"Heavenly Titanics". The history of the heyday and decline of the era of airships. History of airships A short message about the airship
The airship belongs to the class of aircraft and is identical in design to a balloon. Among its distinctive features are a large carrying capacity, the ability to stay in the air for a long time, low cost and docking at any site. The only disappointment is the low speed km / h, limited to 20 units. With the development of powerful models of aircrafts, in modern society there is growing interest in who created the first airship and where they can be used. These are very beautiful and powerful machines that are experiencing a rebirth today. The photo shows a modern domestic airship.
How it all began
As follows from the chronicle, the first airship in the world, operated by the Frenchman Henri-Jacques-Girard, took to the skies over Versailles in September 1852. The length of the spindle-shaped form, equipped with a steam engine, reached 4.4 m.At that time, many countries began to create their own airship, the first flight of their miracle devices was recorded in history:
- The Dupont de Lomme airship was launched in 1872.
- A German mechanic Henlein equipped the aircraft with a gas engine, thanks to which the speed increased to 19 km / h.
- France is one of the first airships built in Europe, on which the Tissadier brothers installed batteries.
Airship "France"
- In Germany, the implementation of the idea belongs to the scout Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who presented a new development in 1900. Throughout his life, Count Zeppelin improved his projects, and in 1911 he created the Erzatz Deutschland passenger airship, capable of accommodating 20 people on board. Since then, the count's airship was called zeppelin.
- For the first time, an internal combustion engine was installed by Captain Kostovich on the Rossiya airship. The engine itself is in the Monino Museum.
Airship building in Russia
The daring dream of flying has warmed the souls of more than one generation of people living on earth. Long before the onset of the era of aeronautics, Peter the Great, he was sure that his grandchildren would conquer the blue dome.
The first airship in Russia "Krechet"
The impetus for the development of aircraft was the Crimean War, after which a special commission was created in 1869 to oversee the invention of aerostat used for military purposes. August 1, 1970 is considered to be the birthday of military aeronautics, however, the first airship in Russia called "Krechet" appeared only in 1909. Then "Hawk", "Falcon" and "Dove" were created. In 1911, the country ranked third in this area.
Airship building in the USSR was actively developing in the 20-30s, in those years the "Osoaviakhim" appeared, which was managed by Umberto Nobile himself. Its speed reached 113 km / h, its capacity was 20 people.
With the advent of airplanes, the demand for bulky models dropped sharply. However, during the Second World War, dozens of them hovered over cities, cutting off the wings of enemy attack aircraft with cables.
Airships of the first world
The prospects of airships for military purposes were so obvious that equipping armies began long before the outbreak of hostilities. Whole fleets of ships were used as cargo carriers, reconnaissance aircraft and bombers. In this area, Russia was in the lead (over 20), followed by Germany (18) and Austria-Hungary (10). At the same time, Russia bought "Astra", "Burevestnik" and "Kondor" abroad, and built the rest of the ships at the Izhora and Baltic shipyards. Domestic engineers believed that an inexpensive soft airship is better than a huge prototype, which is easier to get into from the ground and set on fire.
What the first airships were filled with
The devices initially worked on hydrogen, which is lighter than air, and later it was replaced by helium. It was hydrogen thawing that caused death of "Hindenburg", flying with passengers across the Atlantic and considered the largest ship in Germany.
Airship - this is how the German word Luftschiffbau was literally translated, with which the German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin named his first rigid airship, which opened the real era of aeronautics. In English, by the way, the airship is designated by the word airship, which literally in Russian means the same “airship. Subsequently, the name of the designer himself became a household name, and in Russian "zeppelin" is now almost a complete synonym for the French word "airship", just like "jacuzzi", for example, means a bathtub with hydromassage, no longer associated with a person's surname.
Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Photo: Public Domain
Graf Zeppelin, however, was by no means a pioneer in airship construction - three years before him, another German aeronautical pioneer had already launched an airship with a rigid structure. And the French began to develop airship building a couple of decades earlier. True, the design of their ships was fundamentally different from that proposed by Zeppelin.
Aeronautics fanatic
For the first time, the retired general of the German army Zeppelin expressed the idea of the possibility of traveling by air using a huge sphere with a rigid frame, various compartments of which are filled with gas, back in 1874, making a corresponding entry in his diary. Then, however, he was primarily attracted by the opportunity to use airships for military purposes.
