Hindenburg Remembered

ELLIC C-60Remembering the Hindenburg

or

Whatever happened to the

Great Airships?

Bill Skillman, BR630, 410-242-5037

http://SkillmansofAmerica.com/SkillHome.htm

May 6, 2013

Types of Airships Balloon: no structure, no

propulsion

Non-rigid: no structure,propulsion, AKA Blimp

Semi-rigid: keelstructure, propulsion

Rigid: full structureAKA DirigibleZeppelin- German

Types of Airships - II

How does a non-rigid or semi-rigid airship keep its shape?

Answer: Internal pressure Ballonets: internal

balloons, pressurizedwith air at launch.

Increased altitude: liftinggas expands, air releasedfrom ballonets.

Pressure altitude: all airgone, gas valved abovepressure altitude.

Fore/aft ballonets cancontrol pitch as shown.

Rigid Airships have Gas Bags

Rigid structure maintains shape. Multiple gas bags partially filled at launch. Increased altitude, expanding gas fills bags. Pressure Altitude: bags 100% filled. Hindenburg: PA about 800 feet at launch. Hindenburg: fuel 28% of total lift capacity.• Hydrogen valved to balance fuel weight loss.

All Airships use a Lifting Gasto be Lighter Than Air (LTA)

Lift = Weight of air - Weight of gas

Hot air balloons: lift from heated/expanded air

Blimps/dirigibles: lift per 1000 cu.ft.@STPHydrogen: 76.36#-5.31#=71.05# (typ. 68#)Helium: 76.36#-10.54#=65.82# (typ. 60#)Methane:76.36#- ~38#=38# (typ. 35#)

How much could the Hindenburg lift?

Helium: expensive, US monopoly, lifts 1 lb. Per 16.7 cu. ft. Hindenburg originally designed to use He + H2, US – NO! Hydrogen: cheap, lifts 1 lb. Per 14.7 cu. ft. All German ships. Hindenburg lifting gas capacity: 7 million cu. ft. Total lift 238 tons (Helium: 212 tons) Structure: 130 tons Useful lift: 108 tons (people, food, fuel, mail, freight, etc)

Diesel fuel capacity about 65 tons (28% total lift)Passengers: 1936: 50, 1937: 72, Crew: about 60

Neutral Buoyancy

Airships operate close to neutral buoyancy.Minimizes fuel to drive up or downNeed to compensate for burn of heavy fuel

Valve H2 to balanceCondense exhaust (Akron, Macon)

Blau gas abt. same wt. as air, replace with airUsed in Graf Zeppelin

If airship heavy, release water ballast

Henri Giffard’s Dirigible – 1852(Dirigible from French dirigeable=directable)

Built in France using 3 HP Steam EngineFlew but couldn’t cope with head winds

Alberto Santos-Dumont Eiffel Tower flight

He flew 1st gasoline-poweredairship in 1898

He circled Eiffel Tower on10/19/1901 in Airship No.6 to win Deutsch de laMeurthe prize.

He was a Brazilian, alsofamous for airplanes.

LZ-1 the first Zeppelin

Inventor: Count Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin Made by his Luftschiffbau (Airship Company) Length: 420 ft., Gas Volume: 400,000 cu. ft. First Flight (shown) 7/2/1900, Lake Constance

(Bodensee), near Friedrichshafen, Germany

Airship America - 1910 Adventurer Walter

Wellman’s ship. Attempted Atlantic

crossing 10/15/1910. Left Atlantic City, NJ,

flew 1008 miles, enginefailure and weatherbrought them down to berescued by a Royal Mailship, the Trent.

Length 228 ft. First use of aircraft to ship

radio After rescue airship never

seen again.

Airship Akron - 1912

Melvin Vaniman’s ship. Launched Atlantic City,

7/3/1912 Exploded shortly, all 5

lives lost.

Zeppelin over London in WW I

• Many raids over England• Many shot down!

