LZ 126

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The USS Los Angeles is anchored on the converted tanker USS Patoka

The Zeppelin LZ 126 , later in service with the US Navy as the ZR-3 USS Los Angeles , was an airship that was built in Friedrichshafen from 1923 to 1924 and is considered the most successful American rigid airship . In Germany it was nicknamed "America Airship" or "Reparations Luftschiff".

Origin and construction

Zeppelin LZ 126 over the Oberwiesenfeld in Munich, 1924
Zeppelin ZR III over Berlin, 1924

After the end of World War I , the Allies limited German airship construction to small airships and completely prohibited the construction of military airships . Only the USA, which had not ratified the Versailles Treaty , continued to be interested in cooperation with Germany in this area. In the US, both the Army and the Navy saw a future for rigid airships as long-range reconnaissance aircraft . Hugo Eckener , the chairman of the Zeppelin Society, succeeded in getting the US government contract to build a large airship (ZR-3) to Friedrichshafen. Previously, the R38 rigid airship , which was commissioned in England and was intended as the US ZR-2 naval airship, had an accident in August 1921 on a test drive before it was handed over.

The production of the zeppelin was also financed by Germany itself as part of the reparations payments for the First World War . The USA originally claimed 3.2 million marks, since they had escaped reparation from two naval airships when they were destroyed by their crews on June 23, 1919. The order for LZ 126 was awarded to Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH on June 26, 1922 . The Zeppelin insisted, among other things, on the condition that the airship should be brought to America by a German crew by air.

In order to circumvent the allied ban on the construction of military airships, the airship was officially delivered to the USA on the condition that it was used exclusively for civilian purposes. Accordingly, the LZ 126 was designed by the engineer Ludwig Dürr for commercial use and, in addition to the 30-person crew, could also accommodate up to 30 passengers. LZ 126 was the first airship ever that had sleeping facilities for the passengers. The passenger compartments, which were comparable to train compartments, had fold-down couches, as they are known from sleeping cars.

The keel was laid on November 7, 1922. In August 1924, LZ 126 was completed. The first of several test drives within Germany (Munich, Berlin) took place on August 27, 1924 from Friedrichshafen. The ship was the first zeppelin to be provided with a coating that contained aluminum particles to reflect solar radiation and thus reduce the heating of the gas. She made the entire hull shine silvery and appear even more elegant. At the time of its completion, the LZ 126 was the largest airship in the world.

Overpass

LZ 126 landing in Lakehurst
Hugo Eckener (right) during the transfer of the airship Zeppelin LZ 126, later ZR-3 "USS Los Angeles", from Germany to the USA in October 1924

As commander, Hugo Eckener took off personally on October 12, 1924 at 6:35 a.m. to transfer the airship to Lakehurst , after a start had to be canceled the day before due to bad weather. In addition, they had the weighing stowaways discovered. A reporter from the International News Service and a photographer from the International Newsreel tried to hide in the stern.

ZR 3 in America - special sheet - special report on radio reception - Dresdner Anzeiger - October 15, 1924 - 10:30 a.m.

The Zeppelin company had to be liable for LZ 126 with all its assets, because the transatlantic voyage was considered to be such a great risk that Eckener was unable to obtain insurance for the company. LZ 126 was only the second airship to cross the Atlantic. Only the English R34 made a round trip in 1919. Eckener had selected his most capable people for the trip, among them, for example, Anton Wittemann as navigational officer, who also published his memories of the transfer flight in writing. Five of the officers on watch from the 27-strong crew had an airship license. Four officers from the US Navy and Army were on board as passengers, and they were later to be responsible for the ship's use in the US.

The trip led across the Gironde , the northwest corner of Spain and the Azores , where mail was dropped via Angra do Heroísmo , to the middle of the Atlantic. There the airship encountered a low pressure area with strong southwest headwinds, which caused Eckener to bypass it to the north. East of Halifax , easterly winds were then encountered, which carried the ship quickly over the Newfoundland Banks and at four in the morning over Boston . There were no major incidents during the crossing.

On October 15, after a journey time of 81 hours and two minutes and 8050 kilometers, the successful airships were enthusiastically welcomed by the US population on their safe arrival in Lakehurst. When the ship circled over the New York harbor shortly before, all the ship's sirens and fire department sirens sounded. Thousands of people had also gathered at the airship hangar.