Later, he also emphasized military needs, sending endless letters to the first persons of the state. Those, consulting with other military men, each time responded to the enthusiast with a refusal. The other would probably just give up and give up. But Zeppelin was not like that. He began work on his first "airship" with his own money.
He did not give up after the first tests, which showed that the inventor's calculations underestimated the air resistance and interference that an ordinary breeze can introduce into the movement of the airship. Zeppelin did not give up here either - he began to siege the leading design bureaus with orders for more and more powerful engines that could compensate for the effects of air.
Gradually, seeing his first successes, the government began to show interest in the development of the count. He was even given scanty grants, which, however, still could not be compared with the amounts allocated for the design of airships by the inventor himself.
As a result, Zeppelin proved his case on July 2, 1900, demonstrating the first successful flight of the LZ-1 airship (Zeppelin Aircraft - 1).
Airship Zeppelin - 1. Photo: Public Domain
I would be in the sky
The first Zeppelin airship spent about 20 minutes in the air and, with the help of two engines manufactured by Daimler, managed to reach a speed of just over 21 kilometers per hour. It flew over the lake, making a fairly hard landing that caused minor damage.
The "injuries" of the zeppelin were quickly repaired, so that several more test flights could be carried out soon. However, the airship did not make a positive impression on the military, and they refused to continue to sponsor the Count's project.
But a dream is a dream. Zeppelin decides to improve his first model. To do this, he pawns his estate, his wife's jewelry and some other expensive things. Friends of the developer and the founder of the Daimler company, who sees a perspective in this industry, provide all possible help. Also on the side of the count remains the Kaiser of Germany. He does not give money directly, but allows him to earn about 120 thousand marks by approving the state lottery held by Zeppelin.
Zeppelin's models began to improve and grow, not only in the technical sense, but also in the literal sense. The length of the "belly" of the third airship exceeded 130 meters, and its speed already reached 50 kilometers per hour. All this made the military pay attention to the development of the graph and look at them from a slightly different angle.
As a result, airships were still recognized as a promising project. The Ministry of Defense allocated money for further development, but set tough tasks for the designer. So, his new ship had to be able to stay in motion for 24 days. At the same time, the flight range should not be less than 700 kilometers, and the speed of the vessel was supposed to be 65 kilometers per hour. As a result, airships rewrote all aeronautics records. The longest flight took place over 118 hours. The farthest flew more than 11 thousand kilometers, from Frankfurt am Main to Rio de Janeiro. And the maximum speed that the airship managed to develop was 140 kilometers per hour.
Airship building in Germany, which took the lead in this industry, began to develop at a rapid pace. Count Zeppelin's developments have found their application not only for military purposes. Airships were used for transporting goods, transporting people, and advertising campaigns. The dimensions of the airships increased and grew in importance.
Photo: Public Domain
The impact of the airship boom can only be judged by the fact that the tallest building in the world at that time, the Empire State Building, was designed so that its huge spire could act as a mooring mast for giant zeppelins. The architects planned that the disembarkation of people could be carried out at the 102nd floor level. True, after the very first tests, it became clear that the strong wind would not allow passengers to calmly descend on the skyscraper, and the idea was quickly recognized as utopian. But she was, and this already says a lot.
It is the airship that belongs to the first round the world travel by air. Moreover, on this journey, the zeppelin (and it was the airship designed by the German count that set off on the way) made only three landings for refueling. The airships were the first to fly over the North Pole and many other inaccessible natural objects that no one could see or photograph from the air before.
Airships were actively used during the First World War and often even took part in battles. In some armies, military airships survived until World War II, but they were practically not used in hostilities due to the high degree of their vulnerability associated with navigation difficulties and gigantic size.
Photo: Public Domain
On September 10, 1930, one of the most famous and probably the most successful airship (judging by the number of kilometers traveled and flights made), the "Graf Zeppelin", named after its 90-year-old creator, visited Moscow, which was a significant event for the Soviet capital Cities.
Aerial "Titanic"
If airship building continued to develop at the same pace as at the beginning of the last century, it is quite possible that we would still use zeppelins everywhere today. These huge flying structures had undeniable advantages (mainly in terms of comfort) even when compared to modern aircraft. Losing, of course, in the speed of movement.