Lakehurst Hangar #1

• Army’s Camp Kendrick converted to• Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurst• Hangar #1 completed September, 1923• Height-200’ x Width-350’ x Length-808’

Lakehurst Area

• Small town on theedge of the PineBarrens• Dad walked about1.3 miles to workfrom garageapartment on“other” side of RRtracks

ZR-1, Shenandoah, under constructionHangar #1, Lakehurst

Shenandoah leaving Ft. Worth, TexasOct. 9, 1924 after refill with Helium

• First flight: Sept. 4 1923, christened October• Shenandoah=Daughter of the Stars.• Built in Hangar #1, Lakehurst• Downed by line squall in Ohio Sept. 3, 1925• 29 of 43 aboard survived

Shenandoah crash at Ava, Ohio

Shenandoah CrashSouvenir Hunters

Los Angeles Arrives at Lakehurst NAS

• WW I Reparation, constructed 1923 by LuftschiffbauZeppelin GmbH - their 126th airship = LZ126 : ZR-3(Navy)

• Transatlantic delivery from Germany: October, 1924• Flew 4398 hours in 8 years, decommissioned in 1932,

scrapped 1939.

Los Angeles does nose stand!

• August 25, 1927• Moored at high mast.• Cold breeze upended.• Crew of 25 aboard.• Low mast completed

45 days later.

A New Arrival in Lakehurst

• Wilbur - 6th GGS of Immigrant ancestor Thomas, born 1900• Greta - Immigrated from Sweden in 1901, age 9 mos.• Met in offices in Hangar #1, married Elkton, MD• Bill born in garage apartment

The Los Angeles over Lakehurst

• Picture taken byBill’s Mom

about 1932

LZ-127: Graf Zeppelin

• Christened July 8, 1928• Built in Germany by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin Co.• Round-the-World Aug. 7-29, 1929, 21,000 miles• Dismantled April, 1940

Graf Zeppelin Gondola

• Carried 20 passengers with a crew of 40• 590 flights with 144 ocean crossings• More than 1 million miles, 13,110 passengers

Graf Zeppelin Gondola

Graf Zeppelin Cabin

Graf Zeppelin flies atCharlestown

Airship Hospital - 1930

Graf Zeppelin at Century of ProgressChicago 1933

ZRS-4 Akron’s Maiden Flight

• Sept. 23, 1932.• Build by Goodyear, Akron, Ohio.• April 3, 1933, crashed in storm off N.J.• 73 of 76 aboard died.

Macon: ZRS-5, with two Sparrowhawk Fighters

• First flight April, 1933 - Mfg. by Goodyear, Akron, Ohio• Sank in storm off Pt. Sur, CA, Feb 12, 1935, 81/83 survived

HindenburgSouvenir

BookMay 9, 1936

Hindenburg D-LZ129

• Probably at Lakehurst, I may be in the picture!

Hindenburg at Lakehurst NAS

Hindenburg in Hangar #1

Hindenburg Passenger Deck Layout

Hindenburg Cabin

• Cabin: 6.5’x5.5’,sink with Hot &Cold water

• 1936: 25 cabins,50 passengers

• 1937: 35 cabins,72 passengers (onefamily cabin)

Hindenburg Promenade

• 3 of the 6 windows could be opened - nobreeze under way!

Hindenburg Dining Room

Hindenburg flight time/speed

• Rio flights – 7 in 1936– 6850 mi.• Lakehurst – 10 in 1936– 4500 mi.• Top Speed – 85 mph• Cruise Speed – 75 mph• Normandie cruise speed – 33 mph• Cruise altitude – 200-650 feet• Flight times vary considerably due to

weather conditions and winds aloft

Hindenburg’s Final Flight

• Depart Germany• May 3, 1937 7:16 PM• Headwinds delay

arrival at Lakehurst toMay 6, 1937 4:15 PM

• Rain delayed landinguntil 7:15PM

• Hindenburg overPrinceton Univ. enroute to Lakehurst

Landing Approach at Lakehurst

Hangar #1 and Administration Bldg.

