Editing Zeppelin (section)

===After World War I===
====Renaissance====
[[File:Airship Bodensee, Oct. 1919.jpg|thumbnail|The ''Bodensee'' 1919]]
[[File:LZ121 Nordstern.jpg|thumbnail|The ''Nordstern'' 1920]]
Count von Zeppelin had died in 1917, before the end of the war. [[Hugo Eckener]], who had long envisioned dirigibles as vessels of peace rather than of war, took command of the Zeppelin business, hoping to quickly resume civilian flights. Despite considerable difficulties, they completed two small passenger airships; [[Zeppelin LZ 120 Bodensee|LZ 120 ''Bodensee'']] (scrapped in July 1928), which first flew in August 1919 and in the following months transported passengers between Friedrichshafen and Berlin, and a sister-ship ''LZ 121 Nordstern'', {Scrapped September 1926} which was intended for use on a regular route to [[Stockholm]].<ref>Robinson 1973, pp. 257-8</ref>

However, in 1921 the Allied Powers demanded that these should be handed over as war reparations as compensation for the dirigibles destroyed by their crews in 1919. Germany was not allowed to construct military aircraft and only airships of less than {{convert|1000000|ft3|m3|order=flip|abbr=on}} were permitted. This brought a halt to Zeppelin's plans for airship development, and the company temporarily had to resort to manufacturing aluminium cooking utensils.<ref>Robinson 1973, p. 259</ref>

Eckener and his co-workers refused to give up and kept looking for investors and a way to circumvent Allied restrictions. Their opportunity came in 1924. The United States had started to experiment with rigid airships, constructing one of their own, the [[USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)|ZR-1 USS ''Shenandoah'']], and buying the [[R38 (ZR-2)|R38]] (based on the Zeppelin L&nbsp;70) when the British airship programme was cancelled. However, this broke apart and caught fire during a test flight above the [[Humber]] on 23 August 1921, killing 44 crewmen.<ref>Driggs, Laurence La Tourette. [https://books.google.com/books?id=sVroBrOJL64C&pg=PA14 "The Fall Of The Airship."] ''[[The Outlook (New York)|The Outlook]],'' Volume 129, 7 September 1921, pp. 14–15. Retrieved: 30 July 2009.</ref>

[[File:Uss los angeles airship over Manhattan.jpg|thumb|left|[[USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)|ZR-3 USS ''Los Angeles'']] over southern Manhattan]]
Under these circumstances, Eckener managed to obtain an order for the next American dirigible. Germany had to pay for this airship itself, as the cost was set against the war reparation accounts, but for the Zeppelin company this was unimportant. [[USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)|LZ&nbsp;126]] made its first flight on 27 August 1924.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= U.S. Zeppelin on Trial|department=News in Brief |date=29 August 1924 |page= 9|issue=43743 |column=A }}</ref>

On 12 October at 07:30 local time the Zeppelin took off for the US under the command of Hugo Eckener. The ship completed its {{convert|8050|km|mi}} voyage without any difficulties in 80&nbsp;hours 45&nbsp;minutes.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= U.S. Zeppelin on Trial|department=News|date=16 October 1924 |page= 14|issue=43784 |column=E }}</ref> American crowds enthusiastically celebrated the arrival, and President [[Calvin Coolidge]] invited Eckener and his crew to the [[White House]], calling the new Zeppelin an "angel of peace".

Given the designation ZR-3 USS ''Los Angeles'' and refilled with helium (partly sourced from the ''Shenandoah'') after its Atlantic crossing, the airship became the most successful American airship. It operated reliably for eight years until it was retired in 1932 for economic reasons. It was dismantled in August 1940.

====Golden age====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00834, Friedrichshafen, Luftschiff Graf Zeppelin.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.1|[[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|''Graf Zeppelin'']] under construction]]
With the delivery of ''LZ 126'', the Zeppelin company had reasserted its lead in rigid airship construction, but it was not yet fully back in business. In 1926 restrictions on airship construction were relaxed, but acquiring the necessary funds for the next project proved a problem in the difficult economic situation of post–World War I Germany, and it took Eckener two years of lobbying and publicity to secure the realization of ''LZ 127''.

