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Zeppelin and Airship Mail

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"Graf Zeppelin" Pan American Flight cover

Airships played a significant role in aviation history. They responded to the need to provide lighter-than-air aircraft with means for powered, controllable, and directed flight that balloons did not have. Early airships were developed at the end of the nineteenth century by aviation pioneers in several countries, most prominently in Germany and France. Coming ahead of the successful flight by controllable, powered heavier-than-air aircraft, they represented the 'state of the art' in aviation at the time.

Airships were developed in three basic forms. The non-rigid airship is basically a shaped balloon equipped with control surfaces (fins) and externally mounted engines for powered flight. Its most recognized form is the blimp, several of which exist today as observation platforms displaying prominent advertising of their owners (e.g., Goodyear, Fuji). The semi-rigid airship has a rigid keel with an envelope shape maintained by gas pressure (e.g., Norge, Roma). The rigid airship is a much larger and more complex airship. It is characterized by a rigid framework giving it a fixed shape, with the lifting gas in large inflatable cells within it (e.g., Zeppelin, Schutte-Lanz). Power is from multiple propeller-equipped engines mounted on external nacelles.

While numerous nations engaged in airship development, only Germany developed the airship at the commercial level. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin flew his first dirigible airship in July 1900. The name "zeppelin" has been given generic status over time as a reference to any of the large dirigible airships of the period 1900–1937, particularly those built by the Zeppelin Company (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin). During the late 1920s and through most of the 1930s, German zeppelins made hundreds of successful flights, many in commercial transatlantic service. Airships from Great Britain, the United States, and Italy also flew mail. Most zeppelin flights carried mail which documents the development and operations of the airship era.

References:

  • Harold G. Dick with Douglas H Robinson, The Golden Age of Passenger Airships: Graf Zeppelin & Hindenburg (Washington DC: 1985).
  • John Duggan, LZ129 Hindenburg - The Complete Story and Zeppelinpost: LZ129 Hindenburg (Ickenham GB: 2002, 2004).
  • John Duggan and Jim Graue, Commercial Zeppelin Flights to South America (Valleyford WA: 1995).
  • Arthur Falk, Hindenburg Crash Mail: The Search Goes On (New York: 1976).
  • Michel Zeppelin- und Flugpost-Spezial-Katalog 2002 (2nd ed.) (München, Germany, 2002).
  • Sieger Zeppelinpost Spezial-Katalog (22nd ed.) (Lorch: Germany, 2001).
  • J. Gordon Vaeth, Graf Zeppelin: The Adventures of an Aerial Globetrotter (NY: Harper, 1958).

James W. Graue

Aviation's Development Period is most dramatic and important for its great advances in aviation and its related technologies. This is especially true of airplanes. There were parallel developments with airships that met with mixed success, some great and some less so. The period spans 1918 to 1945.

In the aftermath of the Great War, the Zeppelin Company sought to resume commercial airship operations. Germany was, however, severely restricted in what it was allowed to do in aviation and, at the same time, burdened with onerous reparations obligations. The upshot was its loss of zeppelin airships to the victors. A large new zeppelin airship was constructed for the United States Navy, the ZR-3, and delivered (with considerable mail) to the United States by a sensational transatlantic flight to New York in 1924. It was then christened the 'Los Angeles'. With the cooperation of the Zeppelin Company, Goodyear undertook the construction of additional airships for the U.S. Navy. In spite of some spectacular operational successes, even as an aircraft carrier, loss of airships during inclement weather doomed the naval airship program. American airships rarely carried significant amounts of mail.

Meanwhile, the German zeppelin airship program regained its footing in 1928 with the LZ127 Graf Zeppelin. Intended to prove the zeppelin a capable, reliable, and safe means of inter-continental air transport for passengers, mail, and freight, the LZ127 was a great success. After a series of spectacular demonstration and proving flights, including flights to North America, South America, the North Polar region, and a flight around the world, it began scheduled seasonal commercial flights to South America in 1932. These flights continued into 1937. The Graf Zeppelin made a total of 590 successful flights.

The success of the Graf Zeppelin on the South America route prompted the completion of the largest zeppelin—the LZ129 Hindenburg—for commercial service to North America. It made ten trips to the United States and seven to Brazil in 1936. On its first flight to the United States in 1937, the Hindenburg caught fire while landing and was destroyed. The small amount of salvaged airmail from this disaster is a memorial to the event and marks the end of the zeppelin era.

The airmail flown by the zeppelins was very popular at the time and has remained so over the years. Over sixty countries sent airmail via Graf Zeppelin. Much of it prepared by or for collectors, it is highly attractive and colorful. Many flights used special cachets, lending attractive design and color to the mail. There are many different ways to collect zeppelin airmail, including origin, flight, destination, year, or mail posted on the airship by passengers, to name a few.

James W. Graue

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ZR3 1924 America Flight - Azores drop

Aviation's Development Period is most dramatic and important for its great advances in aviation and its related technologies. This is especially true of airplanes. There were parallel developments with airships that met with mixed success, some great and some less so. The period spans 1918 to 1945.

In the aftermath of the Great War, the Zeppelin Company sought to resume commercial airship operations. Germany was, however, severely restricted in what it was allowed to do in aviation and, at the same time, burdened with onerous reparations obligations. The upshot was its loss of zeppelin airships to the victors. A large new zeppelin airship was constructed for the United States Navy, the ZR-3, and delivered (with considerable mail) to the United States by a sensational transatlantic flight to New York in 1924. It was then christened the 'Los Angeles'. With the cooperation of the Zeppelin Company, Goodyear undertook the construction of additional airships for the U.S. Navy. In spite of some spectacular operational successes, even as an aircraft carrier, loss of airships during inclement weather doomed the naval airship program. American airships rarely carried significant amounts of mail.

Meanwhile, the German zeppelin airship program regained its footing in 1928 with the LZ127 Graf Zeppelin. Intended to prove the zeppelin a capable, reliable, and safe means of inter-continental air transport for passengers, mail, and freight, the LZ127 was a great success. After a series of spectacular demonstration and proving flights, including flights to North America, South America, the North Polar region, and a flight around the world, it began scheduled seasonal commercial flights to South America in 1932. These flights continued into 1937. The Graf Zeppelin made a total of 590 successful flights.

The success of the Graf Zeppelin on the South America route prompted the completion of the largest zeppelin—the LZ129 Hindenburg—for commercial service to North America. It made ten trips to the United States and seven to Brazil in 1936. On its first flight to the United States in 1937, the Hindenburg caught fire while landing and was destroyed. The small amount of salvaged airmail from this disaster is a memorial to the event and marks the end of the zeppelin era.

The airmail flown by the zeppelins was very popular at the time and has remained so over the years. Over sixty countries sent airmail via Graf Zeppelin. Much of it prepared by or for collectors, it is highly attractive and colorful. Many flights used special cachets, lending attractive design and color to the mail. There are many different ways to collect zeppelin airmail, including origin, flight, destination, year, or mail posted on the airship by passengers, to name a few.

James W. Graue

International Philately