Empires of the Sky

by Alexander Rose

  18. Braun, “Das ‘Wundergas’ Helium,” p. 589.

  19. Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, p. 177.

  20. “Atlantic Air Service to Start with Trial Flights Tomorrow,” The New York Times, July 2, 1937; R. Owen, “New Era in Travel,” The New York Times, July 11, 1937; Daley, American Saga, pp. 216–17.

  21. “An Act Authorizing the Conservation, Production, Exploitation, and Sale of Helium Gas,” Section 4, September 1, 1937, P.L. 75-411, S.1567. On Ickes’s view, see entry of July 23, 1938, Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 428. See also Memorandum by L. H. Price, Office of Arms and Munitions Control, “In Re: Helium Act of September 1, 1937, and Regulations Issued Hereunder,” April 8, 1938, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13.

  22. On these points, see especially Ickes’s notes on a particularly contentious cabinet meeting. Diary entry of May 15, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, pp. 396–98.

  23. The fullest narrative of the helium process is Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, pp. 81–97; see also memorandum by L. H. Price, Office of Arms and Munitions Control, April 27, 1938, and confidential memorandum, “Interchange of Telegrams on the Subject of Helium,” April 22, 1938, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13.

  24. Entry, March 19, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 344, and memorandum by Price, “Re: Helium Act,” April 8, 1938.

  25. Memorandum by Price, “Re: Helium Act,” April 8, 1938.

  26. Diary entry, July 23, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 428. Ickes professed that he was “really glad of a good excuse for disapproving this shipment.”

  27. Diary entry, March 19, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 344.

  28. Entries of April 17 and April 21, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, pp. 368–69, 372–73. Ickes’s memorandum for the press, “The Military Importance of Helium,” July 2, 1938, attached to a memorandum by Joseph Green of the Office of Arms and Munitions Control (who says Ickes was giving a “very false impression”), July 11, 1938, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13. Dr. Issel, a DZR board member, who accompanied Eckener to America as his custodian but was not present at meetings, believed that Roosevelt was playing for votes. See his confidential report, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 363–66. On congressional opinion, see letter, Rep. J. G. Polk (Democrat, Ohio) to Cordell Hull, March 28, 1938, registering his “very strong and urgent protest” against the sale, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13. Senator Vandenberg (Republican, Michigan) also introduced a bill preventing helium exports. J. O’Donnell, “Eckener Sent Here to Force Helium Issue,” Washington Herald, April 24, 1938. On hostility to Ickes, see the editorial accompanying P. H. Wilkinson, “Helium—Hope of the Airship,” Scientific American, August 1938, p. 72.

  29. In Friedrichshafen, Harold Dick informed Litchfield that “there is only one major topic of discussion here and that is helium. As each day rolls around the uncertainty and accompanying unrest grows tremendously.” Letter, Dick to Litchfield, April 8, 1938, printed in Dick and Robinson, Golden Age, p. 163.

  30. Braun, “Das ‘Wundergas’ Helium,” p. 598; M. L. Levitt, “The Development and Politicization of the American Helium Industry, 1917–1940,” Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 30 (2000), no. 2, p. 346; Reagan, “The Helium Controversy,” pp. 51–52; Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, p. 94.

  31. Diary entry, May 1, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 385.

  32. Quoted in Reagan, “The Helium Controversy,” pp. 52–53.

  33. Diary entry, May 12, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, pp. 391–93. Jackson, quoted in Watkins, Righteous Pilgrim, p. 669. Jackson’s comment about “legal rubbish” is quoted by Joseph Green of the Office of Arms and Munitions Control, in a temperamental memorandum of May 13, 1938, in Henry Cord Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13. Hull informed the U.S. Embassy in Berlin of the results of the conference the next day, concluding that “it would appear probable that the proposed sale will not repeat not take place.” Telegram, Hull to Embassy, May 12, 1938, in Meyer Papers, Box 2, File 13.