But on May 6, 1937, the irreparable happened - the largest airship in the history of mankind, the Hindenburg, crashed. The crown of creativity of Count Zeppelin, who was called the "Air Titanic", took off from Germany on May 3 and after 3 days, having crossed the Atlantic Ocean, he was supposed to make a successful landing in New York.
Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / CarolSpears
Everything went like clockwork, the 245-meter giant (for comparison, the length of the Titanic was not much more - 269 meters) arrived in the economic capital of the United States on time. The pilot even gave a gorgeous show to the residents of the Big Apple, navigating his boat at a minimum distance from the tallest building in the world, the Empire State Building. The airship passengers could see those gathered on the observation deck, and even waved at them, receiving welcome signs in return.
After cruising over the city, the airship with 97 passengers on board headed to a suburb of New York to land. However, the ship's captain never received permission to land due to a storm warning. After waiting for the thunderstorm front in the air, the zeppelin finally began to descend. Just at this moment, a fire broke out in front of the airship. Soon the aircraft, all engulfed in flames thanks to the flammable hydrogen that filled its sections, crashed to the ground. Either the fire or injuries sustained in the fall killed 35 of the 97 passengers on board.
Photo: Public Domain
This incident led to the end of the era of air ships. The disaster was filmed with photo and video cameras. Shots scattered all over the world. The crash had such a resonance that soon all passenger flights in airships were canceled. The zeppelins continued to be used for the delivery of goods and some military purposes, but not for long.
A couple of years later, the largest airships were scrapped, although technology existed that could make flights safe. So, for example, instead of flammable hydrogen, helium could well be used. True, the United States, the only exporter of this gas on the planet at that time, refused to deliver to Germany. Because of this, the "Hindenburg", originally designed for helium, was converted to use hydrogen.
Also not clear are the reasons that led to the fire in the front of the "Hindenburg". The most popular version is the almost incredible coincidence of atmospheric conditions with the design flaws of the airship itself, which led to the ignition of hydrogen in one of the sections. But there is also a conspiracy theory according to which an explosive device with a clockwork was placed in the nose of the zeppelin. It supposedly was supposed to work at the moment when the airship had already landed and all the passengers left the deck. However, due to a delay in connection with a thunderstorm front, the clockwork allegedly worked while people were still on board, which led to the tragedy.
The true reason has not yet been established, and now it is unlikely to ever be established. We can only regret that such a beautiful and convenient means of transportation around the planet is in the past.
Airships continue to be used these days, but mostly for advertising purposes.
Photo: Creative commons / AngMoKio
where the infantry will not pass and the armored train will not rush ...
Interviewed by: Kirill Pletner, Nikolay Poroskov
What is the reason for the growing interest in airships, balloons and aeronautics in general? With this question, we turned to one of the heads of the Avgur aeronautical center, Mikhail Talesnikov.
The attention to our industry is really growing, - says Mikhail Telesnikov. - It is required to transport goods to areas where no means of transport, except for aerostatic ones, will help. In Russia, 70 percent of the territory is not provided with reasonable logistic schemes: in the North there is permafrost, there are no railways or motorways in abundance, there is no one to maintain these roads, even if they are built. And the construction will cost prohibitive sums.
OLD AIRJUB
Quite small territories adjoin the channels of navigable rivers, the connection with which could NOT be maintained by TRANSP01 only with the help of V03DUH0PLAVATE aviation. But the planes needed TRANSPORTATION full-fledged take-off and landing 0B0n0iKl runways, which were practically impossible to build in those places. EXPLOSION HAZARDOUS And the use of helicopters was necessary.
And then they turn their eyes to us, Pulling the Conduct
aeronautics. It is known that there are SEVERAL TEN that airships long before the sahvltlpis
moles and helicopters flew
across the Atlantic, having cabins, APPARATUS TO MAIT
promenade decks, even the hall at QUARTER EIFEL
with a piano. Interest in air blowers - in BALLON SPECIALIZATION is warmed up by today - Blp |
them with the success of the airship
tellers both in Russia and abroad. MULTIPLE LK ° T0NN E
In terms of flight economics, there is no better P0SLE THIS PASS than a classic airship. TO THE GROUND. We can fully implement a transatlantic flight or a flight between major cities of super-elite passengers, when there are rooms with a jacuzzi on board. Today, all records of airborne duration and flight range belong to airships.
