In good health despite his 78 years, Zeppelin had traveled to Berlin to attend an aeronautical exhibition in February, 1917. He developed appendicitis in late February and was operated on successfully but developed pneumonia and died in Berlin on March 8.

World War I was still raging and Zeppelin was regarded by the public as a national hero; he was given an state funeral with full honors.

His tombstone bears the words of Jesus: “Dein Glaube hat dir geholfen” (“Your faith has saved you”).

100 years after Count Zeppelin’s death, his legacy still lives.

Zeppelin NT at Friedrichshafen (Photo: Lars Pentzek)

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After four years of construction the ship left its hangar at 3:08 in the afternoon of March 4, 1936.

LZ-129 leaves construction hangar for the first time: March 4, 1936

A few minutes later the ship lifted off and slowly cruised over the Bodensee and Friedrichshafen for the next three hours. The flight had originally been planned for that morning but the cautious Hugo Eckener delayed the departure to wait for better weather in the afternoon.

LZ-129, with no name painted on bow, leaves hangar for a test flight in March, 1936

LZ-129 did not carry a name on its maiden flight; the name Hindenburg had already been chosen but was not added to the side of the zeppelin until March 24-25, almost three weeks after its first flight.  (Contrary to a popular misconception, Hitler never wanted the ship named for himself; he was strongly opposed to having his name attached to a vessel that might crash or burn.)

Painting the name “Hindenburg”

LZ-129 made a series of trial flights over the next few weeks, operated by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (the Zeppelin Company), which built and still owned the ship, and under the supervision of the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt (DVL), the German Research Institute for Aviation, which was responsible for issuing its Airworthiness Certificate.

LZ-129 carried mail and passengers for the first time on March 23, 1936, and was then turned over to the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei (the Germany Zeppelin Transport Company), the airline that would operate the ship in commercial service.

The Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937 marked the end of the passenger airship era. Oh the Humanity!

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Take a moment this evening to remember those who built this great ship, those who flew her, and those who lost their lives.

To the memory of the airship in better times…

To the memory of the man who made it all possible…

And in memory of those who lost their lives.

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The crash of U.S.S. Akron was the deadliest airship disaster in history, killing 73 men; there were only three survivors.

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It was the first manned flight in history.

Happy Birthday!

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Fourteen officers and sailors were killed in the disaster.

A service commemorating the loss will be held this Sunday in Ava, Ohio.

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On 29 August 1930, near Moscow, one of the earliest Soviet airships “Komsomolskaya Pravda” (Комсомольская Правда) took off for her maiden flight. After a one-hour flight over Moscow she successfully landed.

For the decade of the 1920s the Soviet state refrained from building airships. Neither the Red Army neither the Soviet Navy wished to order an airship for military purpose, nor was there interest by any civilian agency. Komsomolskaya Pravda was built by volunteers with private donations; some 12,000 Soviet rubles were raised from Soviet and foreign donors to fund the construction. This was roughly equivalent to 6,000 U.S. dollars.

Key facts about Komsomol’skaya Pravda

“Komsomol’skaya Pravda” — literally “Komsomol Truth” — was an official countrywide newspaper of Komsomol, the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. The airship was named after the newspaper as its editorial board was a fundraiser for her construction and the majority of donations were received from the Komsomol members.

Komsomol’skaya Pravda was a simple non-rigid airship with a volume of 2500 cubic meters of hydrogen and a length of 46 meters. The ship carried one 185 hp BMW aircraft engine. The envelope was made of the fabric remained after old Russian WWI observation balloons of the Parseval type, and a metal open car was rope-hanged beneath the envelope.

As there were no airship hangars around Moscow at the time, the Komsomolskaya Pravda’s units were fabricated in a former church building. The entire airship was finally assembled and filled with gas outdoor in a natural trough. The same place was used as a mooring in 1930″“1931.

Komsomolskaya Pravda was used as a training airship by aeronautics students as well as for propaganda flights. During 1930″“1931, Komsomolskaya Pravda made 55 flights and covered 3555 km. She was sent for total reconstruction because of deterioration in 1932.

Though unsophisticated, Komsomolskaya Pravda made a great impression on the Soviet people. Her successful operation was a valid argument for the authorities to eventually launch a state-run airship program.

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25 August 1927, Naval Air Station Lakehurst: One of the most famous moments of airship history as the USS LOS ANGELES did her fabled “head stand” on the “high mast.”

Some background on this event. The big dirigible had been taken out of the hangar that afternoon for the first time in two-and-a-half months. Her last flight had been in early June when they took her down to meet the cruiser USS MEMPHIS with Charles Lindbergh and his “Spirit of St. Louis” arriving back from Europe; the engines had been in such bad shape they could not be run above “Half Speed” and two of the gas cells were so badly deteriorated that they dared not ascend higher than 1500 feet for fear that any pressure on their cattle-gut animal “skin” linings might cause them to fail completely. (Rather than the original plan to meet the MEMPHIS at sea, they were barely able to meet the incoming vessel at the mouth of the Potomac River, escort her the last few miles to the Washington Navy Yard and then limp back to the safety of the Lakehurst hangar.)

On this day, the airship was fresh from an intensive overhaul that the Navy had reluctantly provided funds for. Tests were to be run for NACA (The “National Advisory Committee For Aeronautics” the direct forerunner to NASA) and called for an 8-hour flight to 10,000 feet for fitted with strain-gauges and manometers for bending/deceleration tests in conjunction with the “next generation” of airships planned. The gas cells were only inflated to 80% and there was about ten hours’ fuel on board.

Lieutenant T.G.W. “Tex” Settle was on the bridge as Officer Of the Deck preparing for the flight around 1500 hours when a cool southeast breeze came in from the ocean. The ship’s nose had been pointing westward. Instead of swinging around to face the new wind the tail began to rise. And RISE!

Rather suddenly, the crew on board realized that *something* was amiss. Yes, the ship had “kited” on the mast before but not like this. Past 45-degrees men began grabbing girders and loose articles like toolboxes, kitchenware and spare parts began crashing forward. (One man, in the rear engine car, yelled out “Holy Christ, I can see NEW YORK!”)

On the ground, at the base of the mast, Commander Rosendahl was freaking out and yelling for the crew at the top of the mooring mast to “trip the ship!” Lieutenant Settle yelled back ” This is the OFFICER OF THE DECK! Do NOT disconnect! ”

Within a minute it was all over. The USS LOS ANGELES did a complete 180-degree headstand and came back down on the other side of the mast facing southeastward. Quickly unmasted and marched back into the hangar, it turned out that damage was minimal, almost nil, most of it caused by falling tools and spare parts. Not sure if they ever *did* end up flying that 10,000 foot “high altitude” flight.

I have heard many stories of airships “kiting” and never thought I’d get to see it, but was actually there at Lakehurst, only a few hundred yards from where this amazing photo was taken, some 86 years later on another August day when the MZ-3A airship did the *same thing* (something that will always make me appreciate the durability of “Lightship” airship products because the entire damage amounted to a broken bungee on one of the landing gear wheels when she smashed down on the ground.)

Did I manage to grab my cell phone camera? Nah! I was too much in shock like everybody else who witnessed it!

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