  34. Still recovering from an operation, Eckener had even been forced to miss the awarding to him of a Guggenheim Medal for achievement in the aeronautical sciences in December and had asked Rosendahl to give an acceptance speech in his place. Rosendahl had delivered a cracker of a speech, filled with optimistic predictions as to Zeppelin’s glorious future in the sky. Echoing Eckener’s words from so many years earlier, Rosendahl proclaimed that the airship and its role in international commerce and transportation would “finally triumph over all that which now separates peoples and nations in an atmosphere of chauvinism.” Eckener himself was not quite so sanguine, telling Rosendahl that he could not have done better himself but that he had one criticism: Rosendahl had painted the airship’s chances in “somewhat too bright a shade.” Letter, Eckener to Rosendahl, January 3, 1938, and “Translation of Dr. Eckener’s Speech of Acceptance of the Guggenheim Medal, to Be Delivered Through the Courtesy of Commander Chas. E. Rosendahl,” December 17, 1937, in Rosendahl Papers, Box 107, Folder 36. On Eckener’s earlier bouts with a poor stomach, see letters to Johanna, May 12 and June 6, 1937, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 358, 360. His article was published abroad as “The Zeppelin Crisis,” Parts 1 and 2, The Airship 5 (1938), nos. 17 and 18.

  35. On the Ickes-Eckener meeting, see entry, May 15, 1938, in Ickes, Secret Diary, volume 2, p. 399. Meyer, “Problems of Helium and Spy Flights: The Brief Career of LZ-130,” p. 217, reprints a confidential report from Thomas Knowles (a Goodyear-AZT official) to Joseph Green, dated May 17, 1938, on the conversation, though Knowles had not been present. Eckener related the story of his damning admission to Louis Lochner some time later, with Lochner adding it as a postscript to his original diary in January 1966; see Lochner, “Aboard the Airship Hindenburg,” p. 121. Eckener later met Roosevelt for the last time in a five-minute meeting, during which the president repeated Ickes’s points. See Issel’s report in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 366. In his memoirs, Eckener gives a distorted account of this meeting. Much of it agrees with Knowles’s report regarding their initial head-butting over could versus would, but Eckener writes that at that point he “stood up, saying, ‘Mr. Secretary, I believe there would be no purpose in continuing the conversation,’ and I left.” This is most unlikely, and it curiously replicates his claim that he did the same in his 1934 conversation with Diels, the head of the Gestapo. If it did happen, then Eckener seems to have been in the habit of stomping off in the middle of important meetings with influential or dangerous men, but there are several accounts (Knowles, Issel, Ickes, even Eckener’s own words to Lochman) that belie this version of events. Ickes, for one, never would have missed mentioning a detail like the most famous airshipman in the world cutting him off early and walking out in a huff. Eckener thus stayed until the end of the meeting and it ended disappointingly, but not angrily. Most revealingly, Eckener says on a later page of his memoirs that “privately I had to agree with Secretary Ickes, when he had declared [in the meeting] so emphatically, ‘Your Hitler is going to make war!’ ” It was in this context that he said he could not guarantee that helium would never be used for military purposes, even if on May 8, just a week before his meeting with Ickes, Eckener had given an interview for the Movietone and Paramount newsreels in which he stated, once more, that “I am firmly convinced that under European conditions any military use of…helium inflated aircraft of any type is absolutely impossible, and that therefore, certain fears that have been expressed in the United States are fully unfounded.” My Zeppelins, pp. 179–81. A mimeographed transcript is in the Rosendahl Papers, Box 107, Folder 36.

  36. Eckener removed the flag during his Austrian lecture tour in May 1937; see Eckener (trans. Robinson), My Zeppelins, p. 166. In the case of Baldur von Schirach of the Hitler Youth, Eckene
r had dealt with the touchy matter with a wonderfully dry wit that insulted the odious Schirach without openly doing so. The publisher, the Central Office for the Struggle for Freedom, had sent him a sample copy, inscribed with the blurb, “This marvelous book won’t be missing in any company library,” only for Eckener to ironically respond that he’d “like to express our considerable doubt that [Schirach] is aware of this way of recommending the book.” And then, “P.S. The sample volume is going back to you at the same time as this letter.” See Eckener’s reply, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 360.