Another two years passed before 18 September 1928, when the new dirigible, christened [[LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin|''Graf Zeppelin'']] in honour of the Count, flew for the first time.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Largest Zeppelin|department=News|date=19 September 1928 |page= 14|issue=45002 |column=F }}</ref> With a total length of {{convert|236.6|m|ft}} and a volume of 105,000 m<sup>3</sup>, it was the largest dirigible to have been built at the time.
Eckener's initial purpose was to use ''Graf Zeppelin'' for experimental and demonstration purposes to prepare the way for regular airship traveling, carrying passengers and mail to cover the costs. In October 1928 its first long-range voyage brought it to [[Lakehurst, New Jersey|Lakehurst]], the voyage taking 112 hours and setting a new endurance record for airships.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= The Zeppelin Flight|department=News|date=16 October 1928 |page= 16|issue= 45025 |column=A}}</ref> Eckener and his crew, which included his son Hans, were once more welcomed enthusiastically, with confetti parades in New York and another invitation to the White House. ''Graf Zeppelin'' toured Germany and visited Italy, [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]], and 
[[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]]. A second trip to the United States was aborted in France due to engine failure in May 1929.
[[File:ZeppelinLZ127a.jpg|thumbnail|left|The ''Graf Zeppelin'']]
In August 1929, ''Graf Zeppelin'' departed for another daring enterprise: a [[circumnavigation]] of the globe. The growing popularity of the "giant of the air" made it easy for Eckener to find sponsors. One of these was the American press tycoon [[William Randolph Hearst]], who requested that the tour officially start in Lakehurst.<ref>Swinfield 2012, p.237</ref> As with the October 1928 flight to New York, Hearst had placed a reporter, [[Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay]], on board: she therefore became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe by air. From there, ''Graf Zeppelin'' flew to Friedrichshafen, then Tokyo, Los Angeles, and back to Lakehurst, in 21&nbsp;days 5&nbsp;hours and 31&nbsp;minutes. Including the initial and final trips between Friedrichshafen and Lakehurst and back, the dirigible had travelled {{convert|49618|km|mi}}.

[[File:Graf Zeppelin stamp 65c 1930 issue.jpg|thumb|right|US Air Mail 1930 picturing the ''Graf Zeppelin'']]
In the following year, ''Graf Zeppelin'' undertook trips around Europe, and following a successful tour to [[Recife]], Brazil in May 1930, it was decided to open the first regular transatlantic airship line. This line operated between [[Frankfurt]] and Recife, and was later extended to [[Rio de Janeiro]], with a stop in Recife. Despite the beginning of the [[Great Depression]] and growing competition from fixed-wing aircraft, ''LZ 127'' transported an increasing volume of passengers and mail across the ocean every year until 1936. The ship made another spectacular voyage in July 1931 when it made a seven-day research trip to the [[Arctic]].<ref>Swinfield 2012, p. 239</ref>{{refn|Koestler was the only journalist on board. He describes the preparations and the voyage itself in detail in his autobiography.<ref>Koestler, Arthur. ''Arrow in the Blue'' 1952, pp. 275–300.</ref>|group=N}} This had already been a dream of Count von Zeppelin twenty years earlier, which could not be realized at the time due to the outbreak of war.

Eckener intended to follow the successful airship with another larger Zeppelin, designated LZ&nbsp;128. This was to be powered by eight engines, {{convert|761|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} in length, with a capacity of {{convert|7062100|ft3|m3|order=flip|abbr=on}}. However the loss of the British passenger airship [[R101]] on 5 October 1930 led the Zeppelin company to reconsider the safety of hydrogen-filled vessels, and the design was abandoned in favour of a new project, LZ&nbsp;129. This was intended to be filled with [[inert gas|inert]] [[helium]].<ref>Robinson 1973, p. 283</ref>

====''Hindenburg'', the end of an era====
{{Main|LZ 129 Hindenburg}}
[[File:Hindenburg at lakehurst.jpg|thumbnail|left|The ''Hindenburg'': note swastikas on tail fins.]]
The coming to power of the [[Nazi Party]] in 1933 had important consequences for Zeppelin Luftschiffbau. Zeppelins became a propaganda tool for the new regime: they would now display the [[swastika#Use in Nazism|Nazi swastika]] on their fins and occasionally tour [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] to play march music and propaganda speeches to the people. In 1934 [[Joseph Goebbels]], the Minister of Propaganda, contributed two million reichsmarks towards the construction of LZ&nbsp;129, and in 1935 [[Hermann Göring]] established a new airline directed by [[Ernst Lehmann]], the ''[[Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei]]'', as a subsidiary of ''[[Lufthansa]]'' to take over Zeppelin operations. [[Hugo Eckener]], the father of the post-war Zeppelin renaissance, was an outspoken anti-Nazi: complaints about the use of Zeppelins for propaganda purposes in 1936 led Goebbels to declare "Dr.&nbsp;Eckener has placed himself outside the pale of society. Henceforth his name is not to be mentioned in the newspapers and his photograph is not to be published".<ref>Robinson 1973, p.&nbsp;282</ref>

