One on an ice floe, belted with a crowbar. Stories of a former prisoner

To the collectors' forum about the voyage of the German airship LZ-127 to Moscow on September 10, 1930. At first I just wanted to repost a message from the forum about this flight and show photos, but after rummaging around on the Internet, I found that the topic was generally very interesting. And the LIFE photo archive haunts me.

Zeppelin LZ 127 “Count Zeppelin” (German: Graf Zeppelin) was built in Germany in 1928 and was at that time the largest and most advanced airship in the world. The airship received its name in honor of the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. LZ 127 had the happiest fate of all the hundred and fifty rigid airships built in the history of aeronautics. Over nine years of operation, the Graf Zeppelin spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.

In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and ally of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127. On July 8, 1928, on the day of Count Zeppelin’s 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened after him only daughter Count, and the airship LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” made its first flight on September 18, 1928. In August-September 1929, an airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics. Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days with an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The main purpose of the flight was to promote the capabilities of rigid airships, and meteorological observations were made along the way.

From May 18 to June 6, 1930, "Graf Zeppelin" made a circular flight to South and North America. In 1931 LZ 127 began regular flights to Brazil. Since 1936, some flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 “Hindenburg”, which opened the air route to North America ( technical capabilities"Graf Zeppelin" were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).

On September 10, 1930, “Graf Zeppelin” flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, for scientific purposes (unofficially also reconnaissance), it flew over a significant part of the Soviet Arctic, while taking detailed aerial photography. There were also Soviet specialists on board. During this flight, the airship splashed down in Tikhaya Bay (Franz Josef Land), where mail was exchanged with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin.

After the Hindenburg airship disaster, regular flights of the LZ 127 were stopped. Soon "Count Zeppelin" was turned into a museum. The end of German airship construction came at the beginning of World War II, when in the spring of 1940, by order of the German command, the LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin”, as well as the LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin” of the same name (built in 1938 on the basis of the LZ 129) were dismantled and their parts used in the military industry.

I also advise you to read the biography of the permanent commander of LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” Hugo Eckener (German: Hugo Eckener) -

Self-study links:
http://aerocrat.livejournal.com/52830.html - here’s another interesting post about the LZ-127 flight to Moscow.

http://info.dolgopa.org/album/06_17.htm
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graf_Zeppelin_(airship)
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckener,_Hugo
Pictures
Google is our everything.

Commander of LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" Hugo Eckener.

Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) in the new giant airship hangar.
Frankfurt, Germany, 1936

In the sky over London. 1931

Assembly of LZ-127. 1928

Assembly of LZ-127. 1928.
Fantastic design.

Assembly of LZ-127. 1928.
Incredible openwork design.

Assembly of LZ-127. 1928

Handsome Count Zeppelin in flight.

Germany, 1928.

The dimensions of the airship are still amazing: the length was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m³, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was housed in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.

Germany, 1928.

The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when filling bags intended for blau gas with hydrogen, it was about 55 tons), maximum speed was 128 km/h, cruising speed was about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew numbered 40-45 people.

From below, directly to the body of the airship, in the front part of it, the front gondola was rigidly attached, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction). In front of the gondola there was a control room, behind it were service rooms and then passenger rooms.

Crew members in the steering gondola. 1936.
suggests that this is the control room of the Hindenburg LZ-129

With this, I wanted to finish the photographs of the airship itself and move on to Moscow in 1931, but it is impossible to tear myself away from the LIFE photo archive. I’ll show you a couple more, and then we’ll move on to the flight to Moscow.

The caption does not say what kind of airship it is, it only says: Engineer of Count Zeppelin. 1936. This photograph really touches me.
It's not very clear where he's going. Those. It’s clear that it was filmed from the shell of an airship and the engineer is climbing up an external (!) ladder either into the engine nacelle or into the cockpit. And this is all in flight!

The crew climbs to the top of the airship to repair damage it suffered while flying during a storm over the Atlantic Ocean. 1934. What kind of airship this is is also not written.

On September 10, 1930, at 9 o'clock in the morning, the German airship LZ-127 under the command of Hugo Eckener flew to Moscow and circled over Moscow for two hours at an altitude of 150 meters, accompanied by several Soviet aircraft. At 12:05 the airship landed on the Khodynskoye field. About 200 Red Army soldiers helped the landing, and about 3,000 spectators watched all this. The airship LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" had on board 42 crew members, 23 passengers and 21 kg of mail. The airship covered a distance of 2,372 km in 26 hours. At 14:38 LZ 127 departed back to Germany via Rzhev, Nevel, Tilsit, Königsberg.

Unfortunately, I did not find any more photographs of Count Zeppelin in Moscow, so I will have to be content with only those that were on the forum. Yes, there is one unique photo there.

All photos are clickable to original size!

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior still stands, on the right is the pedestal of the monument to Alexander III

In this photo you can see part of Zaryadye and the densely built-up current Vasilyevsky Spusk. “Reconstruction” has begun in the Kremlin - the architectural design of the monument to Alexander II has almost been destroyed. The Ascension Monastery was destroyed, the Chudov Monastery is being destroyed.