OLD AIRSHIPS CANNOT BE CARRIED OUT. THERE WERE NO AIRCRAFT VEHICLES IN HISTORY, THERE WERE ARE VEHICLES-PASSENGER. THEIR 0B0L0CHKA WAS FILLED WITH AN EXPLOSIVE DANGEROUS V0D0R0D0M. THE APPARATUS WAS VERY Sophisticated. TO OVERRIDE THE FORCE PULLING THE AIRSHIPPLE INTO THE ATM-SPHERE, SEVERAL TENS0 PERSONS WERE GRAPPED BY THE ROPES AND P0DV0DELIH THE APPARATUS TO THE MAST - WITHOUT TWO-LIFTING. INTO THE BALLAST WITH A SPECIAL HOSE, THE BALLAST, FOR EXAMPLE A SEVERAL T0NN INLET, WAS UPLOADED. AND T0LK0 P0SLETE ET0G0 PASSENGERS LEAVED ON THE GROUND.
The plane spends 90% of the fuel and resource of its vehicles on lifting itself, cargo and passengers to a height, and only 10% on straight-line traffic. In a helicopter, this proportion is even worse. The airship spends 10% of its resource to climb, 90% to move. He, unlike aerodynamic devices, is environmentally friendly. But, of course, it loses to them in speed. He is like a cruise ship, only in the sky. - Is it expensive to build an airship?
CARGOES - Airship per kilogram of con-
I. IN HISTORY, the structure costs significantly
cheaper than any other aviation equipment. And in a 16-ton appa-
NEY FACILITIES, RATE THOUSANDS OF SQUARE METERS IN ASSEMBLY. climbing area. 1AP0LNENA - Tell us about your project "At-
10R0D0M VERY Lant ". What is the power-to-weight ratio of the DSC TAK0g0 apparatus of this type?
EODOLE1b POWER, - ^ ANT ^ onSH successful per-project ATLANT is not an airship. This
№ В АТМ0Sphere, abbreviation from "aerostatic
V CHEL0VEK transport aircraft
KI AND P0DV0DILI of a new type ”. We have rights to this
00FIRMED trademark. Energized-0th TOWER. it is relatively small, there is
0th TOWER. limitation on winds, at the device
SMALL HOSE0M relatively low speed. ¡Т, FOR EXAMPLE - Is it possible to cure the device
S. And TOLK0 from these "diseases"?
1IRS WERE - We have found such solutions. While airships use 90% of the Archimedean force, ATLANT uses aerodynamic force more in different flight modes (the body of the device is, in fact, a flying wing), as well as helicopter thrust. ATLANT at maximum load can take off and land vertically from any area
doc. It is a combined aircraft using all types of lift.
But the key element of ATLANT is the active ballasting system (SAB). The rigid body contains containers with lifting gas - helium. Before landing, the compressors are turned on, which compress the helium, its lifting force decreases as a result. Compressing, helium frees up space, which is filled with air, which is several times heavier than helium. Air and allows ballasting. With the help of the SAB, we solved two other problems: the ground crew and the infrastructure of the airship. A demo sample of the SAB is already working. It allows the apparatus to become 10 tons heavier in half an hour.
Due to its shape and rigid body, ATLANT is pressed to the ground in any wind direction. This means that there is no need for a ground team. This device is its own hangar. In addition, it can be anchored to the ground.
How much more profitable is it to trust the transportation of such a device than, say, an airplane or a helicopter? What is its cost-effectiveness?
The cost of a ton-kilometer for transportation between two airports is comparable to the same parameter for cargo liners, but we work from unprepared sites, so transportation
ki by aerostatic apparatus are cheaper than, say, helicopters. The larger the load the aerostatic apparatus carries, the cheaper it is to transport a kilogram of this load. Today we are talking about a load of 16 tons, in the near future it will be about 6 tons, then about 2 tons, and I think our children will build "thousand tonnages."
The demand for such devices is already colossal. In our country, there is no development of territories, but stagnation. The same is in the Brazilian jungle, Canada, North America. It is expensive to build and maintain roads there. Japanese geologists are developing only very large deposits, since roads and housing have to be built, and a small deposit will not recoup these costs.
The world has long been thinking about creating a machine like ATLANT. Our market is tens and hundreds of ton-kilometers annually. Now the Arctic region is added to the geography of the market, where military formations are deployed.