Later, the airships, for whom a confetti parade was held on Broadway , were officially received by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House . The delivery trip was subsequently given the character of a peace mission in the sense of a reconciliation between Germany and the USA after the First World War.

Baptism and commissioning with the US Navy

The ship was brought to the Washington Navy Yard on November 15, 1924 . There the first wife Grace Coolidge , who is quoted with the words "Because it came to us like an angel of peace", renamed LZ 126 as ZR-3 USS Los Angeles . ZR standing for the English: Z eppelin r igid to German Zeppelin airship. Under this designation, LZ 126 was put into service as the third rigid airship of the US Navy.

The used of the Zeppelin works hydrogen - carrier gas was immediately after the takeover of the ship by the Americans against helium replaced. At that time, helium was still so rare and precious that the airship ZR-1 USS Shenandoah contained a large part of the amount of helium previously produced by the USA as the only producer: just under 1.8 of a total of around 2.4 million cubic feet . Therefore, the older rigid airship first had to hand over its filling to the USS Los Angeles . A thousand cubic feet (approx. 28 m³) cost the USA about 120 US dollars in 1922/23. Even if production costs continued to drop significantly in the following years, to $ 47 in 1925 and $ 34 in 1926, that was still a multiple of the hydrogen price.

The helium filling increased the safety of the new ship significantly, but in addition to the higher costs, it also reduced its payload and range . Furthermore, a ballast water recovery system was installed, which was supposed to recover water by condensation of the exhaust gases.

business

Lakehurst, 1925

The new airship was used by the Navy as a flying laboratory as well as a training and test airship to explore the commercial and military possibilities of large airships and to develop new tactics for air and naval forces.

On January 24, 1925, the USS Los Angeles served as a solar observatory for a group of scientists who wanted to observe and photograph a total solar eclipse without the interference of possible clouds.

In the first few months of its operation, the USS Los Angeles made several trips to Bermuda (February 20 - February 22, 1925) and Puerto Rico in May 1925. An attempt was also made to moor on a mooring mast on the ship USS Patoka . In total, the ZR-3 was supposed to moor at the Patoka 44 times . A trip to Minneapolis on June 6, 1925 was canceled due to an engine failure. The following revision revealed even more deficiencies. The gas cells had already become porous and had to be replaced. The skeleton also showed signs of damage. The calcium chloride used as frost protection in the engine's cooling water caused corrosion to the aluminum supports. The ship remained in the Lakehurst hangar for the conversion work and temporarily returned its lifting gas to the USS Shenandoah . After it was lost on September 3, the resumption of voyages on the Los Angeles was delayed until March 1926, as helium supplies, among other things, had become scarce due to the accident.

The involuntary "headstand" of the ZR-3

The airship was also used to calibrate the then new radio compass stations on the east coast of the USA in mid-1926 . They should make it easier for ships to navigate the North American coast.

On August 25, 1927, the Los Angeles involuntarily carried out a maneuver that was unique in the history of large airships on the 49 meter high anchor mast in Lakehurst. When the coming wind lifted the stern of the ship anchored at the bow a little, it got into a colder and denser layer of air and began to rise inexorably due to the increase in lift. Although the crew immediately tried to compensate for the situation by shifting their weight, the ship could only be balanced again after it had performed a "headstand", standing almost vertically in the air. Remarkably, the airship was only slightly damaged and there were no injuries. It was able to go back into operation the next day. This incident led to the decision to abandon the concept of the high mast for airships in favor of lower structures on the same day.

On January 28, 1928, a landing on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga was carried out. A one-time test in which passengers, fuel and water were transferred. On February 20, 1928, ZR-3 carried out the first non-stop flight over 3,650 km from New York to the Panama Canal and returned a few days later with stopovers in Cuba and at the USS Patoka .

ZR-3 lands on the USS Saratoga

On June 3, 1929, the USS Los Angeles succeeded in picking up an aircraft in flight and putting it down again. Similar attempts had already been made in Germany and England during the First World War. This happened at a speed of about 90 km / h at an altitude of about 760 m near Lakehurst. The UO-1 aircraft hooked onto a trapezoid attached below the ship. Further successful tests were then carried out. The following year, a glider with the same technology was launched from the Los Angeles . The experiments lasted until October 1931. This proved that airships were able to bring cargo and passengers from and on board without landing themselves. These tests were followed by the construction of special combat aircraft with which the new airships of the US Navy (ZRS-4 and 5) were equipped.

After the invention of the echo sounder and successful trials in shipping, its use in aviation was tested in test drives with the ZR 3. The Zeppelin shipyard judged: "There is no doubt that of all methods for determining height, the acoustic one is the one that will meet all requirements."

After the Allied restrictions on military airships had been lifted, the Los Angeles took part in a major naval maneuver off Panama from February 1931 as the first airship since 1925. She was now allowed to carry weapons and be led by officers in military uniforms. She later operated for a while with the new and larger rigid airship ZRS-4 USS Akron .

Decommissioning

ZR-3 was taken out of service for economic reasons on June 30, 1932, although fully operational, but continued to be used for tests on the ground. At this time, the ZRS-4 USS Akron was already in service and the sister ship, the ZRS-5 USS Macon , was under construction. The ship was initially stored in such a way that it could be made airworthy again within 30 days.

On January 6, 1939, it was decided to use the ship for further tests, but only on the ground, and then to disarm. In June, part of the shell was removed to allow a view of the interior and the airship was released for inspection. From 20 June to 8 September, when President Roosevelt by a limited national emergency ( limited national emergency had been) proclaimed and all the bases were closed to visitors, had already 44,871 visitors registered in the guest book. On October 24, 1939, ZR-3 USS Los Angeles was removed from the list of US Navy ships. As a result, scrapping began immediately, which dragged on until December 15th.

In total, the USS Los Angeles covered 331 journeys in 4,398 flight hours, 345,000 km in its seven years and eight months of service (the longest of a US rigid airship). It was the most successful airship in the United States and the only one of the five US rigid airships that did not end in an accident.

Technical specifications

Funk exhibition Berlin on Kaiserdamm. Replica of the radio cabin of the ZR-3, 1924
Parameter Data
Length without mast harness 200.00 m
Largest diameter 27.64 m
Nominal gas content (95%) 70,000 m³
Impingement gas content 73,680 m³
Number of gas cells 14th
drive five twelve-cylinder - V-engines with a total power of 1545 kW (2100 hp)
gasoline engines type Maybach VL I (309  kW  / 420 hp at 1400 min -1 )
Top speed 127 km / h
Marching speed 113 km / h
Empty mass 39,690 kg
Payload under normal conditions 45,780 kg
Range 12,500 km

(as of 1924)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ K. Clausberg: Zeppelin: The story of an improbable success. Augsburg 1990, p. 13.
  2. ^ Anton Wittemann: The America trip of the ZRIII. With the airship across the Atlantic Ocean. The history of the entire Zeppelin construction. Amsel, Wiesbaden 1925.
  3. ↑ "The Great Zeppelin"
  4. ↑ Helmut Braun: The "miracle gas" helium, US domestic politics and the German zeppelins. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 53 (4/2005), pp. 573, 575
  5. ^ Franz Neumann: The origin of the echo sounder and its inventor. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 340, 1925, pp. 44-45.

literature

  • Siegfried Borzutzki: LZ 126 ZR III "USS Los Angeles". Eppe, Bergatreute 1998, ISBN 3-89089-055-5 .
  • Peter Kleinheins: The big zeppelins. VDI, Düsseldorf 1985, ISBN 3-18-400687-5 (including reprints of Ludwig Dürr's publications).
  • Anton Wittemann: The America trip of the ZRIII. With the airship across the Atlantic Ocean. The history of the entire Zeppelin construction. Amsel, Wiesbaden 1925.
  • Bruno Pochhammer (Ed.) Logbook ZR III. Fischer, Freiburg 1924.
  • John Provan : LZ-127 "Graf Zeppelin" - The story of an airship , Amazon Kindle ebook, 2011, English, 2 volumes, table part of the journeys of LZ 126 / ZRIII and LZ 127.

Web links

Commons : LZ 126  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on November 25, 2004 in this version .