11. Meyer, “France Perceives the Zeppelins, 1924–1937,” pp. 172–73.
12. “Reich Nationalists Ask a Referendum on Ending Republic,” The New York Times, September 25, 1928.
13. De Syon, Zeppelin!, pp. 128–31.
14. Litchfield, “Lighter-Than-Air Craft,” Annals of the American Academy, p. 81, citing these invented numbers based on Lehmann’s estimates.
15. De Syon, Zeppelin!, pp. 142–43.
16. “Airship Publicity Urged by Eckener,” The New York Times, October 21, 1928; “Eckener Proposes a 5-Airship Line,” The New York Times, October 13, 1928.
17. Obituary of Rosendahl, The New York Times, May 15, 1977.
18. Robinson, Giants in the Sky, p. 220; Robinson and Keller, “Up Ship!” p. 178.
19. Topping, When Giants Roamed the Sky, pp. 142–44. See also “Uncle Sam’s 9-Acre Wonder Hangar on Wheels,” Literary Digest, January 4, 1930, pp. 50–51, 54–55; W. P. MacCracken, Jr., and W. B. Courtney, “Shrinking the Seas,” Collier’s, May 10, 1930, p. 70.
20. On Arnstein and Hughes, see Topping, When Giants Roamed the Sky, p. 137.
36. Survival of the Fittest
1. For this sweet story, see “Awaits Fiancé on Zeppelin,” The New York Times, October 13, 1928. For the captain’s descriptions, see C. M. Hiam, Dirigible Dreams: The Age of the Airship (Lebanon, N.H.: ForeEdge, 2014), p. 208.
2. Another was Robert Reiner, an importer of sewing equipment and old friend of Eckener’s. He had booked his fare, not caring what it cost, years earlier. “Zeppelin Soars over Mediterranean,” The New York Times, October 12, 1928.
3. “Zeppelin Soars over Mediterranean,” The New York Times, October 12, 1928; C. E. Rosendahl, “Inside the Zeppelin,” Scientific American, March 1929, p. 204; Hiam, Dirigible Dreams, p. 206. On Drummond-Hay’s changes of clothing, confidentiality agreements, and the canary, see “Story of the Flight of the Big Dirigible,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
4. “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” Literary Digest, November 3, 1928, pp. 37–38, 43.
5. “Zeppelin Travelers Insure for Millions,” The New York Times, October 8, 1928.
6. “11½ Hour Trip Set a Duration Record,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928; “Rosendahl Tells of Zeppelin Voyage,” The New York Times, October 18, 1928; Anon., “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” Literary Digest, November 3, 1928, pp. 37–38; Hiam, Dirigible Dreams, p. 209.
7. Lehmann, Zeppelin, p. 245; “Eckener’s Own Son Risks Life for Ship,” October 14; “Story of the Flight of the Big Dirigible,” October 16; “Dr. Eckener Lauds Courage of Crew,” October 16; “Rosendahl Tells of Zeppelin Voyage,” October 18, 1928, The New York Times; “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” pp. 37–38.
8. “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” p. 43; “Zeppelin to Tour Cities of America,” The New York Times, September 25, 1928; Hiam, Dirigible Dreams, p. 210. On the food, see “Zeppelin Travelers Insure for Millions,” The New York Times, October 8, 1928; for the menu card, see Vaeth, “Zeppelin Decor,” p. 52.
9. “Story of the Flight of the Big Dirigible,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
10. “Coolidges Thrilled by Zeppelin’s Visit,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
11. “Airship Hypnotizes City Gazing Upward,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
12. “Airship Undergoes Customs Inspection,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
13. “Dr. Eckener Lauds Courage of Crew,” October 16, “Passengers Happy to Be on Land Again,” October 16, “Germans Hear Police Offended Fliers Here,” October 17, “Questions Jersey Police,” October 18, 1928, The New York Times; “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” Literary Digest, November 3, 1928, pp. 44, 48; “A Million Miles in a Zeppelin,” p. 74, Schiller Papers.
14. “20,000 View Zeppelin in Lakehurst Hangar,” October 18; “150,000 Sightseers See Zeppelin in Day,” October 21; “Odd Doings Amuse Visitors at Hangar,” October 16, 1928, The New York Times.
15. “250 Reporters Held Lakehurst Sector,” The New York Times, October 17, 1928.
16. “Germany Rejoices in Airship Victory,” The New York Times, October 16, 1928.
17. Schiller, “A Million Miles in a Zeppelin,” p. 75, Schiller Papers. “Dr. Eckener to Push Ocean Airship Line,” October 18, “Throng Acclaims Guests,” October 17, “Chicago Welcomes Zeppelin Party,” October 22, 1928, The New York Times.
18. “City Hails Zeppelin Fliers in Parade Up Broadway,” The New York Times, October 17, 1928.