How can balloons be used for defense purposes?
For the transfer of troops, for example. The airship can be a missile carrier, it can carry early warning devices for a missile attack. The enemy first tries to suppress the radar stations. Ground-based radars, as soon as they turn on, are detected by the enemy. The radar on an aeronautical vehicle can operate by changing position and remaining invisible.
Is there a lot of romance in your business?
There is none. When we started 15-20 years ago, it was. The devices are certainly beautiful. The feeling of flight is wonderful. However, now the main thing is the economic side of the matter, it is necessary to pay out wages to everyone on time. Calculation is needed in everything - this is a business, a market. The paper on which the project is created is probably twice the area of the apparatus itself.
How soon will ATLANT be ready?
We are now at such a stage of the project that if we finance it in full, then in 2-3 years the device will be ready for flight. We need investors - we are still working at our own expense.
THE AEROSTAT PILOT'S TRAINING TIME ON THE AVERAGE IS 2-2.5 MONTHS. FOR SAFE AIRCRAFT AIRCRAFT QUALIFICATION CAN BE VERY MEDIUM. EVEN IF THE PILOT MAKES AN ERROR AT THE ALTITUDE OF 500 METERS, HIM HAS 10-15 MINUTES TO CORRECT IT, DIFFERENT FROM A PLANE, WHERE EVERYONE IS DECIDING IN MOMENTS.
Russia is developing a space bomber
Russia is developing a promising hypersonic strategic bomber that will be able to deliver strikes from space. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the teacher of the branch of the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces (Strategic Missile Forces), Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Solodovnikov. According to the expert, the strategic aircraft will take off from conventional airfields, patrol the airspace, go into space to complete assigned tasks and return back to its airfield. Special capabilities of the machine: through an exit into space, it will be able to reach any point of the planet in one or two hours. Solodovnikov also said that by 2020 a prototype engine for an aerospace bomber will appear.
“The engine will be dual-circuit, that is, it will be able to operate both in the atmosphere and switch to space flight mode without air, and all this on one installation. At the moment, there are no such engines in Russia yet, in one power plant two engines are combined at once - an aircraft and a rocket, ”the developer explained.
The cooperation of the enterprises that will participate in the project will be determined during the scientific and technical council, which will be held at the end of August.
The work will begin in 2018, "but by 2020 the hardware must be working," said Alexey Solodovnikov.
UAV "Owl"
solar powered completed
trials
The prototype of the first Russian atmospheric solar-powered satellite "Sova" has successfully completed the tests, having completed a two-day non-stop flight, Igor Denisov, Deputy Director General of the Advanced Research Fund, told RIA Novosti.
“Flight tests of an unmanned vehicle equipped with solar panels and batteries have fully confirmed the efficiency of the adopted technical solutions. The duration of the experimental flight was 50 hours at an altitude of up to nine thousand meters, ”Denisov said.
According to him, the ultimate goal of the project is to experimentally confirm the possibility of providing an ultra-long flight at all latitudes of Russia, including at latitudes above 66.5 degrees. The project is being implemented by the Advanced Research Foundation and the Tiber company within the SOVA project. The first prototype atmospheric satellite has a nine-meter wingspan and an extremely lightweight design - 12 kilograms.
“The duration of the flight was not limited by the capabilities of the model, but solely by the decision of the head of tests on the sufficiency of the cycle to confirm the declared characteristics. The start of flight tests of the second prototype of the Sova complex with a wingspan of 28 meters is scheduled for September 2016, ”Denisov added.
As noted in the fund, the Russian atmospheric satellite will help solve the problems of providing long-term monitoring in northern latitudes, as well as meet the growing telecommunication demands in various fields of activity.
“These functions are usually performed by spacecraft, which have a high cost and, at the same time, are far from fully satisfying the solution of tasks, especially in terms of providing a real scale of observation time. A solar-powered unmanned vehicle will carry out these missions more efficiently and at lower costs than artificial earth satellites, manned aerial vehicles or fuel cell drones, ”the Foundation said.
Based on materials from RIA Novosti
GLONASS vice versa
For all-weather observation of the movement on Earth's orbits, specialists from OKB MEI (part of JSC Russian Space Systems) have created a correlation-phase direction finder of a new generation "Ritm-M". It can determine the coordinates of space objects with an accuracy of 4-6 arc seconds. The complex will simplify orbital navigation, making maneuvers safer.