On 4&nbsp;March 1936 [[LZ 129 Hindenburg|LZ 129 ''Hindenburg'']] (named after former [[President of Germany]], [[Paul von Hindenburg]]) made its first flight. The ''Hindenburg'' was the largest airship ever built. It had been designed to use non-flammable helium, but the only supplies of the rare gas were controlled by the United States, which refused to allow its export.<ref>Robinson 1973, p.&nbsp;285</ref> The fatal decision was made to fill the ''Hindenburg'' with flammable [[hydrogen]]. Apart from propaganda flights, ''LZ&nbsp;129'' was used on the transatlantic service alongside ''Graf Zeppelin''.
[[File:Hindenburg burning.jpg|thumb|The ''Hindenburg'' on fire in 1937]]
On 6&nbsp;May 1937, while landing in [[Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst|Lakehurst]] after a transatlantic flight, the tail of the ship caught fire, and within seconds, the ''Hindenburg'' burst into flames, killing 35 of the 97&nbsp;people on board and one&nbsp;member of the ground crew. The cause of the fire was never definitively determined. The investigation into the accident concluded that [[static electricity]] had ignited hydrogen which had leaked from the gasbags, although there were allegations of [[sabotage]]. 13&nbsp;passengers and 22&nbsp;crew, including Ernst Lehmann, were killed.<ref>Robinson 1973, pp&nbsp;291-294.</ref>

Despite the obvious danger, there remained a list of 400&nbsp;people who still wanted to fly as Zeppelin passengers and had paid for the trip. Their money was refunded in 1940.

''Graf Zeppelin'' was retired one month after the ''Hindenburg'' wreck and turned into a museum.<ref>Robinson 1974, p.&nbsp;294</ref> A new intended flagship Zeppelin was completed in 1938 and, inflated with hydrogen, made some test flights (the first on 14&nbsp;September), but never carried passengers.<ref>Robinson 1974, p.&nbsp;295</ref> Another project, ''LZ&nbsp;131'', designed to be even larger than ''Hindenburg'' and ''[[Graf Zeppelin&nbsp;II]]'', never progressed beyond the production of a few ring frames.

''Graf Zeppelin&nbsp;II'' was assigned to the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' and made about 30 test flights prior to the beginning of World War II. Most of those flights were carried out near the [[Second Polish Republic|Polish]] border, first in the [[Sudeten mountains]] region of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]], then in the Baltic Sea region. During one such flight ''LZ&nbsp;130'' crossed the Polish border near the [[Hel Peninsula]], where it was intercepted by a Polish [[Lublin R-XIII]] aircraft from [[Puck, Poland|Puck]] naval airbase and forced to leave Polish airspace.{{Citation needed|date=July 2017}} During this time, ''LZ&nbsp;130'' was used for electronic scouting missions, and was equipped with various measuring equipment. In August 1939, it made a flight near the coastline of Great Britain in an attempt to determine whether the 100&nbsp;metre towers erected from [[Portsmouth]] to [[Scapa Flow]] were used for aircraft radio location.<ref>Robinson 1973, p.&nbsp;295</ref> Photography, radio wave interception, magnetic and radio frequency analysis were unable to detect operational British [[Chain Home]] [[radar]] due to searching in the wrong frequency range. The frequencies searched were too high, an assumption based on the Germans' own radar systems. The mistaken conclusion was that the British towers were not connected with radar operations, but were for naval radio communications.

After the beginning of the Second World War on 1&nbsp;September, the ''Luftwaffe'' ordered LZ&nbsp;127 and ''LZ&nbsp;130'' moved to a large Zeppelin hangar in Frankfurt, where the skeleton of LZ&nbsp;131 was also located. In March 1940 Göring ordered the scrapping of the remaining airships, and on 6&nbsp;May the Frankfurt hangars were demolished.<ref>Robinson 1973, p.&nbsp;296.</ref>