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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 3475.PDF
780 FLIGHT, 25 December 1959 TRANSPORT AIRSHIPS A Short-lived Dream : their Economics Examined By PETER BROOKS THE airship—particularly the rigid airship—was much can-vassed during the first 40 years of the twentieth century as themost promising vehicle for long-haul air transport. In the event, heavier-than-air machines have emerged as the significant transport aircraft; and the airship, after a brief and limited career as a scheduled-service vehicle, has faded from the scene. There can indeed be few major technical developments which in their time attracted so much public attention, as well as devotion and sacrifices from their proponents and expenditure and effort by Governments and private enterprises but which, in the end, produced so little practical return. Three rigid airships were used for scheduled services for short periods between the wars. All three were German Zeppelins. The first extensive passenger-carrying by airship was done in Ger- many by the DELAG company, using several small Zeppelin rigids in the years 1910-14. About 17,000 passengers were carried on over 800 flights. These operations are, indeed, some- times claimed as the first airline operations but3 in fact, they were not scheduled transport services for the carriage of passengers or freight from one place to another. They were more in the nature of joy-rides or cruises undertaken for the experience of the flight itself and were not properly maintained to a published timetable. In the latter part of 1919, however, the Zeppelin company did use its small LZ Bodensee rigid of 800,000 cu ft capacity to run a tentative scheduled service between Friedrichshafen and Berlin —a distance of 375 miles, which was covered in about six hours. The service was started on August 24 and was maintained for three months, during which time 2,450 passengers were carried on 103 flights. Operations were stopped on December 1 by restric- tions imposed by the Inter-Allied Control Commission. The next scheduled service by airship was that established, also by the Zeppelin company, between Friedrichshafen (later Frankfurt) and Rio de Janeiro in South America in March 1932 and maintained on a nine to 20 round trips per summer season basis until 1937. The journey time was between 80 and 120 hours for a distance of about 6,000 miles. The famous rigid, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin (first flown in 1928) was mainly used for this service, although it was supplemented by the newer and larger LZ 129 Hindenburg during 1936 and 1937. The Graf Zeppelin was also used for a number of proving flights over the North Atlantic and the Hinden- berg started a scheduled service—consisting of ten return flights during the summer over this route between Frankfurt and Lake- hurst, New Jersey, in 1936. The average journey time was 65 hours westbound and 52 eastbound for a distance of about 4,000 miles. However, the latter operation, and all scheduled airship flying, came to an abrupt halt when the Hindenburg was destroyed by fire while landing at Lakehurst at the end of its first crossing in 1937. Thus ended the airship's short period of use as a transport aircraft. During their careers, the Bodensee, Graf Zeppelin and Hinden- burg achieved the following operating results: — Years ofscheduled operation 1919 1932-1937 1936-1937 Airship Bodensee Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg Hours flown 532 17,177 3,088 Flights made 103 590 63 Pass. carried 2,450 13,310 3,059 Block speed 61 m.p.h. 61 m.p.h. 68 m.p.h. Only part of the above-mentioned hours were accumulated on scheduled operations, but during their peak operating period the two later airships each attained utilizations of between 2,000 and 4,000 hours per annum. Load factors of between 80 and 90 per cent are believed to have been achieved on the Atlantic routes. Indeed, the Hindenburg is said to have had a 100 per cent load factor on the ten return transatlantic trips made during 1936, but about 15 per cent of this total consisted of non-revenue passengers. The three German airships, approximately to scale TRANSPORT AIRSHIPS Date of first flight Nominal gas volume Overall lengthMaximum diameter Engines Total maximum power ...Gross lift ... Weight less fuei and pay- load Normal max. payload Passenger accommodation Normal crew complement Max. fuel capacity Normal cruising speed ... Still air range Probable approximate total operating cost perseat-mile (mid-1930s money values) ... LZ 120 "Bodensee" Aug. 24, 1919 812.240 cu ft 394ft59ft Four Maybach 4x260 h.p.50.700 Ib 38.800 Ib 6.600 Ib 30 12 5.300 Ib (petrol) 70 m.p.h. 850 st. m. 15 pence LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" Sept. 18, 1928 3.708.100 cu ft* 757ft99ft Five Maybach 5x530 h.p.240,000 Ib 183,000 Ib 29.600 Ib 20 26 27,400 Ib (petrol + "blaugas") 71 m.p.h. 8,000 st. m. 12 pence LZ 129 "Hindenburg" Mar. 4, 1936 7,062,150 cu ft 813ft135ft Four Maybach 4x1.025 h.p.543,500 Ib 359,600 Ib 40.700 Ib 50t 35 143,2001b (heavy oil) 77 m.p.h. 8,400 st. m. 8 pence * 2,650,000 cu ft of hydrogen capacity (the remainder being "blaugas" fuel). t Increased Co 72 passengers during 1936/37 winter. Primitive comfort: the passenger cabin of "Bodensee"
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