Airships in International Affairs, 1890–1940 Also by John Duggan

LZ 130 GRAF AND THE END OF COMMERCIAL TRAVEL (with Manfred Bauer) COMMERCIAL ZEPPELIN FLIGHTS TO (with Jim Graue) ZEPPELINPOST LZ 130 (with Gisela Woodward) GRAF ZEPPELIN FLIGHTS TO ENGLAND GRAF ZEPPELIN FLIGHTS TO THE BALKANS GRAF ZEPPELIN POLAR POST (with Gisela Woodward)

Also by Henry Cord Meyer

COUNT ZEPPELIN: A Psychological Portrait AIRSHIPMEN, BUSINESSMEN AND POLITICS, 1890–1940 THE LONG GENERATION: from Empire to Ruin, 1913–1946 FIVE IMAGES OF GERMANY: Half a Century of American Views on German History MITTELEUROPA IN GERMAN THOUGHT AND ACTION, 1815–1945 in International Affairs, 1890–1940

John Duggan Management Consultant specializing in Oil Industry Economics and Henry Cord Meyer Research Professor Emeritus University of California Irvine © John Duggan and Henry Cord Meyer 2001 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2001 978-0-333-75128-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New , N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin’s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-1-349-41234-1 ISBN 978-1-4039-2009-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781403920096 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Duggan, John, 1932– Airships in international affairs, 1890–1940 / John Duggan, Henry Cord Meyer. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Airships—History. 2. International relations. 3. Airships– –Political aspects. I. Meyer, Henry Cord, 1913– II. Title. TL651 .D74 2001 629.133’24’0943—dc21 2001021885

10987654321 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 Remembering these earlier analysts of airship wonder

Hugo Eckener Guy Hartcup Hans G. Knäusel Sir Peter G. Masefield Douglas H. Robinson Richard K. Smith

We are borne on their shoulders

Contents

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgements x The Airships xiii Airship Personalities xvi Introduction: Technology and the Human Psyche 1 1 Imperial German Precedents, 1890–1918 19

2 in International Politics, 1919–21 51 3 Zeppelin Reborn in America, 1922–24 81 4 Airships in International Political Competition, 1924–28 104 5 International Airship Hubris and Adversity, 1928–30 141 6 A Buffeting for German and American Airships, 1931–35 177 7 Airship Wonder Captured by Nazi Ideology, 1935–40 210 Conclusion 226 Notes 241 Suggested Further Reading 265 Index 269

List of Illustrations*

1 Departure of the Bodensee from Munich, bound for Berlin, 1919 (Deutsche )55 2 The wreckage of the US Navy’s Shenandoah, 3 September 1935 114 3 Los Angeles over the Statue of Liberty, New York, 1925 117 4 The Italia landing at Seddin, near Stolp in Pomerania, on 16 April 1928, after cruising over Austria and Silesia en route to Sweden and the north 120 5 Dr Ludwig Dürr, Reichspresident von Hindenburg and Dr , Berlin, 1928 145 6 German election poster, 1924 151 7 at St Hubert, Montreal, August 1930. Canadian National Railways (Barry Countryman) 168 8 The two patriarchs of , prior to a flight to the Midlands: Lt Col. V. C. Richmond, Assistant Director of Airship Development, and Lord Thomson, Secretary of State for Air. Both were lost in the disaster (Joe Binks, G. Chamberlain Archives) 172 9 ‘Who comes after Hindenburg? – Hitler or Eckener?’ German press speculation, 1933 182 10 1931 Russian poster advocating an Airship Building Programme (Clive Foss) 184 11 US Navy recruiting poster 1931 – not an aircraft carrier in sight! 189 12 Funds for the Zeppelin cause. Zeppelin postcard sales, hangar 203 13 The Graf Zeppelin flies over the Hindenburg at the commencement of the Plebiscite Flight, 26–29 March 1936 212 14 The Hindenburg over Berlin during the 1936 Olympic Games 214

* Where no credit is given, the illustration is in the private collection of one of the authors.

ix Acknowledgements

After a generation of research and consultation it is a pleasure to express our appreciation for all the enlightenment and assistance we have received from nearly a hundred institutions and individuals scat- tered over four continents that were touched by the wonder of airship promise and operations. On various occasions our research has taken us over much of the , within Britain and Germany, and to Australia and Brazil. In our endeavors we have enjoyed friendly recep- tion, generous hospitality and liberal cooperation. For all these gifts and aid we are deeply grateful. Since historians usually turn first of all to documentation, let us begin by listing these basic institutions to which we are indebted, together with particularly helpful individuals: the archives of the Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen (Dr Wolfgang Meighörner and Barbara Waibel); the National Archives, Washington, DC; the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC (Ms Catherine D. Scott); the Public Record Office, London, Chancery Lane and Kew; the Bundesarchiv, Koblenz (Drs Vogel and Montfort); the Political Archives, German Foreign Ministry, Bonn (Drs Weinandy and Keipert). Equally significant are the archives of several business firms: the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Akron, OH (Mmes Marjory Garman, Cecile R. Norman, and Mary E. Maley); further documentation of the Goodyear-Zeppelin era deposited with the archives of the University of Akron (Dr John V. Miller); personal and business archives of Johann Schütte, Stadtmuseum and Stadtarchiv, Oldenburg (Drs J. Friedrich Jahn and Dorothea Halland); HAPAG-LLOYD archives, Hamburg (Rolf Fink); and Lufthansa archives, Cologne (Dr Werner E. Bittner). Personal archives and collections of papers constitute the next stratum of documentation: Papers of Garland Fulton, Naval Historical Foundation, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC (H. A. Vadnais, Jr); Scott E. Peck Papers, Chula Vista, CA; Douglas H. Robinson Collection, Pennington, NJ; Hallett Everett Cole Airship Collection, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR; Papers of F. W. (Willy) von Meister, Peapack, NJ; Papers, the Science Library, London; Eckener Papers with Mrs Lotte Simon-Eckener, Konstanz; Dr Uwe Eckener Archives, Konstanz; Captain Hans von Schiller Archives, Tübingen (Mrs Elisabeth Pletsch); Friedrichshafen Rathaus Archives

x Acknowledgements xi

(Messrs Scharpf and Buhl); Airship History Collection of Max Schorn, Friedrichshafen; and the two very important private airship history archives of the late Alfred F. Weber, Karlsruhe, and Werner Strumann, Münster/Westfalen. We have enjoyed the resources and services of the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the British Museum, the Royal Aeronautical Society (A. W. L. Naylor), the Imperial War Museum, the Deutsches Museum (Munich) and the Hoover Institution (Stanford University, CA). Without the interviews that Meyer was privileged to have with a number of the survivors of the airship era between 1972 and 1985, significant data and insights would not have been available for poster- ity. He is particularly indebted to Captain Garland Fulton, USN; Vice- Admiral Charles E. Rosendahl, USN; Vice-Admiral Thomas (Tex) G. W. Settle, USN; Rear-Admiral Scott E. Peck, USN; F. W. (Willy) von Meister; Thomas A. Knowles (); George H. Lewis (Goodyear-Zeppelin); Captain Clarence (Dutch) Schildhauer (DO-X & PanAm); Lord Kings-Norton; Sir Barnes Wallis; Captain George F. Meager; Crispin Rope; Mrs Lotte Simon-Eckener; Captain Heinrich Bauer; Captain Albert Sammt; Captain Hans von Schiller; Erich Hilligardt; German Zettel; and Klaus F. Pruss. Duggan expresses appreciation to Manfred Bauer; E. Bowen; R. H. A. Carter; Sir Edward Fennesy; Oskar Fink; Cheryl Ganz; Jenny Hammerton; Admiral C. B. Higgins, RN; Georg Holl; Sidney Jefferson; R. V. Jones; Aleyn R. Jordan; Thomas Kass; Peter Kleinheins; Lis Koetter; Erwin Kube; Colin Latham; Jean-Pierre Lauwers; Manfred Lösemann; John Mellberg; Mildred Moering; J. Neil; Heinz Oberdrevemann; Peter Rickenback; Larry Sall; Heike Vogel; Barbara Waibel; and Nick Walmsley. We both wish to acknowledge how greatly indebted we are to our copy editor Anne Rafique for her dedication in reviewing and enhancing the text of this book. Finally, we should like to say how much we appreciate the interest and guidance of our commissioning editor Luciana O’Flaherty at Palgrave. For further data we are indebted to Peter W. Brooks; Geoffrey A. Chamberlain; Barry Countryman; Prof. Clive Foss; Stephen V. Gallup; Hans G. Knäusel; Sir Peter G. Masefield; John Provan; Werner Rau; Douglas H. Robinson; K. H. Royter; Richard K. Smith; Heinz Steude; Rolf Striedacher; Prof. William F. Trimble; A. D. Topping; and officers of the Lighter-than-Air Society (Akron, OH); and Heinz M. Wronsky. Each of the following individuals has made special contributions to our work over the years: Guy Hartcup; Prof. Robin Higham; Rolf xii Acknowledgements

Italiaander; Prof. J. E. Morpurgo; Werner Strumann; Gordon Vaeth; Lord Ventry; and Hepburn Walker, Jr. We are especially indebted to the staffs of the Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen and of the Interlibrary Loan section of the Library at the University of California at Irvine, CA. Other valuable assistance has come to us in manuscript preparation from the courtesies of Prof. Maria C. Pantella and Ms Beth E. Shanor of the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae at UCI. And we greatly appreciate the painstaking care of our computer text processor, Dr John Miller.