A large photograph shows an incomprehensible barn opposite the mausoleum. They say on the Internet that until 1929, the Lenin Mausoleum was wooden.
Construction of the final, stone version of the Mausoleum began in July 1929 and ended in October 1930. At the same time, guest stands were erected on the sides of the mausoleum (architect I. A. French) and graves were decorated at the Kremlin wall.

Let me remind you that this photo was taken on September 10, 1930.
So, thanks to the German airship LZ 127, we see Red Square with the guest stands under construction and the Lenin Mausoleum a month before the commissioning of the facility.

Red Army soldiers help the airship dock. I wonder where the photo and film material from this flight, which was filmed by Soviet reporters, is stored?..

Red Army soldiers help the airship dock.

http://aerocrat.livejournal.com/52830.html - here’s another interesting post about the LZ-127 flight to Moscow.

In the world. The airship received its name in honor of the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. LZ 127 had the happiest fate of all one and a half hundred rigid airships built in the entire history of aeronautics. Over nine years of operation, the Graf Zeppelin spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.

Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 3

Flying the Zeppelin NT

Airship LZ127 "Graf Zeppelin" over Siberia (Yakutsk) in 1929

1937 - Disaster of the German airship LZ-129 "Hindenburg"

Subtitles

Design

The length of the airship was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m³, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was located in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.

One of the fundamental differences between the LZ 127 and other Zeppelins was the use for engine operation, along with liquid fuel, of gaseous fuel (blau gas), the density of which was close to the density of air, and the calorific value was significantly higher than that of gasoline. This made it possible to significantly increase the flight range and eliminated the need to weigh down the airship as it ran out of fuel (airships were weighed down by releasing part of the carrier gas, which created a number of economic and flight inconveniences); in addition, the use of blau gas led to less load on the frame than in the case of installing numerous heavy tanks with gasoline. Blau gas was located in 12 compartments in the lower third of the airship frame, the volume of which could be increased to 30,000 m³ (in this case, 105,000 m³ - 30,000 m³ = 75,000 m³ remained for hydrogen). Gasoline was taken on board as additional fuel.

The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when bags intended for blau gas are filled with hydrogen - about 55 tons), maximum speed - 128 km/h, cruising speed - about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew numbered 40-45 people.

From below, directly to the body of the airship, in the front part of it, the front gondola was rigidly attached, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction). In front of the gondola there was a control room, behind it were service rooms and then passenger rooms. In terms of comfort, the LZ 127 was significantly superior to aircraft of that time. Passengers were accommodated in 10 double equipped cabins with sleeping berths. In the front part of the passenger compartment there was a spacious 25 m² cabin, which could accommodate 28 people at a time. Through the sloping windows of the cabins and salon, sufficient good review and lighting. The kitchen was designed to serve more than 50 people for several days. In addition, there was a post office, washrooms, etc.

Story

In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and comrade-in-arms of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127. On July 8, 1928, on the day of Count Zeppelin’s 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened in his name by the count’s only daughter, and the airship LZ 127 “Graf” made its first flight Zeppelin" took place on September 18, 1928. In August-September 1929, an airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics. Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days with an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The main purpose of the flight was to promote the capabilities of rigid airships, and meteorological observations were made along the way.

From May 18 to June 6, 1930, Graf Zeppelin made a circular flight to South and North America. In 1931 LZ 127 began regular flights to Brazil. Beginning in 1936, part of the flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 "Hindenburg", which opened an air line to North America (the technical capabilities of the "Graf Zeppelin" were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).

On September 10, 1930, “Graf Zeppelin” flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, for scientific purposes (unofficially also reconnaissance), he flew over a significant part of the Soviet Arctic, while making detailed

The LZ-129 Hindenburg, built in 1936, was twice the size of the famous Graf Zeppelin.

Count von Zeppelin realized that the thin-walled rigid shell could not withstand the bending loads that caused folds and destroyed the strongest material. He came up with a frame made of lightweight box trusses riveted from aluminum strips with holes stamped in them

Inside the Hindenburg, passengers could enjoy the luxury of an elite restaurant.

From the beginning of history aircraft lighter than air - balloons and airships - only a little over 150 years passed before its seemingly complete completion. In 1783, the Montgolfier brothers lifted a free balloon into the air, and in 1937, the German-built airship LZ-129 Gindenburg, with 97 people on board, burned down on a mooring mast in Lakehurst (USA). Thirty-five of them died, and the disaster so shocked the world community that it persuaded the great powers to stop building large airships. So it passed an entire era in aeronautics, the last 40 years of which have seen the development of rigid airships called zeppelins (named after one of the main developers - German general Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin).

From spine to shell

If the animal world developed from an external skeleton (like spiders and crustaceans) to an internal one, then the evolution of lighter-than-air flying vehicles went the opposite way.

The Montgolfier brothers' balloon was uncontrollable. But when creating aircraft, the inventors wanted to move in the chosen direction.

And a year later, military engineer and scientist, famous mathematician and inventor Jacques Meunier presented his project to the Paris Academy, which he called the word “controllable” - “airship”.

