City of Zeppelins - Friedrichshafen / GZG

It was hundred years ago, that Ferdinand Count Zeppelin received his first patent for a stiff airship.

Stiff airships - unlike balloons - are equipped with a frame of aluminium which is stable and light at the same time. It is braced with wires in order to remain elastic. The vehicle is navigated by a tail unit consisting of 2 stabilizer surfaces on the right side and on the left and 2 surfaces on the top and below.

On 2nd July 1900 the first Zeppelin LZ1 took off from a big raft on the Lake of Constance into the air above the bay near at Manzell. It was powered with two Daimler diesel engines, each with an output of 15 PS. This equals the performance of a VW Kaefer from the year 1938. Compared to this, one of the later airships , for example the LZ 129, had four Maybach engines with 1050 PS each. They produced a speed of 125 km/h. The Zeppelins had a length of 128 meters (LZ 1) to 245 meters (LZ 129). The diameter of a Zeppelin was from 11,7 meters (LZ 1,2,3) to 45,5 meters (LZ 129,130).

The biggest part of the interior space was filled with hydrogen, the rest was allocated to passenger rooms. Additionally, there was on the lower side of the Zeppelin a nacelle for the crew. In 1910 the passenger service with airships began.

In the beginning, the passenger rooms were equiped meager. In the course of time, the passengerrooms became increasing luxurious. In the both airships LZ 129 and LZ 130, a grand piano could be carried, because the rooms were very spacious. Many of the rooms had running water which was kept in big tanks. An extra room, specially equiped because of the danger of explosion, was set outside for smokers. From the nacelles a ventilation shaft led to the upper side of the Zeppelin.

Additional luxuries were a dining hall and a bar, sleeping cabins with running warm and cold water and a spacious lobby. This was already very astonishing at the time, because LZ 7 featured for the first time a passenger cabin with relatively uncomfortable chairs.