Further, Meyer expresses thanks to the Research-Travel Committee, School of Humanities, University of California at Irvine for various periodic grants of financial assistance over the years for travel to foreign research and consultation sites and for textual preparation of this book. And finally, we both wish to acknowledge how much our work has benefited from the support, advice and meticulous textual scrutiny of Mrs Gisela Woodward. All these institutions and individuals have given us their generous assistance; any textual errors that may persist are our own responsibility.

J. D. & H. C. M. The Airships

Germany

Gross-Bassenach Semi-rigids, built by the Prussian Airship Battalion Parseval Non-rigids. Army use Schütte-Lanz Rigids SL1 German Army SL2 German Army

Zeppelin (Works Numbers) LZ1 The first Zeppelin. First ascent 02.07.1900 LZ2 First flight 1905. Forced landing on second flight – dismantled LZ3 First flight 1906. Purchased by German Army in 1908 as ZI LZ4 Burned at Echterdingen 05.08.1908 LZ5 Purchased by German Army as ZII LZ6 Operated by DELAG LZ10 DELAG ship Schwaben LZ11 DELAG ship Viktoria Luise LZ12 German Army ZIII LZ13 DELAG ship Hansa LZ14 Naval L1. Lost in storm over Heligoland 09.09.1913 – 14 dead LZ15 German Army Ersatz ZI LZ16 German Army ZIV. Emergency landing at Lunéville, in 1913 LZ17 DELAG ship Sachsen LZ18 Naval L2. Burned in air at Johannisthal 10.07.1913 – 28 dead LZ76 Naval L33. Forced down over England – model for Britain’s R33 and R34 LZ96 Naval L49. Forced landing in France 20.10.1917 LZ104 Naval L59. Flight to Africa covering 4200 miles in 95 hours (1917) LZ113 Surrendered to . Dismantled in 1923 LZ114 Naval L72, surrendered to France in 1920 as – crashed 1923

xiii xiv The Airships

LZ120 Bodensee surrendered to Italy as Esperia. Dismantled 1928 LZ121 Nordstern surrendered to France as Méditerranée. Dismantled 1926 LZ125 Not built. Negotiations with US Army’s Colonel Hensley, 1919–20 LZ126 Transferred to US where it became ZR3, later named Los Angeles LZ127 Graf Zeppelin (1928–40). Round-the-World Flight 1929 LZ128 Not built. Designed as a ship, but development aborted as a result of the R101 hydrogen fire LZ129 Hindenburg (1936–7). First North American service LZ130 Graf Zeppelin II (1938–40). Used for radio and radar espionage

Great Britain

No. 23 No. 32 Wooden-framed. Demonstration flight (with R33) over Amsterdam 1919 R33 Epic flight over the North Sea (1925), after breaking away from a R34 Built by William Beardmore & Co. Ltd and based on the design of the captured German LZ33. First airship to cross the Atlantic in both directions (1919) R38 Became US airship ZR2. Broke up in the air during trials over Hull (1921) Built by Vickers (1920–1). Used only as a trial ship. Designed by Barnes Wallis R100 Built by Vickers. Flew to Canada and back (1930). Designed by Barnes Wallis R101 Built at HM Airship Works. Crashed in France on way to India (1930)

Italy

N1 Sold to Norway, as Norge. First airship to fly over the North Pole N4 Italia. Crashed in the Arctic (1928) The Airships xv

United States

Roma Army non-, purchased by US Army from Italy (1921–2) ZR1 Shenandoah (1923–5). Copy of the German LZ49 – Naval L49). Crashed 1925 ZR2 Built as British R38. Purchased by US. Crashed during trials over Hull 1921 ZR3 Built as German LZ126: to US as war ‘reparations’ ship. Named Los Angeles ZRS4 Akron. Built by Goodyear as a US Navy ‘Scout’. Crashed 1933 – 73 dead ZRS5 Macon. Built by Goodyear as a US Navy ‘Scout’. Crashed 1935 – 81 survivors Airship Personalities