He proposed making the apparatus not spherical, but elongated, like a spindle. And to maintain its shape and elasticity in flight, insert something like a rubberized bag (ballonet) into the outer shell. Since hydrogen leaked through the shell of the airship, the air pumped into the ballonet had to make up for the leak and, in addition, regulate the flight altitude.

Subsequently, this was the design of airships, but at that time a sufficiently light and powerful engine had not yet been created, and the existing steam engines of James Watt were too heavy.

It was only in 1852 that the French designer Henri Giffard created the first controlled balloon with a steam engine. At the same time, he attached the apparatus cylinder to a strong longitudinal rod, which gave the structure additional rigidity. Otherwise, its elongated shell could bend and even fold in half, and this would make flight impossible.

A special topic is the material for the shells. Because the for a long time hydrogen was used to fill the aircraft; the shell had to be not only strong, light and resistant to sun rays, but also gas-tight. Moreover, the improvement of some qualities could lead to the deterioration of others. For example, the better the gas-tightness, the heavier the fabric. Nevertheless, these tissues passed up to ten liters of gas per day. square meter and grew old quickly. By the end of the 20s, the famous American company Goodyear created a lightweight aeronautical fabric coated with gelatin, and the Germans began developing polymer films.

Meanwhile, engineers were trying to solve the problem of airship rigidity. The next step was the development of the Italian designer and polar explorer Umberto Nobile (from 1938 to 1946 - head of the Soviet design bureau "Dirizhablestroy", head of the creation of the largest Soviet airship "SSSR-V6 Osoaviakhim"). He placed a rigid truss inside the apparatus. Although the “Spine” improved the characteristics of airships, it did not solve the problems of real structural rigidity. A “shell” was needed.

Crazy aristocrat or national hero

The idea to make the body metal came to the Austrian designer David Schwarz after the traditionally hydrogen-filled and gasoline-powered balloon of his predecessor Hermann Welfert exploded in the air. In the same 1897, a Schwartz controllable balloon took off in Berlin, the body of which was already made of riveted aluminum, but engine problems forced an emergency landing, during which the device became unusable and was never restored.

Having become acquainted with the works of Schwartz, retired general Count von Zeppelin saw their promise, but also realized that the previously used thin-walled rigid shell was not a panacea: the bending loads acting in flight would inevitably create forces that would cause folds and destroy the strongest material.

He came up with a frame made of lightweight box trusses riveted from aluminum strips with holes stamped into them.

The frame was made of ring-shaped truss frames connected to each other by the same stringers. Between each pair of frames there was a chamber with hydrogen (1217 pieces in total), so that if two or three internal cylinders were damaged, the rest would maintain volatility, and the apparatus would not be damaged.

Having carried out strength calculations and tests of structural elements together with his assistant engineer Theodor Kober, Zeppelin was convinced that the task was feasible. However, at the instigation of local scientists who did not believe in the count’s ideas, the newspapers initially called him a “crazy aristocrat.”

Nevertheless, two years after the accident of the Schwarz balloon, Zeppelin, having invested all his savings, began to build an apparatus called, without false modesty, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (“Zeppelin Airship” - LZ-1). And in the summer of 1900, a cigar-shaped eight-ton giant with a length of 128 m, a diameter of 12 m, and a volume of 11.3 thousand m3, having made an 18-minute successful flight, turned General von Zeppelin, who was considered almost an urban madman, into a national hero.

Wonder weapon

The country, which had recently lost the war with France, took the general’s idea of ​​a miracle weapon with a bang. Zeppelin fans collected more than six million Reichsmarks, which became the authorized capital of the joint stock company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH. And by the First World War, Zeppelin built several machines 148 m long, reaching speeds of up to 80 km/h, which, with the outbreak of hostilities, immediately set off to bomb England, which considered itself impregnable under the protection of the English Channel. These aerial leviathans, soaring at an enormous height for that time, were not afraid of the then aircraft and artillery, and their ideal suitability for aerial reconnaissance made up for shortcomings in bombing accuracy.

And even when the urgently mobilized resources of the British gave them the opportunity to create effective anti-aircraft artillery and aircraft capable of attacking heights, the Zeppelins became transport carriers for delivering reinforcements, weapons and military equipment to the garrisons of the German colonies in Africa.

In 1917, the LZ-104 was built at the Zeppelin shipyard, which had a cruising speed of 80 km/h and was capable of carrying five tons of bomb load over a distance of up to 16 thousand km. In other words, it could reach the shores of America. This zeppelin did not have time to take part in the battles, and after the defeat of Germany it was blown up by its crew. In total, from 1900 to 1916, 176 airships were built in Germany. The First World War put production on stream, and 123 cars were released into the sky.

Ferdinand von Zeppelin did not live to see the end of the war, after which the losing Germany began to pay for reparations with his brainchildren. According to the Treaty of Versailles, it was forbidden to produce many things, including airships, which could be used for both peaceful and military purposes.

