Bridgewater Review Volume 32 | Issue 1 Article 4 May-2013 Deutsche Luftshiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft: Rediscovering the World’s First Airline Michael Sloan Bridgewater State University, [email protected] Recommended Citation Sloan, Michael (2013). Deutsche Luftshiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft: Rediscovering the World’s First Airline. Bridgewater Review, 32(1), 4-7. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol32/iss1/4 This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Industrie’s double-decker A-380 passengers. William Randolph Hearst and gondola windows that opened as Deutsche Luftshiffahrts- in Lufthansa livery; and Zeppelin’s chartered it for the globe-straddling the Zeppelin spanned continents and LZ-129, the Hindenburg. 1929 flight, eastbound from New Jersey oceans at a pace of 80 miles an hour. Aktiengesellschaft: to New Jersey, so the flight could begin Onboard comfort and stylishness are These models of a ship, two airplanes, and end on American soil. readily evident. Above the lounge deck, and an airship reveal the enormous size Rediscovering the World’s visitors see a grouping of passenger of the Hindenburg, which was taller than Climb Aboard cabins that look very much like those and almost as long as the Queen Mary First Airline Museum visitors travel deeper into the on cruise ships and long-distance trains (making them both about the size of past and glimpse life aboard a Zeppelin in the twenty-first century. Back in the RMS Titanic). To put this in context, Michael Sloan dirigible (experienced by a total of only 1930s, a new sense of professional class when the Hindenburg flew by, it would 43,000 passengers). Complimentary marked the officers of these impressive n the eastern shore of the Bodensee, in the have been like the entire US Capitol sets of baggage tags and tickets are skycrafts. Not for them the dare-devil building floating 1,000 feet overhead. picturesque German town of Friedrichshafen, available–authentic reproductions of reputation that leather helmeted and Near the top of the display case, the Zeppelin Museum from the Bodensee, Friedrich- those issued by the Deutsche Zeppelin- begoggled barnstorming pilots earned there is a time portal–a window onto the A-380 hovers mosquito-like above the O shafen, Germany (Courtesy of Zeppelin Museum). Reederei, GmbH (German Zeppelin and flaunted; captains of the sky like history of science and technology and onto a society Zeppelin behemoth. the depot; and a ferry from Switzerland Transportation Company, Inc.). Then Eckener, Max Pruss, Albert Sammt, The aviation pioneers whose contribu- that existed more than a century ago. Viewed through docks just steps away from the depot. they climb the gangway into a 1:1 Ernst Lehmann, were clad in crisp, tions made the dirigibles possible must this portal–one that extends in its unlikely origin, Appropriately, it’s housed in the former model of a small part of the Hindenburg. dark uniforms emblazoned with gold have had massive ideas for the possi- stripes upon the sleeves. Both officers factory headquarters of the Zeppelin Visitors stroll through the art-deco pas- back to the American Civil War–visitors can witness bilities of modern air travel. Among and crew modeled a new, respectable Company, with the refurbished exte- senger lounge and dining areas, authen- them, of course, was visionary inven- formality that drew its culture from the creation and development of an idea that altered rior restored to a 1930s Bauhaus style, tically furnished with table settings, tor and persistent industrialist von passenger ocean vessels. Photographs reflecting a time when the company wall coverings, upholstered chairs, existing notions of time, space and travel. This portal Zeppelin, who created the groundwork was at the zenith of its success. of the dirigibles’ officers and crew at is called the Zeppelin Museum, named to honor the for ridged airships and established man who created the world’s first airline. Through the Portal the blueprint for the German Airship Travel Corporation, the world’s first The first piece of evidence that visi- airline. Also profiled at the Museum Frederick Adolf Heinrich August von ride became a defining moment in his tors have stepped through a time portal is Wilhelm Maybach whose technical Zeppelin (better known simply as life and it inspired his own creation. inside the museum’s revolving glass expertise–which helped him to develop Frederick Graf [Count] von Zeppelin) Within a few years, von Zeppelin had doors is the sight of a Zeppelin Saloon the engines for the Zeppelins–was first experienced lighter-than-air flight sketched out plans for a ridged-framed Car. The car gleams, light reflecting gained as co-worker with German in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was visiting airship, an improvement of the flexible, from its elegant, classic lines; a