19. “Lehmann Describes the Graf Zeppelin,” The New York Times, October 13, 1928; photo accompanying “Frauleins Bear Off Terhune in Triumph,” The New York Times, November 2, 1928.
20. “Braving Ocean Winds in the Graf Zeppelin,” Literary Digest, November 3, 1928, pp. 43–44; “Zeppelin Passenger Sails,” The New York Times, October 18, 1928.
21. On different opinions of the Graf Zeppelin’s flight, see newspaper summaries in “Germany’s ‘Merchantman of the Skies,’ ” Literary Digest, October 27, 1928, pp. 13–15. Though all financial estimates should be taken with a large spoonful of salt, see “Trip Much Shorter Than to America,” The New York Times, November 1, 1928; “Zeppelin Ends Test; Ready for Trip Here,” The New York Times, October 9, 1928.
22. A. R. Blessing, “Airships Versus Airplanes,” North American Review 226 (1928), no. 1, pp. 53–63; “The Graf Zeppelin’s Second Visit,” Literary Digest, August 17, 1929, p. 11; C. E. Rosendahl, “Lighter-Than-Air Machines,” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 67 (1928), no. 4, pp. 320–21.
23. On the conference, see “Germany Studies Zeppelin’s Flight,” The New York Times, October 21, 1928, and “Airplane Liners Shown at Berlin,” The New York Times, November 4, 1928. On Trippe’s presence, see Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, p. 183.
24. The exact flight time varies with the source. I’ve used Lehmann’s, given in Zeppelin, p. 252. See also “Zeppelin Starts Flight to Germany with 63 on Board,” October 29, “Bells, Bands, Guns Welcome Zeppelin,” November 2, “Trip Much Shorter Than to America,” November 1, “Germans Exultant at Zeppelin Return,” October 30, “Zeppelin Far Out to Sea, Racing 100 Miles an Hour with a Gale at Her Heels,” October 30, 1928, The New York Times.
25. “Disaster in Storm Menaced Zeppelin over Newfoundland,” The New York Times, November 2, 1928.
37. Around the World
1. “Zeppelin’s Start Likely on Thursday,” The New York Times, August 13, 1929.
2. On costs and income, see Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, pp. 67–69; on the Hearst conditions, pp. 70–71. Eckener’s claim that he earned a profit is debatable, as it’s possible he was disappointed at the revenue: In early August, he was forecasting income of $500,000, which he would have fallen short of, even with Hearst money behind him. “Zeppelin’s Cruise to Bring In $500,000 from Her Payload,” The New York Times, August 6, 1929. On Japanese rights, see “Life’s Ups and Downs on a Globe-Girdling Zep,” Literary Digest, September 14, 1929, p. 41.
3. “Zeppelin Home in 55½ Hrs., Hailed by Joyous Crowds; Off to Tokyo Wednesday,” August 11, “Animals on Graf Zeppelin,” August 2, “Thieves Steal Safe as Zeppelin Sails,” August 9, “Zeppelin to Start World Trip Tonight as Weather Favors,” August 7, 1929, The New York Times.
4. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, pp. 71–72; “Eckener Marks Birthday in Air,” August 11; “Dr. Eckener Tells of Battling Winds,” August 5, 1929, The New York Times.
5. D. Botting, Dr. Eckener’s Dream Machine: The Great Zeppelin and the Dawn of Air Travel (New York: Owl Books, 2001), p. 151.
6. For these paragraphs, see A. M. Nekrich (trans. G. L. Freeze), Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German-Soviet Relations, 1922–1941 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997), pp. 39–40, 50–61; R. H. H
aigh, D. S. Morris, and A. R. Peters, German-Soviet Relations in the Weimar Era: Friendship from Necessity (Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble, 1985), pp. 131–36; C. Foss, “Russia’s Romance with the Airship,” History Today, December 1997, pp. 10–16; M. Kulikowski, “Fantasy Flights: Technology, Politics, and the Soviet Airship Program, 1930–1938,” Icon 21 (2015), pp. 66–80; J. D. Cameron, “To Transform the Revolution into an Evolution: Underlying Assumptions of German Foreign Policy Toward Soviet Russia, 1919–27,” Journal of Contemporary History 40 (2005), no. 1, pp. 7–24; J. McCannon, “Winged Prometheans: Arctic Aviation as Socialist Construction in Stalinist Russia, 1928–1939,” Comparative Issues in the History of Circumpolar Science and Technology 33 (2010), no. 2, pp. 75–97; R. P. Morgan, “The Political Significance of German-Soviet Trade Negotiations, 1922–5,” Historical Journal 6 (1963), no. 2, pp. 253–71; H. L. Dyck, “German-Soviet Relations and the Anglo-Soviet Break, 1927,” Slavic Review 25 (1966), no. 1, pp. 67–83. On Moscow’s official interest in airship development, see also letter to Eckener, “About Airship Building and About Aerial Trips on Airships of the Zeppelin Type over Russia and Siberia,” [September] 1930, and “Draft Resolution of Politburo…on Airship Building,” December 12, 1930, printed in Y. Dyakov and T. Bushuyeva, The Red Army and the Wehrmacht: How the Soviets Militarized Germany, 1922–33 (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1994), pp. 97–99.
A fine example of warped Soviet thinking was provided by a high-level discussion as to whether the infallible Lenin, the Bolshevik pope, would have backed an airship program. Stalin argued that Lenin had not alluded to the matter and thus there was no ideological justification for airships; the money would be better spent on airplanes.
But airship advocates eked out a minor victory when one of Lenin’s old cronies, Fyodor Ilin, recollected that in 1914 the exile had seen a DELAG airship and said, “One day we will have those too.” That was as good as Scripture, then, and it meant that airships had to be built by hook or by crook, but Stalin struck back by downplaying the revelation in Pravda, the state newspaper. In the USSR, the hierarchy of news was reflected in the location of articles. Major Party decisions always appeared on page one, with other news following in a strictly regulated order of importance. Revealingly, Ilin’s recollection was printed at the very bottom of page 4, the last page. (Ilin later fatally defenestrated himself under mysterious circumstances.) I’m indebted to Professor Stephen Kotkin, Princeton University, for information regarding Ilin.
7. “Zeppelin in Russia Skirts Bad Weather,” The New York Times, August 16, 1929; Eckener, My Zeppelins, p. 73; Botting, Dream Machine, p. 153.
8. M. Kozloff, “Why Graf Zeppelin Flew Around Moscow,” Pravda, August 22, 1929, quoted in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 255–59. See also “Reds Annoyed at Zeppelin,” The New York Times, August 23, 1929.
9. Botting, Dream Machine, p. 155.
10. “Graf Zeppelin Ends 21-Day World Trip; City’s Tribute Today,” The New York Times, August 30, 1929.
11. Eckener, My Zeppelins, pp. 82–83; Botting, Dream Machine, pp. 169–70.
12. H. Byas, “Thousands at Field All Night,” The New York Times, August 22, 1929; Botting, Dream Machine, pp. 172–74.
13. Memorandum, Department of Far Eastern Affairs, “Reception of Airship Graf Zeppelin in Japan Enroute from Friedrichshafen to Los Angeles,” August 27, 1929, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 21.
14. “Graf Zeppelin Reaches Pacific Coast; Passes San Francisco, Nearing Goal; Thousands Wait at Los Angeles Field,” The New York Times, August 26, 1929.
15. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, p. 87.
16. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, pp. 89–94; “Zeppelin in Texas on Lakehurst Trip; Dodges Storm Area,” The New York Times, August 28, 1929.
17. “Chicago Welcome Heard over Radio,” The New York Times, August 29, 1929; Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, p. 93.
18. H. Eckener, “The First Airship Flight Around the World,” National Geographic Magazine 57 (1930), no. 6 (June), pp. 653–88.
19. See “The Graf Zeppelin’s Second Visit,” Literary Digest, August 17, 1929, p. 11.
38. The Monster
1. “The Story of the Summer,” Literary Digest, September 14, 1929, p. 16.
2. “American Ovations Move Dr. Eckener,” August 30, “Zeppelin Air Line Reported in Prospect,” August 15, “Zeppelin Lawyer Coming for Parley,” August 21, 1929, The New York Times.
3. “Airships to Ply Between the Coast and Hawaii; New Company Plans 36-Hour Zeppelin Service,” October 23, “Agree on Program for Pacific Airway,” October 29, 1929, The New York Times; MacCracken, Jr., and Courtney, “Shrinking the Seas,” pp. 70–71; “Goodyear Plans Several Projects,” Aviation, November 16, 1929, p. 992. On Hunsaker’s interest in Zeppelins, see his article, “The Present Status of Airships in Europe,” Journal of the Franklin Institute 177 (1914), no. 6, pp. 597–639.
4. On Meister, see Meyer, “F. W. (Willy) von Meister,” pp. 194–98.
5. R. M. Cleveland, “The Truth About Aviation Stocks,” Scientific American, January 1930, pp. 30–31.
6. The most detailed analysis of IZT and PZT operations is R. Kalabash Wordsmith (pseud.), “Notes on the International Zeppelin Transport Co. and Pacific Zeppelin Transport Co.,” Buoyant Flight 39 (1992), no. 4, Part 1, pp. 2, 4–5, and Buoyant Flight 39 (1992), no. 5, Part 2, pp. 4–5, 8. See also “NY Groups Plan Airship Lines,” Aviation, October 26, 1929, p. 864; “Ocean Zeppelin Line Backed by Millions; Speeds Plans Here,” March 25, 1930, “Air Lines Merger Being Negotiated,” March 27, 1930, “Dirigible Service by 1934 Predicted,” January 31, 1931, The New York Times; “More Interests Back Trans-Atlantic Company,” Aviation, April 5, 1930, p. 734; J. C. Hunsaker, “The Day of the Dirigible,” North American Review 229 (1930), no. 4, pp. 434–35; “Zepping to Europe on Regular Schedule at Express Speed,” April 12, pp. 50, 52, “Germany Plans Bigger and Better Zeps,” July 19, p. 33, “American Fuel for German Dirigibles,” August 9, 1930, p. 27, Literary Digest. On South American immigration, see A. von Gleich, “Germany and Latin America,” RAND Corporation, Memorandum RM-5523-RC, June 1968, pp. 6–7, and Table 1, “German Overseas Migration, 1871–1957”; on Condor’s activities, see Josephson, Empire of the Air, pp. 81–84; “Scrambling for South America’s $8,000,000 Air Trade,” Literary Digest, May 2, 1931, p. 42. Schiller, in the Schiller Papers, confirms that Condor was to be the airships’ connection in South America. See Schiller, “A Million Miles in a Zeppelin,” p. 104. The McNary bill is covered in “Federal Bill Aids Ocean Zeppelins,” The New York Times, April 26, 1930. On the Empire State Building (non-)idea, see Litchfield’s suggestion in MacCracken and Courtney, “Shrinking the Seas,” p. 71; C. Gray, “Not Just a Perch for King Kong,” The New York Times, September 23, 2010; I. Clavan, “Empire State Building: The Mooring Mast,” Architectural Forum 54 (1931), February, pp. 229–34.
7. “Germany Expects Aviation Expansion,” The New York Times, January 2, 1930.
8. L. D. Lyman, “Bridging the Ocean by Super-Airships,” The New York Times, March 30, 1930.
9. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, pp. 97–98.
10. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, pp. 99–114. The storm story is told from the perspective of an anonymous “transatlantic traveller,” in “The Graf Zeppelin Weathers a Storm,” The Airship (1935), no. 6 (Summer), pp. 27–28. On Zeppelin plans, “Bankers Go by Train to See Dr. Eckener,” The New York Times, May 31, 1930.
39. Engage the Enemy More Closely
1. See “Predicts Big Role for New Airships,” The New York Times, December 8, 1929.
2. C. A. Lindbergh, “Lessons of the Graf Zeppelin’s Voyage,” The New York Times, October 21, 1928.
3. D. Cochrane, V. Hardesty, and R. Lee, The Aviation Careers of Igor Sikorsky (Washington, D.C.: National Air and Space Museum, 1989),
pp. 62–97; Daley, American Saga, p. 93; Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, pp. 183–85.
4. Davies, Pan Am, pp. 12–13.
5. Daley, American Saga, pp. 92–95; D. Beaty, The Water Jump: The Story of Transatlantic Flight (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 102; C. A. Lindbergh, Autobiography of Values (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978), pp. 110–12, 115–16; Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, pp. 182–86, 213; M. Holland, Architects of Aviation (New York: Duell, Sloan, & Pearce, 1951), p. 188. On Priester’s adherence to the strictest standards, see “International Transport,” Aviation, September 1932, pp. 374–77.
6. This section is based on J. R. Hansen, The Bird Is on the Wing: Aerodynamics and the Progress of the American Airplane (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004), pp. 41–62; Anderson, Jr., The Airplane, pp. 183–282; L. K. Loftin, Jr., Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft (Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1985), chs. 3 and 4, pp. 67–101, 186, and Appendix A, “Physical and Performance Data,” Tables I and II, pp. 480–83; see also L. Breguet, “Aerodynamical Efficiency and the Reduction of Air Transport Costs,” Aeronautical Journal, August 1922, and B. Melvill Jones, “The Streamline Airplane,” both reprinted in Hansen et al. (eds.), Wind and Beyond, volume 2, Document 3–4, pp. 102–9, and Document 3–7, pp. 130–62. The airshipmens’ flawed assumptions can be seen in C. E. Rosendahl, “Bigger and Better Blimps,” World’s Work, July 1929, p. 67; Hunsaker, “Day of the Dirigible,” pp. 433–34; Blessing, “Airplanes versus Airships,” pp. 55–56; and Eckener (as late as 1934!), “The Rigid Airship and Its Possibilities,” The Airship 2 (1935), no. 5 (Spring), pp. 6, 8. For comments pointing out that their assumptions were wrong, see “Dornier Analyzes Routes,” The New York Times, September 14, 1930. T.J.C. Martyn’s “annihilation” remark is in “Do-X Is Compared with Huge R-101,” The New York Times, November 3, 1929.
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