Zeppelins in America

And yet the creations of the count-inventor reached the United States. His successor, Hugo Eckener, wanted to save the company and offered the Americans to receive a new giant airship capable of conquering the Atlantic for free as reparations. Eckener managed to persuade the German government to finance the work, and in 1924 the LZ-126, flying on inert (and therefore non-flammable) helium, was built. Unlike Europe, the States produced this safe-for-flight gas in abundance. Zeppelin was commissioned into the US Navy and was named Los Angeles.

America, which after its civil war always fought only on foreign territories, needed powerful vehicles for transporting troops and equipment, as well as for long-range maritime reconnaissance. Then, in the 1920s, a plan arose in the United States to build a powerful aeronautical fleet of 1012 rigid airships. They were intended to patrol the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It was assumed that each of them would carry from five to twelve reconnaissance aircraft or dive bombers and would be capable of crossing the ocean twice without refueling.

Due to the outbreak of the economic crisis, the specially created Goodyear-Zeppelin company was not able to immediately begin mass production, but in 1931 the first airship of the ZRS-4 series called Akron (length - 239 m, diameter - 40.5 m, volume - 184 thousand). m3, maximum speed - 130 km/h, maximum flight range - 17.5 thousand km) took off.

It should be noted that the early European Zeppelins filled with hydrogen were very uneconomical: as fuel was consumed (up to 20% of the weight) and a high altitude was reached, it was necessary, in order to avoid rupture of the gas chambers, to first release air from the balloons, and then bleed tens of thousands of gases through special valves. cubic meters of hydrogen, which is quite expensive to produce. Helium is 30-40 times more expensive than hydrogen, and releasing it into the atmosphere would be tantamount to burning machines with banknotes.

Flying aircraft carriers

Back in 1928, German engineers used an ingenious solution in the design of the huge Graf Zeppelin airship that made it possible not to lose hydrogen during flight. The Germans installed engines on it capable of running on so-called “blue gas” (blue gas, or carbureted water gas, enriched with high-calorie gas, obtained in gas generators or by cracking oil; used as municipal fuel). Its density is very close to the density of air, and in terms of caloric content, one cubic meter replaced 1.5 kg of gasoline. “Pigeon gas” could also solve the problems of the Americans, but it was not produced in the USA, and local designers placed a plant on board the Akron to extract water from the exhaust gases of gasoline engines. In a special radiator, the gases were cooled, and the water was condensed and sent to ballast tanks, and the weight of the airship did not change during flight.

Akron carried five reconnaissance aircraft, each weighing more than a ton, in hangars with hatches in the floor. To take off, the aircraft with the engine running was lowered using a truss rod through the hatch and began an independent flight. To land, the rod, at the end of which there was a loop in the shape of a trapezoid, was pulled out, and the plane, having equalized the speed of the airship, flew up to the trapezoid, clung to it with a special hook, and was pulled into the hangar. Fighters and dive bombers capable of operating from an aircraft carrier were also created.

After flying for two years, Akron died in a severe storm. In the same 1933, the Americans lifted into the air a zeppelin of the same series - Mason, which also died two years later, caught in a downdraft. And the construction of rigid airships in the United States ceased.

The Last of the Dinosaurs

As already mentioned, on Zeppelin’s 80th anniversary, the giant LZ-127 (236.6 m long and 30.5 m in diameter), christened Graf Zeppelin, came off the stocks of his company. He made 2,700 flights, including the first flight around the world. It, like other German airships, used hydrogen. But it was not air that was pumped into special chambers with a volume of 30 thousand m3, but blue gas, which was used as fuel. As it was consumed, the weight of the airship remained almost unchanged and there was no need to bleed off the hydrogen.

Graf Zeppelin made its last flight in 1936, and in 1940 it was destroyed by order of Luftwaffe leader Hermann Goering: in the new war he relied on airplanes. This is how the story of the German Zeppelins ended.

By and large, rigid system airships anticipated other types of airships and nascent aircraft in terms of carrying capacity, speed and flight range. However, by the time the aircraft carrier Macon sank, the plane had already flown over the Atlantic Ocean, and the “flying temple of socialism,” the Maxim Gorky aircraft, which we talked about in the September issue of PM, was capable of carrying 17 tons of payload—three times more than any airship. Zeppelins in the form in which they were conceived have outlived their usefulness. Today, controlled aeronautics is being revived for other purposes and based on other technologies.

The history of the "Count Zeppelin" LZ 127 (German: Graf Zeppelin), one of the largest and most advanced airships in the world, began in 1928.

The airship was named after the German pioneer of rigid airships, Count Zeppelin. It suffered the happiest fate of all existing rigid airships

For nine years, this ship was used for its intended purpose, spent about 17,200 hours in the air, made 590 flights to different countries of the world, covered almost 1.7 million km, transported 13,110 passengers and about 70 tons of cargo and mail; At the same time, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 143 times and the Pacific Ocean 1 time.

"Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Workers on scaffolding work on a huge steel structure.

The length of the airship was 236.6 m, the maximum diameter was 30.5 m, the volume was 105,000 m3, the carrier gas (hydrogen) was located in 17 compartments. The power plant consisted of 5 Maybach VL II engines with a power of 530 hp. every.

"Graf Zeppelin" 1927: Zeppelin front gondola.

