency into another (British Pounds to U.S. Dollars).

Hat Tip to a loyal blog reader who wishes to remain anonymous. 

The post Hindenburg Insurance Payout: $81 Million in Current Dollars According to Fortune Magazine appeared first on Airships.net.

Dining Room of LZ-129 Hindenburg

Just before noon the ship was over Boston.

Hindenburg over Boston Customs House

At 3:00 pm Hindenburg’s passengers and crew were enjoying New York’s famous skyline from the air.

Photograph of New York City taken by Hindenburg mechanic Robert Moser from his engine car.

Just a few hours later 36 people were dead and the world’s greatest airship no longer existed.

Wreckage of LZ-129 Hindenburg. May 6, 1937.

Wreckage of LZ-129 Hindenburg. May 6, 1937.

Wreckage of LZ-129 Hindenburg. May 6, 1937.

Today is the 77th anniversary of the disaster that ended the age of the passenger airship.

The post Anniversary of the Hindenburg Disaster appeared first on Airships.net.

Over the years Ken has also created historically accurate paintings of LZ-129 Hindenburg for books including Hindenburg – An Illustrated History and Inside the Hindenburg – A Giant Cutaway Book.  Ken is now offering several of his original paintings for sale.

Painting For Sale:

From Hindenburg – An Illustrated History

The Hindenburg Disaster. Commissioned for the book Hindenburg: An Illustrated History (Pages 186-187). Acrylic on board, 30? x 23″ / Unframed

Graf Zeppelin arrives over San Francisco from Tokyo in August, 1929. Commissioned for the book Hindenburg: An Illustrated History (Pages 116-117). Acrylic on board, 34″ x 20″/ Framed

From Inside the Hindenburg:

ID #1: Acrylic on Board, 24″ x 19″ / Unframed

ID #2: Acrylic on Board, 24″ x 19″ / Unframed

ID #3: Acrylic on Board, 24″ x 19″ / Unframed

ID #4: Acrylic on Board, 12″ x 12″ / Unframed

ID #5:  Acrylic on Board, 20″ x 16″ / Unframed

ID #6:  Acrylic on Board, 25″ x 16″ / Unframed

ID #7:  Acrylic on Board, 22″ x 18″ / Unframed

ID #8: Acrylic on Board, 22″ x 17″ / Unframed

Prices are available on request.  For information about price or availability, please send me an email and I will pass it along to Ken:  Dan@Airships.net

Note:  As regular readers know, Airships.net is completely non-profit and non-commercial. I am posting this information solely as a personal favor to Ken, whose work I greatly respect; I will not receive a commission or any other compensation for this blog post and all discussions will be directly between the buyer and Ken. 

The post Titanic artist Ken Marschall offers Hindenburg paintings for sale appeared first on Airships.net.

The Hindenburg disaster, colored by Dana Keller  (click to enlarge)

Several friends and blog readers told me about this colorized image of the Hindenburg disaster and I wanted to share it with anyone who may have missed it.

While it was this image that brought Dana Keller’s work to my attention, all of his work is impressive.  It allows us to see historical figures as real people and thanks to Dana we can imagine having a face-to-face chat with Babe Ruth, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, or even Lewis Powell in a way that is hard to do with a black-and-white image.

(And Madame Curie was quite a babe, no?  Too soon?)

Seriously, I encourage you to spend some time looking at Dana’s work at History in Color on Facebook, and similar images by Dana and other talented artists can also be seen here and here.

(A final note about this Hindenburg image that should go without saying:  Naturally this should not be used as a historical document illustrating the actual color of the Hindenburg flames for the purpose of analyzing the cause or progress of the fire.  But as a way to imagine what it might have felt like to witness the disaster, Dana’s image is spectacular.)

And on a quick personal note, I apologize that the blog has been so quiet lately; I will try to keep it more lively in the next few months.  🙂

Babe Ruth

Marie Curie

H. G. Wells

Lewis Powell

Babe Ruth, Marie Curie, H. G. Wells, and Lewis Powell colored by Dana Keller.

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I have previously blogged about the history and design of Hindenburg’s Blüthner piano, which was carried on the airship during its 1936 season.

The post The Sound of Hindenburg’s Aluminum Piano [Video] appeared first on Airships.net.

The Hindenburg’s Piano (click all photos to enlarge). Photo courtesy Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik.

The Hindenburg featured the first piano ever to be carried on a passenger aircraft.

To meet the strict weight limits of a lighter-than-air dirigible, the Zeppelin company commissioned the renowned piano making firm of Julius Blüthner to create a lightweight aluminum alloy piano, and the Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik created a small grand piano that weighed only 162 kg (356 lbs).  The frame, rim, fallboard, and top lid were made of duralumin, and the legs, back bracing, and lyre were made of hollow duralumin tubing.
Associated Press reporter Louis P. Lochner, who was a passenger on Hindenburg’s maiden voyage to the United States, commented that the piano had a “particularly large and full tone” despite its aluminum construction.

Franz Wagner at Hindenburg’s Piano, with Dr. Rudolf Bluthner-Haessler to his left in the corner, and Captain Ernst Lehmann to his right. Photo courtesy Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik.

The external appearance of the piano was designed by architect Fritz August Breuhaus, who was responsible for Hindenburg’s interior design and decoration. The piano was covered with pale pigskin, which was not only lightweight but also gave the piano a warm appearance that matched the tonal qualities of the instrument.

Lounge of the Hindenburg (left).  Lounge under construction (right); Zeppelin chief designer Ludwig Dürr standing, at right of photo, Professor Franz Wagner at the piano, Captain Ernst Lehmann to Wagner’s right

The piano was located in Hindenburg’s Lounge on A Deck, where it was frequently played by passengers and the ship’s musical captain, Ernst Lehmann, who had earlier entertained passengers on the Graf Zeppelin with his accordion.

NBC Radio broadcaster Max Jordan, with Franz Wagner at the piano.  Photo courtesy Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik.

The Blüthner piano was a prominent feature of the Hindenburg’s first flight to America, during which Dresden pianist Professor Franz Wagner gave several concerts for the passengers, playing classical music by Chopin, Liszt, Beethoven, and Brahms as well as popular music.

Also on the flight was Dr. Rudolf Bluthner-Haessler, of the Blüthner piano company, who was traveling to America with his company’s latest creation.

As the Hindenburg approached the coast of North America on the last night of the voyage, NBC radio reporter Max Jordan directed a live broadcast during which Professor Wagner played Schubert’s Serenade and Strauss’s Blue Danube, and accompanied Lady Suzanne Wilkins who sang “I’m in the Mood for Love.”

The piano also played a large role in the 1975 film “The Hindenburg” by director Robert Wise, which featured a satirical political concert by passenger Joseph Spah (played by Robert Clary) and a fictional character called Reed Channing (played by Peter Donat).

“The Hindenburg” (1975)

The concert was pure poetic license, and the piano was not even aboard the Hindenburg on the ship’s final flight.  The piano was removed before the beginning of the 1937 season and taken to the Blüthner factory, where it was placed on display.  The piano was destroyed in 1943 when the factory burned following an air raid during the Second Word War.

The author would like to express his deep appreciation to the Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik, and in particular to Ms. Carolin Voigt, for their assistance with this article.

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