Now "Ritm-M" provides control of the Earth remote sensing satellite "Electro-L No. 2", which is undergoing state tests, the satellites of the "Luch" relay system and the "Briz-M" upper stages. The principle of operation of "Ritm-M" is similar to the principle of any modern satellite navigation system, only it works in the opposite order: to determine the coordinates of an object in orbit, its radio signals are picked up on Earth by five antennas that are spaced apart in space, which make up "Ritm-M". The information is transmitted from the antennas to the control center, where special software measures the relative delay time of the received signals and converts the measurement results into angular coordinates. This method allows one to obtain the highest measurement accuracy and does not require the installation of special trajectory means on board the spacecraft.
Today, there are more than 15 thousand artificial objects in the Earth's orbit, and their number is rapidly increasing. Our satellites operate as a whole swarm of controlled and uncontrolled
devices, parts of missiles and booster blocks. The requirements for control accuracy in such conditions are extremely stringent, an error threatens not only the loss of the apparatus, but also an international scandal.
Direction finders "Ritm-M" are one of the most advanced control tools capable of ensuring high accuracy of maneuvers, safety of operation of several spacecraft at a common point of station, correction of their orbits and evasion from space debris.
"Ritm-M" is all-weather, does not depend on cloudiness and black-and-white conditions, it can operate on any continuous radio signal emitted by booster blocks and spacecraft within altitudes from 200 to 40,000 km. The upper ceiling is due to the height of the orbits of most artificial earth satellites. The range of its action can be increased to 380,000 km - the distance from the Earth to the Moon, and the frequency range extended to 18 GHz.
Today "Ritm-M" operates on the territory of the Space Communication Center of the Moscow Power Engineering Institute "Bear Lakes" in the Moscow region. It is planned to build similar systems in the city of Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk Territory) and at the new Vostochny cosmodrome, as well as in the Western Hemisphere. This configuration will provide round-the-clock acquisition of coordinate and non-coordinate information on Russian and foreign spacecraft, upper stages at all launch sites, as well as monitoring the orbital-frequency resource.
Based on materials from the press service of JSC "Russian Space Systems"
I recently visited the airship museum in Friedrichshafen, which was opened in 1996 in a former river port on the shores of Lake Constance and has since become the main attraction of the city bombed during the Second World War. The museum has the world's largest collection of historical artifacts related to the theme of airships and its absolute highlight is the reconstructed part of the crashed airship LZ 129 "Hindenburg" with passenger cabins, a restaurant and part of the frame. The museum exhibits provide an excellent insight into how the largest airship that ever existed was built.
01. The museum is located in the most beautiful building of Friedrichshafen on the main square of the city in its very center. While on a visit to Friedrichshafen, you won't be able to pass by the museum - all roads lead to it.
02. The central part of the museum is occupied by the reconstructed part of the world's largest airship LZ 129 "Hindenburg", which crashed in 1937. Only part of the Hindenburg gondola has been restored here, but the scale is still impressive.
03. For a better understanding of the dimensions of the "Hindenburg", its model is shown next to the model of the museum building, a modern airship Zeppelin NT, a Boeing 747 aircraft and some kind of large ship.
04. A 1938 Maybach Zeppelin DS 8 car is installed on the site under the reconstructed airship. The company Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH, specializing in the production of aircraft engines, in connection with the obligations under the Treaty of Versailles, prohibiting Germany from the production of weapons, in 1921 switched to the production of its own cars. Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH made only car chassis, and the bodies were already made by the body shop - at that time it was a common practice in the European automotive industry.
05. The Maybach Zeppelin DS 8 was produced in Friedrichshafen for a full decade from 1930 to 1940. The car was equipped with a 12-cylinder engine with a capacity of 200 hp. and could reach a maximum speed of 170 km / h - incredible technical characteristics for that time. It was the top model in the company's production line.
06. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Maybach and Zeppelin names were inseparable and became a symbol of the highest quality and impressive reliability. As a result, Maybach gave the name Zeppelin for his largest and most luxurious limousine. It was at that time in the summer of 1929 that the Maybach-powered LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin circled the Earth, confirming the reputation of the Maybach motors as powerful and reliable. Naturally, the flights of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin were actively used for advertising purposes of Maybach Motorenbau GmbH products.