It differed from other airships in that to operate the engines, along with liquid, gaseous fuel (blau gas) was also used, which had a density close to air, and the calorific value was significantly higher than that of gasoline. This advantageous solution helped to increase the flight range and eliminated the need to weigh down the airship as it ran out of fuel (airships were weighed down by releasing part of the carrier gas, which created a number of economic and flight inconveniences). In addition, it is natural that the use of this gas led to less load on the frame, in contrast to that which occurred when installing numerous tanks of gasoline.

1928: construction of the airship.

"Graf Zeppelin" 1930: main gondola.

Blau gas was located in 12 compartments in the lower third of the airship frame, the volume of which could be increased to 30,000 m? (for hydrogen in this case there remained 105,000 m? -30,000 m? = 75,000 m?). Gasoline was taken on board as additional fuel.

The airship's payload was about 25 tons (when bags intended for blau gas are filled with hydrogen - about 55 tons), maximum speed - 128 km/h, cruising speed - about 115 km/h. Flight range is more than 10,000 km. The crew numbered 40-45 people.

Steel frame of the airship.

In the front part, from below, a front gondola was attached to the body of the airship, the length of which was 40 m, width - 6 m and maximum height - 2.25 m (the largest gondola in the history of airship construction).

Construction of a giant airship gondola.

The airships were controlled from the control room, which was located in the front part of the gondola, followed by service rooms and then passenger rooms. In terms of comfort, the LZ 127 was significantly superior to the then (and in some respects modern) aircraft.

Using the outer covering of the airship.

Passengers were accommodated in 10 double equipped cabins with sleeping berths.

Cabin interior.

Spacious mess room with an area of ​​25 m2? located in the front part of the passenger compartment, it could accommodate 28 people at the same time. The sloping windows of the cabins and salon provided fairly good visibility and lighting. There was also a kitchen that could serve more than 50 people for several days. In addition, there was a post office, washrooms, etc.

Flight over Hamburg, 1928.

In the fall of 1925, on the initiative of Hugo Eckener, one of the pioneers of controlled aeronautics and comrade-in-arms of Count Zeppelin, a nationwide fundraiser was organized in Germany for the creation of a new large experimental transport zeppelin. It was possible to collect 2.3 million marks, which served as the basis for the construction of the airship LZ 127.

A canvas is stretched over the massive Zeppelin body, 1928.

On July 8, 1928, on Count Zeppelin's 90th birthday, LZ 127 was solemnly christened in his name by the count's only daughter, and the airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" made its first flight on September 18, 1928.

Return of the airship after its first flight over Germany, September 1928.

After a successful trip, the LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" returns to its home in Friedrichshafen.

In August-September 1929, the airship under the command of Hugo Eckener carried out the first round-the-world flight in the history of aeronautics.

Commander of the Graf Zeppelin, Dr. Hugo Eckener.

Starting in Lakehurst, the Graf Zeppelin covered more than 34 thousand km in 20 days at an average flight speed of about 115 km/h, making only three intermediate landings - in Friedrichshafen, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Participants of the “Hollandfahrt” on October 13, 1929 near the German airship LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” in a hangar in the city of Friedrichshafen.

The purpose of this flight was to demonstrate the capabilities of rigid airships. At the same time, meteorological observations were carried out.

A letter sent from the Graf Zeppelin. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Goldschalk, Amsteldigijk 112, Amsterdam, Holland. Dispatched from LZ127 Graf Zeppelin en route Los Angeles to Friedrichshafen, 1929.

A lady in her small bathroom on board the airship.

Graf Zeppelin flies over von Hindenburg's presidential palace, 1929.

From May 18 to June 6, 1930, Graf Zeppelin made a circular flight to South and North America.

Airship over New York.

Lakehurst, New Jersey USA, 1930.

In 1931, the airship began regular flights to Brazil. And in 1936, Graf Zeppelin opened an air service between Friedrichshafen, Germany and Brazil / Argentina. The trip took 300 flight hours. The airship was sailing to Brazil over France, Canary Islands and the Cape Verde Islands. The Graf Zeppelin's flight took place at low altitude and therefore made it possible to take photographs from on board the airship.

The Brazilian palm provides long shadows at sunset.

Flying over a palm grove.

Meeting of the airship with a Brazilian passenger ship.

After a successful flight, the Graf Zeppelin landed safely at the airport in the state of Pernambuco.

Table setting in the spacious airship restaurant.

The famous commander of the "Graf Zeppelin" Dr. Hugo Eckener (1868-1954) in the control room.

Since 1936, part of the flights to South America was assigned to the new Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg, which opened an air line to North America (the technical capabilities of the Graf Zeppelin were insufficient for regular flights across the North Atlantic).

On September 10, 1930, “Graf Zeppelin” flew to Moscow, and on July 26-30, 1931, it flew over part of the Soviet Arctic for scientific purposes, and unofficially for reconnaissance purposes. During this flight, detailed aerial photography was taken. There were also Soviet specialists on board. Also during the flight, the airship in Tikhaya Bay on Hooker Island (Franz Josef Land) exchanged mail with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin.

The Graf Zeppelin approaches the Russian icebreaker Malygin in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Franz Josef Land for the ceremonial exchange of 50,000 pieces of mail, 1931.