  37. Minutes of meeting, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 361–62.

  38. De Syon, Zeppelin!, p. 270, n. 156. The poll was taken in September.

  39. “Tomorrow’s Airplane,” Fortune, July 1938, pp. 53–54, 63–65, 84–88, 91.

  40. Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 367.

  53. King Across the Water

  1. Memorandum, “American Commercial Airships,” Schedule I, “Profit and Loss Estimates,” p. 15; Schedule VII, “Estimated Cost of Terminal Equipment to Be Owned by Landing-Field Owners,” p. 22; Schedule II, “Summary of Estimated Operating Costs,” p. 17. For the Boeing 314 operating costs, see “Tomorrow’s Airplane,” Fortune, Table, “Planes of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow—A Comparison,” p. 86.

  2. “Zeppelin Insured for £500,000; Ship Got Low Rate as Good Risk,” The New York Times, May 8, 1937.

  3. On DZR budget estimates, see Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, p. 175.

  4. Eckener, “The Zeppelin Crisis,” The Airship 5 (1938), nos. 18–20.

  5. Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, pp. 101–2.

  6. Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, p. 101.

  7. “Trials of the LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin,” The Airship 5 (1938), no. 19, p. 89.

  8. Meyer, “Problems of Helium and Spy Flights,” pp. 220–27; Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, pp. 144–56; memoir by Eduard Boetius, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 369–71, who confirms that Eckener was on none of the spy flights, “whose purpose was also completely antithetical to his views.” On radar, see my article, “Radar and Air Defence in the 1930s,” Twentieth Century British History 9 (1998), no. 2, pp. 219–45; and also Rose, “Radar Strategy: The Air Dilemma in British Politics, 1932–1937.”

  9. Daley, American Saga, pp. 225, 228.

  10. Quoted in Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, pp. 347–48.

  11. Daley, American Saga, p. 229; Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, pp. 289–91.

  12. “Plane Christened by Mrs. Roosevelt,” The New York Times, March 4, 1939; Daley, American Saga, pp. 229–30.

  13. Daley, American Saga, p. 231.

  14. “Consolidated Source and Application of Funds Statement, 1930–1939,” printed in Daley, American Saga, p. 453, but I’ve used the more precise “Pan American Airways Reported $1,984,438 Profit Peak in 1939,” The New York Times, May 2, 1940, for 1938’s net profit figure. On the Pacific costs, see Benders and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, p. 284; on debt, p. 296.

  15. Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, p. 297; Daley, American Saga, pp. 233–37; on Trippe’s stock holdings, pp. 500–501n.

  16. Daley, American Saga, pp. 237–40; Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, p. 297–99.

  17. “First Passenger Flight Today on Northern Route to England,” The New York Times, July 8, 1939.

  18. Van Vleck, Empire of the Air, pp. 101–2; see also L. Weirather, “Romancing the Clipper: America’s Technological Coming of Age in Children’s Literature,” Studies in Popular Culture 13 (1990), no. 1, pp. 27–45.

  19. M. Pruss, “Visit of Göring on 1st March 1940 to Airship Port, Rhein-Main,” printed in Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, pp. 176–79.

  20. Bauer and Duggan, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin, pp. 181–88. Göring’s order for scrapping, February 29, 1940, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 374–75.

  21. “Pan American Airways Reported $1,984,438 Profit Peak in 1939,” The New York Times, May 2, 1940; Davies, Pan Am, p. 43; Bender and Altschul, Chosen Instrument, p. 301; on Morgan, see Daley, American Saga, p. 253.

  22. Daley, American Saga, pp. 254–55, 242, 503n; C. A. Lindbergh, The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1970), entry of May 23, 1939.

  Epilogue

  1. Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 376.

  2. Letter, Eckener to Italiaander, March 12, 1940, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 378; on the box, p. 530.

  3. Letter, Eckener to Italiaander, January 25, 1940, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 377.

  4. Eckener was briefly interviewed by RAF Squadron Leader B.J.M. Robinson and Captain T. Chapell of U.S. Ordnance Department regarding Zeppelin’s participation in the V-2 program. The interviewee was Hugo, though the document refers to “Dr. Kurt Eckener.” See Evaluation Report 38, May 25, 1945, “Interview with Dr. Eckener,” Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee (Washington, D.C.: Office of the Publication Board, Department of Commerce, 1945).