07. But back to the main theme of the museum exhibition - the Hindenburg airship. Construction on the LZ 129 began in 1931 and lasted for five years. The airship made its first flight in 1936. At the time of construction, it was the largest aircraft in the world. Its length was 246 meters, and the maximum diameter was 41.2 meters; the cylinders contained 200,000 cubic meters of gas.
The internal structure of the "Hindenburg"
08. The maximum weight of the aircraft was 242 tons of which 124 tons were payload. The airship carried 11 tons of mail, luggage and equipment, 88,000 liters of fuel for four 16-cylinder Daimler-Benz diesels with an operating power of 900 hp. each, 4,500 liters of lubricants and 40,000 liters of ballast water. The engines were located on outer nacelles located outside the outer shell in streamlined nacelles. Everything else, including the passenger gondola, was housed inside the outer hull. The airship developed a speed of 125 km / h and had a range of 16,000 kilometers at one refueling.
09. Climb aboard and get acquainted with the interior of the gondola. The boarding of the airship was entered through the reclining bridges.
10. Unlike other airships of the time, the LZ 129 was double-decked. To improve aerodynamics, the passenger gondola was located inside the outer hull. The crew of the aircraft consisted of 50-60 people, for whom 54 separate berths were provided. The crew cabins were not housed in a gondola, but inside the airship's hull.
11. I go up to the lower deck. On the lower deck there were toilets, showers (for the first time on an airship), an electric kitchen with an elevator for serving ready meals to the upper deck, a dining room for the crew, a bar and a smokers' lounge, which housed the only lighter on board, since before landing for safety passengers and crew members were required to hand over matches, lighters and other flammable devices. The smokers' salon was equipped with a special ventilation system, which created an overpressure inside in order to prevent hydrogen penetration into the interior in the event of a leak, and the entrance to the interior was carried out through an airlock. Panoramic windows were installed along the side of the gondola, through which one could observe the ground.
12. This was the appearance of the toilets on board.
13. On the upper deck there were passenger cabins, a large restaurant hall with panoramic windows, a promenade and a library. In the photo there is a corridor in the section of passenger cabins.
14. Initially, 25 double sleeping cabins were provided for passengers, but then the number of beds was increased to 72 and single cabins were added.
This was due to the fact that the airship was originally planned for the use of helium. It is slightly heavier than hydrogen, but fireproof. In 1930, during its first commercial flight, the largest British airship, the R101, crashed, which used hydrogen as a carrier gas. Then the fire that destroyed the airship killed 48 people. The Germans took this experience into account and designed their airborne Titanic to use helium. In the 1930s, only the United States was able to produce helium, which had an embargo on its export (Helium Control Act of 1927). Nevertheless, the Germans, when planning the airship, proceeded from the fact that helium for the airship would be obtained. After the NSDAP came to power in Germany, the National Munitions Control Board refused to lift the export ban. As a result, the Hindenburg was modified to use hydrogen, which made it possible to take on board even more payload and increase the number of passengers from 50 to 72.
15. This is what a single cabin looked like.
16. The equipment of the cabins was extremely Spartan - in addition to the beds, there was a folding washbasin with warm and cold water, a mirror, a locker for clothes, a small table and a button to call staff. Compared to the comfort level of ocean liners, the Hindenburg cabins provided only the bare necessities without frills, so passengers spent almost all their time in the public areas of the gondola, and the cabins were used only for sleeping.
17. Let's move on to the largest room on board - the restaurant hall, equipped with large panoramic windows. It is noteworthy that the reconstructed part of the Hindenburg airship was restored according to the original drawings and photographs, with the thoroughness and attention to detail inherent in the Germans.
This is how the original airship restaurant-hall looked like in the past:
18. During this walk I did not leave the feeling that I was on board the airship, and not inside the reconstruction.
19. Next to the restaurant there is a reading room, where desks were also equipped.
20. All furniture, interior details and the gondola itself were made of aluminum as the issue of weight reduction for the airship was one of the main ones.
Another snapshot from the past:
21. The view from the panoramic window to the Maybach below. I can imagine what panoramas the passengers could observe during the flight.
22. The museum also reconstructed part of the Hindenburg frame, all of which were made of lightweight and durable duralumin.