• Dad’s office was on 2nd floor of Admin. Bldg(Cshaped)in 1936-7 - originally in side of Hangar #1.

He was administrative ass’t to commanding officer.

Hindenburg burning

Hindenburg tail on groundPicture taken near where I stood

Hindenburg burning on ground

Hindenburg’s Charred Remains

Hindenburg Spar

Hindenburg Crash Facts• 35 out of 97 on board died.• Passengers: 36 on board, 13 died, 23

survived.• Crew: 61 on board, 22 died, 39 survived,

Capt. Ernst Lehmann died, he hadcommanded more than 100 flights on theGraf and 10 on the Hindenburg.

• Ground crew: 100+ on ground, 1 died.

What caused the fire?• Engine backfire ignited valved H2?• Static discharge ignited valved H2?• Broken wire punctured H2 cell?• Static discharge ignited flammable

cover?• Gasoline dumped/ignited?• Bomb?• YGIAGAM?

Hindenburg Memorial

• Hangar #1 on left• Newer hangars on right• Located where control car crashed

Hindenburg Disaster Memorial Plaque

My Family at the Crash Site - 2005

• Daughter Karen, husband Richard,• Grandkids Eli, 5, Sarah, 9

Hindenburg Memorial ServiceMay 6, 2007 - 70th Anniversary

LZ130 Graf Zeppelin IIHindenburg’s Twin Sister

• First Flight: Sept. 14, 1938• Spy flights: Dec. 1938 to Aug 1939 (failed to detect Chain Home Radar)• Scrapped 1940, Frankfort hangers dynamited May 6, 1940

Zeppelin NT

• Modern Semi-RigidAirship

• Sightseeing flights inGermany, Japan andCalifornia

• NT = New Technology• Three steerable propellors• Built by ZeppelinLuftschifftechnik

• Helium inflated likeblimps – No gas bags

Zeppelin NT construction• Triangular trusses made of

graphite-reinforced plastic• Three longitudinal girders

of aluminum connecttrusses

• Three-layered laminateserves as hull and gas cell

• V=290,000cu ft. L=246 ft• (H-burg 7M cu Ft, 776 ft)

Zeppelin NT Cabin

• 12 Passengers and crew of 2

Giant Wurzburg Radar

• WWII radar built by Zeppelin Co., builder of the Hindenburg• Used similar lightweight construction as the dirigibles

Wurzburg Radar arrives atNational Electronics Museum

November 18, 2007

National Electronics Museum1745 W. Nursery Road, Linthicum, MD

www.nationalelectronicsmuseum.org

• Admission:Adults, $3Students & Seniors, $1Children under 5, free

• Hours: 9-4 M-F, 10-2 Sat.• Info: 410-765-0230

Pearl Harbor Radar at NEM

• SCR-270 – designed byArmy Signal Corps

• Built by Westinghouse• Similar radar at Opana siteon Oahu detected Japaneseraid on December 7, 1941but was ignored

• Several hundred built

The Dirigible is not dead!

Starred in the movie “UP”DISNEY-PIXAR graphics

U.S. Army: Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle -LEMV- 2009

Northrop Grumman $517M, 5 year contract to buildup to three ships.

Load: 2400 lbs, Altitude: 20 kft, Duration: 21daysDeploy Afghanistan late 2011/early 2012

Interesting events of May, 1937May 3 – Wallis Simpson divorce final

Hindenburg departs GermanyMay 6 – Hindenburg crashes at Lakehurst, N.J.May 12 – King George VI coronationMay 17 – Juan Negrin Prime Minister of SpainMay 23 – Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestriansMay 28 – Neville Chamberlain Prime Min. of Eng.May 32 – Amelia Earhart departs Miami on

fatal round-the-world flightMay 34 – Wallis Simpson marries Duke of

Windsor

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