Carl Maybach]

CHAPTER II

The Zeppelin Organization at the Time of Its Greatest Activity 1918-1919

The Zeppelin Endowment for the Propagation of Air Navigation (Zeppelinstiftung zur Foerderung der Luftfahrt) which Count Zeppelin founded with the subscription fund of 6,000,000 marks presented to him by the German people in 1908, is administered by a Board of Directors, of which Baron Max Freiherr von Gemmingen, Zeppelin's nephew, who worked with him from the start, is Chairman. The other Directors are Baron von Ba.s.sus and Dr. Hugo Eckener.

The Zeppelin Endowment owns Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin (Zeppelin Airship Building Co.), the construction company organized in 1908 and controls the "DELAG" organized, as stated before, in 1910 for the operation of commercial Zeppelins. Interested in the "DELAG" are a number of financiers, though with all the others, it was under the personal supervision of Count Zeppelin, and after him the Directorate of the Zeppelin Endowment.

At the time of the Armistice the construction and operating companies employed 1,600 persons on their executive and engineering staffs and 12,000 workmen.

Many subsidiary companies were organized and operated, specializing in the various branches of Zeppelin work, experimenting and producing.

Many Subsidiary Companies

[PLATE 29: Zeppelin Village (Zeppelindorf), 1916.

Constructed by the Zeppelin Airship Building Company for its employees and their families.

A Typical Double House.

A Typical Single House.]

These subsidiary companies are also controlled by the Directorate. They were not permitted to disintegrate during the difficult period following the war, but instead, have kept their personnel and facilities intact and are ready to continue the work which was interrupted by the terms of the treaty. They produce respectively motors, gas bags, propellers, gears, sheds and, in fact, everything pertaining to aerial navigation including airplanes, flying boats and parts.

The Construction Plants

The great construction plants are organized on the same principles as ship yards. Over them all is the General Director, Mr. Alfred Colsman, and Chief Engineer, Dr. Ing. Ludwig Durr, the latter having been with Count Zeppelin since the first airship was started and to whom much of the credit must be given for the success attained.

There are various departments including the planning and supervising divisions, two designing divisions (one for scientific and general design, the other for workship and drawings), the manufacturing and erecting divisions, calculating and accounting, testing and controlling, and general maintenance divisions. The research department is a separate organization.

The Airship Factories

In the airship factories the framework is made and erected. The envelope is prepared, pa.s.senger and engine gondolas completed and a.s.sembled along with other apparatus and instruments. The power plant is built, excepting the motors and parts of the gear work. Research work along the lines of airship development is conducted there.

The original plant built at Friedrichshafen in 1910 included a double shed, workshops, offices and laboratory buildings. The shed would not accommodate ships of greater diameter than 52feet (16 meters), so in 1914 new workshops and another shed was built, to be followed the next year by a still larger shed.

[PLATE 30: The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Schwaben", 1912.

The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Schwaben", 1910.

Count Zeppelin and Doctor Eckener in the pilot car.]

During 1915 and 1916 better workshops (Plate 16), offices and a larger laboratory, together with the largest wind tunnel on earth were completed, along with a low pressure chamber for testing motors, a new development as unique as it was important to the automotive science.

The Hydrogen Plant

The original hydrogen plant was enlarged to a capacity output of 353,100 cubic feet (10,000 cubic meters) daily, with storage facilities for 2,118,600 cubic feet (60,000 cubic meters). Since the war, the storage facilities have been reduced to 706,200 cubic feet (20,000 cubic meters) by order of the Allied Commission.

Powerful Radio Station

The Zeppelin wireless plant, started in 1910, has continued to develop with the science of radio and is now able to communicate with the United States.

The duralumin factory is capable of meeting all Zeppelin requirements.

The Great Zeppelin Hangars

The original shed, built in 1908-09 and first used in 1910, is now the ring building factory, where the great transverse frames for the Zeppelins are made. It is 603 feet (184 meters) long, 150.8 feet (46 meters) wide and stands 65.6 feet (20 meters) high-huge dimensions in the early days but utterly dwarfed by the great sheds which have since appeared alongside. There are double doors at each end, one set operated on the turning, the other on the sliding principle. They are opened and closed by electricity in a few minutes.

In this shed twenty-eight Zeppelins were a.s.sembled, the last being LZ-39 after which it was devoted to the transverse ring frames.

[PLATE 31: The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Victoria Louise", 1912.

The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Victoria Louise", 1912.]

Twenty Zeppelins were built in the new shed, number one (Plate 16), which is 629.8 feet (192 meters) long, 129.23 feet (39.4 meters) wide and 91.8 feet (28 meters) high. Its double sliding doors are electrically operated.

Six of the larger Zeppelins were either built or reconstructed in another new shed, number two, erected to accommodate ships of 1,942,050 cubic feet (55,000 cubic meters) and more. It is 787.2 feet (240 meters) long, 150.8 feet (46 meters) wide and 114.8 feet (35 meters) high. Its sliding doors can be opened or closed within fifteen minutes. Both of the large sheds have long docking rails at each end which enables the Zeppelins to leave or return to shelter within a few minutes.

Another shed near the works at Loewental was turned over to Zeppelin by the Government. The Navy Zeppelin L-11 was built there in 1915. The last one was the navy ship L-72 which was completed as the armistice was signed. It was not inflated for delivery; and, therefore, remained the property of the Zeppelin Company.

In the spring of 1919 the L-72 was outfitted for a demonstration flight from Berlin to the United States and return; but it was prevented by the Allied Commissions which ordered it to be kept in the shed until delivered to France. All the Zeppelins a.s.sembled at Loewental were fabricated at the main plant and taken there only for final a.s.sembling of the parts.

The Potsdam Plant

[PLATE 32: The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Victoria Louise".

The ship's 1000th trip, totaling 40,000 miles in 1292 hours and during which 22,039 pa.s.sengers were carried without injury of any kind.

The "DELAG" Pa.s.senger Zeppelin "Victoria Louise".

Count Zeppelin and Doctor Eckener beneath the ship.]

The Zeppelin plant at Potsdam was erected in 1912 as an airship harbor and the following winter became one of the main construction centers with shed, workshops, and other necessary equipment. Here the pa.s.senger Zeppelin "=Sachsen=" was lengthened early in 1914. The last of the sixteen ships built there was the army Zeppelin LZ-81 late in 1916, after which, because the shed was too small for the larger ships, it was used for building giant seaplanes. Later on it was converted into a special repair factory of all the airship motors. The airship personnel was transferred to the Staaken plant near Berlin.

The Colossal Staaken Plant