  5. On Eckener’s views, see letter to Italiaander, December 19, 1941, in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 379. On the political and legal distinction between pre- and post-1940 appointments as a Leader of the War Economy, see “Decision to Stop Proceedings,” July 14, 1948, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 478.

  6. Eckener’s affiliations are noted in Elimination of German Resources for War, Hearings Before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, Part 5, Testimony of Treasury Department, July 2, 1945 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1945), pp. 766, 771. Oddly, the Austrian directorship is mentioned once, on the earlier page, but not listed in the main entry for Eckener.

  7. On November 12, 1945, Eckener addressed accusations that he was a “war profiteer” by pointing out that he had not received “increased income or profits” as the head of Zeppelin; quite the opposite, he had suffered declines owing to his withdrawal “from management of its business dealings.” Memorandum by Eckener, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 420.

  8. Letter, Eckener to Italiaander, February 9, 1940, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 378.

  9. Letters to Johanna, November 5 and November 6, 1942, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 381–83.

  10. Letters, Eckener to Dr. Louis Kiep, July 7 and August 8, 1943, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 383–84.

  11. Letter, Eckener to Kiep, July 7, 1943, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 383.

  12. Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 407.

  13. Letters, Lotte to Paul Simon (husband), April 26, 1944, and Eckener to the (French) Military Government, May 14, 1945, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 401, 408.

  14. Letters, Lotte to Simon, July 20 and 21, 1944, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 401–2.

  15. Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 384, 401.

  16. Memorandum by Dr. Karl Schmid, “Notes About a Meeting with Major Lasnier from the Section Technique,” June 23, 1945, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 411–12; Memorandum by Eckener, July 3, 1945, in Italiaander, p. 413.

  17. Letter, Eckener to French Military Government, February 2, 1946, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 427–29.

  18. Obituary, Charles Rosendahl, The New York Times, May 15, 1977; letter, Meister to Eckener, January 8, 1947, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 439. On Rosendahl as a “fanatical believer,” see letter, Eckener to Johanna, May 8, 1947, printed in I
taliaander, p. 451.

  19. “Goodyear, Eckener Plan Airship Work,” The New York Times, April 25, 1947; letter, Eckener to Johanna, April 2, 1947, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 447.

  20. Letters, Eckener to Johanna, May 1, May 8, and May 12, 1947; on Wiegand and Hearst, letters of October 10 and 11 to Johanna, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp 449–53, 461. “German Expert Visiting Naval Airship Chief,” The New York Times, May 2, 1947.

  21. Letters, Eckener to Johanna, July 12 and 13, and October 10, 1947, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 456–57, 461.

  22. Wordsmith (pseud.), “Notes on the International Zeppelin Transport Co. and Pacific Zeppelin Transport Co.,” Part 2, p. 8.

  23. Letter, Eckener to Johanna, September 7, 1947, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 460.

  24. On the classifications, see U.S. Forces, European Theater, “Removal of Nazis and Militarists,” July 7, 1945, in Denazification, Report of the Military Governor (April 1, 1947—April 30, 1948), No. 34 (Office of Military Government for Germany [U.S.], Annex C, pp. 31, 34.

  25. Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, p. 466.

  26. J. H. Herz, “The Fiasco of Denazification in Germany,” Political Science Quarterly 63 (1948), no. 4, p. 584. On Eckener’s savings, see letter to Meister, June 24, 1948, in Italiaander, p. 488.

  27. U.S. Forces, European Theater, “Removal of Nazis and Militarists,” p. 36.

  28. “Decision to Stop Proceedings,” July 14, 1948, printed in Italiaander, Ein Deutscher Namens Eckener, pp. 478–79. On the process in general, letters of support, etc., Italiaander, pp. 467–78. For Eckener’s suspicions of Communists, see letter to Wiegand, March 1948, pp. 472–73.