After the Hindenburg airship disaster, regular flights of the LZ 127 were stopped. Soon the Graf Zeppelin was turned into a museum. Airship construction in Germany ceased with the outbreak of World War II, when in the spring of 1940, by order of the German command, the LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin”, as well as the LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin” of the same name, built in 1938 on the basis of the LZ 129 and often called by the name “Graf Zeppelin” II", were dismantled, and their parts were used in the military industry.

"Graf Zeppelin" in a new giant hangar, 1936.

Airship over Bergen, Norway, 1930.

Airship over Giza, 1931.

An airship over the British capital, 1931.

The beginning of work on the design of the AB in Germany dates back to the winter of 1933/1934, when the tactical and technical requirements (TTT) were formulated: displacement of about 20 thousand tons, full speed 33 knots, 50-60 aircraft, eight 203 mm guns, powerful anti-aircraft weapons, protection according to light cruiser standards. The preliminary design, under the direction of the German Navy shipbuilding engineer W. Hedeler, was carried out during 1934. During the work, it was decided to replace the heavy 203 mm guns with 150 mm ones, to accept ten 105 mm caliber anti-aircraft artillery barrels and heavy machine guns, and increase the speed to 35 knots. The standard displacement of the AB was 23 thousand tons. Apparently, even then the project included the main solutions that distinguished it from foreign analogues. These include a “cruising” armored deck with bevels, the structural inclusion of the flight deck to ensure the overall strength of the hull, and extended vertical armor of variable thickness along the length of the hull. The choice of a two-tier hangar layout was determined by the number of aircraft placed in them.

Familiarization with the Japanese Akagi in the fall of 1935 and the study of the technical documentation received from the Japanese on the ship's aviation equipment resulted in the appearance of a third - medium aircraft lift - on the German AB.

The general architectural layout of the German AB gave the impression of being quite traditional: a solid flight deck with bow and stern cantilever overhangs, a superstructure shifted to the starboard side - an “island” with gas ducts of the main boilers passing through it, an open layout of the forecastle and poop, occupying most the surface volume of the hull is a two-tier hangar.

The welded hull of the ship, with a length along the vertical line of 250.0 m and a side height of 22.2 m, was divided into 19 watertight compartments by main transverse bulkheads that reached the hangar deck.

The protection scheme typical for German ships by installing an armored deck with thickened bevels (40 and 60 mm, respectively) and a narrow armor belt with a maximum thickness of 100 mm, located along the waterline in the MKO area, was also applied to the AB. The thickness of the upper (flight) deck was 20 mm. Having provided armor protection for the mechanical installation, the German designers seemingly left the high freeboard, behind which the vulnerable hangar was located, virtually unprotected. However, partly from the penetration of enemy shells, the upper hangar had to be protected by 150-mm caliber artillery mounts located on the side semi-sponsons in casemates armored with 30 mm armor, and partly by strong longitudinal bulkheads 30 mm thick that bounded the hangar from the sides.

The most interesting thing in the German AB project was the “aviation” part itself. The launch of deck-based vehicles, in contrast to foreign practice, was supposed to be carried out exclusively with the help of two pulley-pneumatic catapults located in the bow of the flight deck. K-252 catapults with a sliding truss designed by the Deutsche Werke plant provided four launches without recharging air cylinders.

The flight deck, covered with 50-mm teak bars, had a length of 241.0 m, a width of 30.7 m and was connected to the upper and lower hangars by three electric elevators located on the same axis, slightly offset from the center plane to the left side. The bow and middle elevators, which each had two octagonal cargo platforms, could simultaneously move aircraft from both hangars, and the stern elevator only from the top one. There were ABP elevators in the bow and stern parts of the flight deck, and two more elevators were intended for lowering aircraft engines and launch trolleys into the hangar (for repairs). From the cellars, the ABP was supplied to the lower hangar by special lifts, and to the upper hangar only by aircraft lifts.

A feature of takeoff operations was the use of launch trolleys, on which the aircraft were installed in the hangar and transported along with them to the flight deck. From the elevator platform along the rails, the cart with the aircraft was moved by the thrust of the propeller or with the help of deck spiers to one of the catapults. After the aircraft took off, the trolley was lowered onto the hangar deck using special inclined chain conveyors located in front of the forward section of the flight deck and transported along the monorail to the hangar. The elevator was supposed to be used in case of failure of inclined conveyors. To protect aircraft on deck from side winds, special wind shields were used, which were raised to a vertical position by electric motors using a simple screw drive in a few seconds. The landing of the aircraft was to be ensured by four aerofinishers, the cables of which were directed by a system of blocks to brake winches installed on the intermediate deck. For landing aircraft in low visibility conditions, the flight deck was equipped with electric lamps that indicated the dimensions of the landing strip and were installed flush with the wooden flooring.

The internal structure of the hangar, the design of the fuel and oil systems, and the fire-fighting equipment of the German ship were distinguished by a number of noteworthy original technical solutions, among which are high-speed fire-retardant curtains, a system for transporting launch carts and aircraft engines, and fuel and oil dispensers in the hangar.

The total capacity of aviation gasoline tanks located in two storage facilities in the bow of the ship’s hull exceeded 330 thousand liters. The refueling of aircraft with fuel and oil (as well as the suspension of ammunition) was to be carried out in hangars equipped with refueling stations. The same posts were provided on the flight deck.

The ship's power plant, in accordance with the current standards of the German fleet, without much hesitation was chosen as a steam turbine, with increased steam parameters. Required for full speed development is 200 thousand hp. distributed over four shafts, which were supposed to drive the GTZA with a full design power of 50 thousand hp. Each unit was supplied with steam (75 atm., 450 degrees C) by four La Mont boilers with a capacity of 50 t/hour. A supply of boiler fuel of 6,500 tons was sufficient to ensure a cruising range of six thousand miles at an economical speed. An interesting technical feature of the German AB was the use of two “Voit-Schnaider” installations - winged propulsors - to increase the controllability of the ship, which had a large windage, at low speeds.

The order for AB "A" with a standard displacement of 24,114 tons was issued to Deutsche Werke Kiel on November 16, 1935. The laying of the AB under serial number 252 on slipway No. 1 took place on December 28, 1936. Two years later, on December 8, 1938, a solemn ceremony took place launching the ship, which was attended by senior managers Reich - Hitler and Goering. On that day, AB received its name - she was christened in honor of her famous father Countess Hella von Brandenstein-Zeppelin.

