Siemens-Schuckert I.
Siemens-Schuckert I was a semi-rigid airship from Siemens-Schuckert-Werke .
Building history
At the suggestion of the Chief of the General Staff, Helmuth Johannes Ludwig von Moltke , Georg Wilhelm von Siemens dealt with the plan from August 1907 to enter into military airship construction with his company Siemens-Schuckertwerke . They opted for the development of impact airship or semi-rigid airship - probably because it was believed that the technological edge of the Zeppelin -Werke the construction of rigid airships not being able to catch up. Work on the ship began in November 1907 and Otto Krell was in charge of development . The final assembly and meeting with the hull took place in 1909, on March 14, 1910 the airship received its first gas filling. After further changes, a second gas filling took place on December 22, 1910. In 1911 the ship was completed in the world's first rotating airship hangar in Biesdorf-Süd and stationed there.
Test drives
The airship, named SSL I, rose for its first voyage on January 23, 1911 , which lasted 40 minutes. After 28 damage-free test drives, it was considerably rebuilt in June 1911 and enlarged to 15,000 m³, followed by 45 more (a total of 73) drives (now as SSL II) by May 2, 1912. The crew consisted of ten to eleven men, led by the airship leader Hauptmann a. D. Christoph von Krogh.
Short journeys in the vicinity of Biesdorf were used for the technical inspection of the airship. In addition, there were longer demonstration and acceptance drives, in which officers of the General Staff or the War Ministry took part, as well as demonstrations on the ground for technicians, scientists, administrative and government members, including Prince Heinrich of Prussia on February 4, 1911 . On February 2, 1912, Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin took part in a trip. Many of these journeys lasted three to four hours and took place via Berlin and the surrounding area, the longest journey led to Gotha .
Last drive
A test drive with a water landing on the Müggelsee was planned for May 2, 1912 . When attempting to put the machine gondolas on the water, the front gondola was submerged in the water, which damaged the front propellers. With the rear propellers of both gondolas intact, the return journey to the airship hangar was successful. However, the dropping of the safety rope from a height of 100 meters failed and the ground crew could not stop the airship. It drove into the treetops of a pine forest that surrounded the hall. The maneuverable ship first had to be makeshift repairs before it could be landed. The test drives were then discontinued. The General Staff had already decided to buy the airship before the accident and bought it in July 1912 after lengthy negotiations. It was immediately decommissioned and later scrapped. Siemens discontinued its airship development after the experience with the Siemens-Schuckert I.
technology
The information about the quality of the ship is contradictory. On the one hand, it surpassed all previous ships in terms of speed and payload many times over. It had three times the volume of previous impact airships. On the other hand, it did not satisfy the military, among other things because of the insufficient height of the climb, and the emerging zeppelins eclipsed the technical advantage.
- Length: 118 m
- largest diameter: 13.2 m
- Volume: 13,500 m³, later 15,000 m³
- Carrying gas : hydrogen
- Drive: four Daimler engines, each with 92 kW (125 PS)
- Propulsion: Two four-bladed and four double-bladed steel propellers with narrow propeller blades and 3.5 m diameter
- Top speed: 72 km / h.
- Outer cover made of three-layer fabric with a rubber insert for gas tightness
See also
source
Frank Wittendorfer: the hall. Airships between Biesdorf and Karlshorst. Kulturring in Berlin eV, Berlin 2007. ISBN 3-9810679-5-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Braun: The rise and fall of airship travel - an economic historical analysis. eurotrans-Verlag, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 3-936400-22-9 , p. 163 f.
- ↑ Details on the airship hangar in Biesdorf ( Memento from July 12, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )