Abstract
A NOTABLE example of the progress of aeronautical science was provided by the launching on September 14 of the new German airship L.Z. 130, to which Dr. Hugo Eckener gave the name Graf Zeppelin. The launch is described as having been carried out with precision and the great ship took to the air perfectly. It will be recalled that, on a similar occasion two years ago, the Hindenburg took about half an hour to rise and then twice lurched down-Wards before her height was brought under control. It may therefore be inferred that the designers and constructors have now at their disposal much more complete knowledge as to the factors which influence the stability and behaviour of large airships and that the new vessel is thereby the more assured of a successful career. On the first of her acceptance trial flights she cruised for a period of eight hours and made a good landing at the Loewenstadt Military Aerodrome. Hydrogen was used as the lifting medium. When the Hindenburg was wrecked at Lakehurst in the United States, it was stated that hydrogen would not in future be used. As, however, helium is practically unobtainable outside America, the engineers have devised a method whereby it is claimed that the main risk is largely eliminated. This is associated with the necessity for releasing free hydrogen as the load diminishes due to the consumption of the fuel, but by arranging for the storage of the Water formed during combustion, they have provided the necessary ballast so that the ship's height can be controlled with little or no recourse to wastage of hydrogen. The motive power is supplied by four Daimler-Benz engines, each of more than 700 horse-power, which give the ship a cruising speed of about 80 m.p.h. In length she is 803 ft.— slightly less than the Hinderiburg—but her hydrogen capacity of 7,062,000 cub. ft. is fully 25 percent greater.
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Launch of the Graf Zeppelin. Nature 142, 565–566 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142565c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142565c0