One of the main difficulties on the path of the first German aircraft was the creation of carrier-based aircraft - Reich Minister of Aviation G. Goering, seeing Admiral Raeder’s persistent desire to obtain carrier-based aircraft (and “at the same time” to subordinate naval aviation to the fleet), naturally did not show a threat to his monopoly. there is no interest in this. His catchphrase was the famous: “Everything that flies is mine!” However, in 1938-1939. The Arado-197 biplane fighter, which was a development of the Arado-68, was flight tested. The Me-109T was finally approved for the role of a carrier-based fighter, and the Junkers-87C was planned as a carrier-based attack aircraft. Five Junkers-87C vehicles, equipped with folding planes, were manufactured and tested at the Luftwaffe flight test institute in Travemünde. The Germans intended to use Fieseler 167 and Arado 195, built in prototypes, as multi-purpose aircraft (reconnaissance aircraft and light torpedo bombers). On April 16, 1942, the Fuhrer decides to resume completion of the Graf Zeppelin. Due to the danger of air raids, the transfer of the ship to Kiel was postponed, during which time three twin 37-mm and two quadruple 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft searchlights were installed on it. Only on November 30, 1942, three tugboats took the Graf Zeppelin out to sea, and on December 5, escorted by three minesweepers and six patrol boats, the Graf Zeppelin arrived safely in Kiel, where it was immediately placed in a 40,000-ton floating dock and work began. However, already on January 30, 1943, a new order from Hitler followed - to stop completion... Admiral Raeder commented on this event, calling the consequences of the Fuhrer’s decision “the cheapest victory in history for England at sea.” On April 21, 1943, the Graf Zeppelin was transferred to Stettin, where it remained until the end of the war. In the summer, the ship was raised by the Red Banner Baltic Fleet Emergency Rescue Service, and on August 19, the unfinished and mutilated German AB was added to the USSR Navy as a battle trophy. Shortly after the signing of Germany's act of surrender in World War II, the Potsdam Conference of the three victorious Powers took place. Among the decisions of this conference was the following: “The serviceable surface vessels of the German fleet, including ships that can be brought into service within a specified time, together with thirty submarines will be equally divided between the three Powers. The remainder of the German fleet will be destroyed.” On January 23, 1946, the Pravda newspaper published an Anglo-Soviet-American communiqué announcing the appointment of a triple naval commission. The Graf Zeppelin, which the USSR received as a result of the draw, fell into group "C" - sunken, damaged or unfinished ships, which required repairs for more than six months to bring to readiness using German shipyards. The Triple Commission developed recommendations, according to which all warships of group “C” were to be destroyed within a specified time frame by sinking at great depths or dismantled for metal. In 1947, government decree No. 601 “On the destruction of former German ships of category “C” in 1947” was issued. At the suggestion of the new command of the USSR Navy, it was decided to use these ships for conducting experiments to study combat survivability (the same was done with captured ships Allies, the most valuable practical experience was gained by the Americans as a result of bombing the German battleship “Ostfriesland” after the end of the First World War). a special commission was created under the chairmanship of Vice Admiral Yu.F. Rall, whose task was to sink the aircraft with testing the effects of aircraft bombs, artillery shells and torpedoes on it in the so-called “static” (detonation of pre-positioned ammunition) and “dynamic” (actual shooting and bombing) options. It was assumed that the AB would first be blown up by pre-laid bombs and artillery shells of various calibers, then it would be subjected to bombing from aircraft, shot from the main caliber guns of cruisers and, finally, “dashing” torpedo attacks by surface ships would complete the matter. It was also planned to detonate mines at various depths and distances. In the intervals between variants of this scenario, groups of military scientists had to take measurements, calculations and checks of the elements of the ship with minimal actions to restore its survivability (for example, starting pumps to pump out water). The implementation of the test program was assigned to the 4th Navy. By the time this decision was made, the Graf Zeppelin was far from being in its best condition - even from an unfinished construction stage. By August 17, 1945, the ship was examined at the Stettin naval base by the 77th detachment of the Red Baltic Fleet ACC. “Graf Zeppelin” lay (or rather, “stood”) on the ground without trim with a slight list to starboard. All turbines, auxiliary boilers and electric generators of the ship were blown up by the Germans, and watertight bulkheads were also destroyed at the explosion sites. There were holes in the underwater part measuring 0.8 by 0.3 m and a crack about 0.3 m long. The propellers were removed from the shafts and laid on the flight deck (to reduce electrochemical corrosion of the hull). The aircraft elevators were also blown up, and in the area of ​​the aft elevator in the flight deck there was a large dent with a deflection arrow of 0.2 m. There were other, less extensive dents in the flight deck flooring from shell hits. The Graf Zeppelin was raised by simply pumping out water using motor pumps with preliminary sealing of the underwater holes and cracks. The surface holes in the hull and faulty portholes were repaired, but the damaged watertightness of the decks could not be restored due to the large amount of work and lack of time. The Graf Zeppelin was then towed to Swinemünde. When the ship arrived at the given square on the night of August 15-16, it turned out that it would not be possible to place it on the main anchor due to a break in the anchor chain (in which there was a defective link), and the installed Admiralty light anchor (small stop anchor) only limited AB drift to a small extent. This circumstance, as we will see, had a decisive influence on the entire test program. On the morning of August 16, tests of the surface effects of ammunition began. First, the pre-laid FAB-1000 (in the chimney), three FAB-100 and two 180-mm artillery shells under the flight deck were simultaneously blown up (FAB is a high-explosive bomb with a corresponding weight-caliber index in kg). During the second explosion, another FAB-1000 was blown up on the flight deck. The third series of simultaneous explosions consisted of the simultaneous detonation of a FAB-250 and two 180-mm shells. After the first series of explosions, an aerial bombardment of AB aircraft was carried out. To carry out this task, 39 crews of the 12th Guards Aviation Regiment of the 8th Mine-Torpedo Air Division and 25 Pe-2 aircraft were allocated - all of the regiment’s available serviceable aircraft. Two nine aircraft bombed at a signal from the leader in the flight, and part of the Pe-2s attacked the target individually. The strikes were carried out by two Catalina-type aircraft, one of which, being above the target, directed the strike group at it, and the second worked in search and rescue mode. In addition - management shock groups was also carried out from the “Volynets”, and on the deck of the “victim” a white cross 20 by 20 m was painted with stripes five meters wide. The first attacking group struck from a height of 2070 m and dropped 28 bombs, the second - about the same height, dropped 36, and the third (individual bombing) was “unloaded” with 24 bombs. Three planes were forced to drop bombs into the sea in an emergency. The result of bombing an almost motionless, defenseless and not at all small ship turned out to be “impressive”: out of a hundred bombs, only six hit the target, and only five hits were found on the deck. The pilots insisted on eleven, believing that some of the bombs hit places already destroyed by previous explosions. One way or another, the AB bombing did not achieve anything in terms of survivability: the P-50 bombs turned out to be too low-power and did not cause significant damage, except for dents in the deck 5-10 cm deep. However, one of the bombs made a hole in the boule with a diameter of about 1 m. For the combat training of the “Stalinist falcons”, the “Graf Zeppelin” attacks were too range-based and, apparently, not very instructive: air defense, of course, was not carried out, the guidance aircraft “walked” unhindered over the target, the bombing altitude corresponded to the zone of dense anti-aircraft fire. At this point, the “static” surface testing program was completed, and preparations began for testing under the influence of underwater weapons. However, on August 17, a gradual deterioration of the weather began - the waves increased to three points (wind - 5-6 points) - and the AB began to drift into the shallow water area. There was a real threat that it would not be possible to sink it at a decent depth (at the beginning of the tests it was 113 m, and at the end of the first stage it was already 82 m). Vice Admiral Yu.F. Rald received independent decision stop testing and quickly finish off the AB with torpedoes from surface ships. Therefore, torpedo boats (Elko type) TK-248, TK-425 and TK-503, as well as the destroyers “Slavny”, “Stroy” and “Stroyny” were called from Baltiysk. The boats were the first to arrive at AB. The attack by TK-248 was unsuccessful - the torpedo passed under the keel of the AB without exploding. After 15 minutes, TK-503 was hit on the starboard side by a torpedo. The explosion destroyed the structure of the boule, but the armored belt behind it was undamaged. An hour later, the destroyers approached, and “Slavny” again scored a hit on the starboard side with a torpedo shot. The Graf Zeppelin began to slowly roll to starboard, and after a quarter of an hour the list reached 25 degrees. At the same time, the trim on the bow increased. Another eight minutes later (23 minutes after the explosion of the second torpedo), the Graf Zeppelin, with a roll of 90 degrees. and bow trim 25 degrees. disappeared from the surface of the sea.