Editing Zeppelin (section)

====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.