France

Commander Jean du Plessis Major advocate of naval airships. Captain de Grenédan of the Dixmude

Germany

Nikolaus Bassenach Engineer. Responsible for development of the Gross-Bassenach semi rigid ‘M’ ships used by German army Dr Carl Berg Industrialist, manufacturer and supplier of aluminium Captain Walter Bruns First World War Zeppelin commander. Leading member of Aeroarctic Alfred Colsman Managing Director of the GmbH, responsible for the successful business development of the Zeppelin companies Dr Ludwig Dürr Chief Designer, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH Theodor Kober Designer, pioneer zeppelins Dr Hugo Eckener Airship captain, Chairman of the Luft- schiffbau Zeppelin and DZR Major Hans Gross Head of Prussian Airship Battalion. Devel- oped Gross-Bassenach semi-rigid ‘M’ ships used by the German army Ernst A. Lehmann Zeppelin captain. DZR Director. Zeppelin experience since 1916 Major August von Parseval Designer of the Parseval non-rigids, used by the army and exported to Austria, Great Britain, Japan and Russia Dr Johann Schütte Developer of the Schütte-Lanz rigid air- ships bought by German Army and Navy David Schwarz Builder of the first aluminium airship and first rigid to ascend (1897)

xvi Airship Personalities xvii

Captain Hans Bartsch Developer of observation balloons for von Sigsfeld German army Karl Wölfert Built pioneer airship Deutschland (crashed 1896) Count Ferdinand Inventor and developer of the rigid von Zeppelin zeppelin airships

Great Britain

Commander Dennistoun Advocate of Imperial Airship Service Burney Sir Sefton Brancker Director of Civil Aviation Permanent Secretary to Secretary of State for Air Constructor-Commander Manager, Royal Airship Works. Chief Charles I. R. Campbell Designer, R38 Wing Commander R. B. . Director of Airship Colmore Development Harold Roxbee Cox Chief Calculator, R101 Air Vice Marshall Hugh Royal Air Force. Air Member for Supply & Dowding Research Commodore E. M. Maitland Director of Airships Group Captain P. F. N. Director of Airship Development Fellows Brigadier E. A. D. Pre-First World War airship captain. Head Masterman of Inter-Allied Control Commission Flight Lieutenant Officer i/c R38 Trials. Air Ministry instru- J. E. M. Pritchard mentation expert Squadron Leader Designer. Innovative work on R101 Michael Rope Major G. Herbert Scott Captain of the R34 on its transatlantic flight in 1919 and of the R100 on her flight to Canada in 1930. Assistant Director of Airship Development – Flying and Training Lieutenant Colonel Assistant Director of Airship Development Vincent C. Richmond – Technical. Chief Designer of the R101 Lord Thomson of Secretary of State for Air Cardington General Sir Hugh Trenchard Founder of the Royal Air Force xviii Airship Personalities

Barnes Wallis Engineer and inventor. Airship design for Vickers, including responsibility for R80 and R100

Italy

General Umberto Nobile Airship designer. Captain of the Norge and Italia. Moved to the USSR to help develop airships

United States

Dr Karl Arnstein Chief Designer in Friedrichshafen. Trans- ferred to Goodyear and responsible for the design and helped build the Akron and Macon. Prepared designs for Goodyear commercial airships Major Harold Geiger US Army representative at Friedrichshafen Colonel William US Army. Negotiated to buy the LZ125 M. Hensley Dr Jerome C. Hunsaker US Navy. Vice-president Goodyear- Zeppelin and responsible for commercial airship development Rear Admiral Ernest J. King US Navy. Advocate of carrier-borne avia- tion. Succeeded Moffett as Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics in 1933 Lieutenant Commander US Navy. Captain of the Shenandoah. Died Zachary Lansdowne in crash Paul W. Litchfield Chairman, Goodyear-Zeppelin. CEO, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. W. F. (Willy) von Meister Luftschiffbau representative in USA. DZR Vice-President 1936–7 Brigadier General Commander of US Army Flying Corps in William Mitchell France in First World War. Determined advocate of US Army aeronautical devel- opment and foe of naval airships Admiral William A. Moffett US Navy. Head of Naval Bureau of Aeronautics. Died in Akron crash 1933 Commander Charles US Navy. Captain of Los Angeles. Lakehurst E. Rosendahl commander, 1937 Airship Personalities xix

Harry Vissering Businessman and engineer. ‘Godfather’ to Goodyear-Zeppelin and director of the company Commander Ralph Designer and builder of the US Navy’s D. Weyerbacher ZR1 Shenandoah