vin- automotive pioneer Gottlieb Daimler. the United States in 1863 as an official formless balloon he rode in. As a result, tage stylishness that reveals it is clearly Claude Dornier–who built the largest, military observer with the Union Army lighter-than-air flight fragmented into not of the twenty-first century. The most powerful flying boats of his day, during the Civil War. That balloon two distinct groupings: hard-structured Zeppelin Car was built by Maybach and whose name is still linked to air- dirigibles and soft-skinned blimps. Manufacturing, originally a wholly craft flying in the twenty-first century– A trip to the Museum provides visi- owned subsidiary of the Zeppelin became Count von Zeppelin’s scientific tors with a pathway through all that Company. Maybach was tasked with advisor in 1910. Dornier researched and history, from the beginnings of an the creation of various propulsion perfected lightweight metal alloys for idea that pioneered intercontinental systems for the dirigibles manufactured dirigibles. Dr. Hugo Eckener, aeronau- air travel through the creation of the here. The Maybach Company is now tical engineer and exceptional pilot, largest aircraft ever to fly, ultimately owned by Daimler-Benz, which has was von Zeppelin’s “heir apparent,” and leading “back to the future.” Today, announced that 2013 will bring an end flew the dirigible Graf Zeppelin on its The Hindenburg airship makes its first test flight from the Zeppelin dockyards at Friedrichshafen, dirigibles still evoke in us curiosity and to this venerable brand of automobiles. historic around-the-world flight in the Germany, on March 4, 1936. (Photograph by Archive Photos). excitement. Half a million dollars for a single car, summer of 1929. apparently, is too high a price. Access to Friedrichshafen to take this Graf Zeppelin was the most successful time-traveler’s journey is simple, as The wall in front of the Zeppelin dirigible in history. It flew more than When the Hindenburg flew by, it the museum is situated at a modern Car features a huge display case one million miles, visiting the U.S., transportation hub. The Deutsche Bahn showing scale models of famous South America, the Middle East, Japan, would have been like the entire (German Rail) harbor rail station is transportation icons: the oceanliner and the Arctic. It safely completed 590 across the street; an inter-city bus depot RMS Queen Mary I; Boeing’s four- US Capitol building floating flights, including 144 ocean crossings, Museum’s main gallery showing Zeppelin Saloon is next to that station; a multi-story motor Flying Boat in Pan Am livery; Car and, at upper left, exterior windows of the 1:1 and carried a total of more than 13,110 Hindenburg model (Photo by the author) parking garage stands at the far end of the largest passenger airplane, Airbus 1,000 feet overhead. 4 Bridgewater Review May 2013 5 Industrie’s double-decker A-380 passengers. William Randolph Hearst and gondola windows that opened as Deutsche Luftshiffahrts- in Lufthansa livery; and Zeppelin’s chartered it for the globe-straddling the Zeppelin spanned continents and LZ-129, the Hindenburg. 1929 flight, eastbound from New Jersey oceans at a pace of 80 miles an hour. Aktiengesellschaft: to New Jersey, so the flight could begin Onboard comfort and stylishness are These models of a ship, two airplanes, and end on American soil. readily evident. Above the lounge deck, and an airship reveal the enormous size Rediscovering the World’s visitors see a grouping of passenger of the Hindenburg, which was taller than Climb Aboard cabins that look very much like those and almost as long as the Queen Mary First Airline Museum visitors travel deeper into the on cruise ships and long-distance trains (making them both about the size of past and glimpse life aboard a Zeppelin in the twenty-first century. Back in the RMS Titanic). To put this in context, Michael Sloan dirigible (experienced by a total of only 1930s, a new sense of professional class when the Hindenburg flew by, it would 43,000 passengers). Complimentary marked the officers of these impressive n the eastern shore of the Bodensee, in the have been like the entire US Capitol sets of baggage tags and tickets are skycrafts. Not for them the dare-devil building floating 1,000 feet overhead. picturesque German town of Friedrichshafen, available–authentic reproductions of reputation that leather helmeted and Near the top of the display case, the Zeppelin Museum from the Bodensee, Friedrich- those issued by the Deutsche Zeppelin- begoggled barnstorming pilots earned there is a time portal–a window onto the A-380 hovers mosquito-like above the O shafen, Germany (Courtesy of Zeppelin Museum). Reederei, GmbH (German Zeppelin and flaunted; captains of the sky like history of science and technology and onto a society Zeppelin behemoth. the depot; and a ferry from Switzerland Transportation Company, Inc.).