23. Even the recreated small part of the airship is impressive in its scale.
24. Diesel 16-cylinder DB 602 (LOF 6) engine developed by Daimler Benz AG, due to its low weight and high fire safety, was ideal for use on aircraft. Four of these engines were installed in the Hindenburg in nacelles outside the shell. The operational power of one such diesel engine was 900 hp, and the maximum was 1200 hp. The motor was articulated with a transmission that halved its speed and rotated a wooden propeller with a diameter of 6 meters.
"Hindenburg" during a flight over Lake Constance. Each of the four engine nacelles was connected to the main body by a bridge, and a duty mechanic was assigned to each to monitor the engine's operation.
Inside one of the Hindenburg's motor gondolas
Captain's cabin.
25. Part of the recreated duralumin airship frame.
26. Inside the outer shell of the airship there were various technical equipment, tanks with hydrogen, water, fuel, and so on. Longitudinal corridors provided access to all elements of the aircraft.
27. The restored part does not show the hydrogen cylinders - the basis of the airship's aeronautics. Before visiting the museum, I thought that the entire space inside the hull was filled with hydrogen, but it turned out that there were special cylinders inside that were filled with light gas.
The first test flight of the LZ 129 was made on March 4, 1936. The photo shows the workers of the Zeppelin plant in Friedrichshafen, seeing off the airship on its maiden flight.
From 26 to 29 March 1936 "Hindenburg" together with the airship LZ 127 "Graf Zeppelin" made a three-day flight over Germany, which was widely used for campaigning for the National Socialist Party. During this flight, which took place on the eve of the elections, campaign materials were dropped from the airship, urging people to vote for Hitler's party. Subsequently, the "Hindenburg" was repeatedly used by propaganda as a symbol of the rising from the knees of the German Empire, including he attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, held on August 1, 1936 in Berlin.
In the photo "Hindenburg" at the mooring mast.
The Hindenburg was designed primarily for transcontinental flights from Germany to South and North America, in particular to Rio de Janeiro and New York, and on March 31, 1936, the airliner set off on its first transcontinental flight from Friedrichshafen to Rio de Janeiro, which was successful. A month later, the first commercial flight took place from Friedrichshafen to New York, more precisely to the town of Lakehest (New Jersey), where the airport for airships was located. The flight duration was a record 61.5 hours.
Hindenburg over New York.
Before the accident, the Hindenburg made 17 successful transcontinental flights - 10 to the United States and 7 to Brazil, carrying 1,600 passengers across the Atlantic. The average flight time to America was 59 hours, back - 47 due to the passing air currents. The airship was 87% full when flying to the American continent and 107% when returning to Europe, with additional passengers being accommodated in the officers' cabins. A one-way ticket to New York cost at that time from 400 to 450 US dollars (in both directions 720-810 dollars), which is equivalent to today's 12,000-14,000 US dollars). So only very wealthy people could afford such a pleasure.
On the photo is a ticket for a transatlantic flight on the "Hindenburg" on the route: Frankfurt am Main - Rio de Janeiro.
The Hindenburg set off on its last flight on the evening of May 3, 1937. Having successfully crossed the Atlantic, on May 6, the Hindenburg arrived in New York at the appointed time and, circling a little over the city, set off towards Lakehurst airbase, where the landing was planned. Onboard there were 97 passengers and crew members.
Due to the thunderstorm front approaching the airbase, the airship had to circumnavigate the coast for a couple of hours, waiting for the thunderstorm front to move aside, after which it began its landing approach. At 19:11 the airship dropped to a height of 180 meters, at 19:20 the airship was balanced, after which the mooring ropes were dropped from its nose. At 19:25 in the stern area, in front of the vertical stabilizer above the 4th and 5th gas compartments, a fire occurred.
The photo shows a burning "Hindenburg" near the mooring mast.
Within 15 seconds, the fire spread 20-30 meters towards the bow of the zeppelin, after which the tanks with fuel and hydrogen were detonated. Half a minute after the fire, the Hindenburg fell to the ground next to the mooring mast.
Surprisingly, many survived this terrible catastrophe. 36 people out of 97 - 13 passengers, 22 crew members and one ground service employee were killed. Part of the team, led by the captain of the aircraft, Max Pruss, were pinned to the ground by the flaming debris of the burning hull, with severe burns, but they managed to get out from the debris of the burning airship.
The crash of the Hindenburg was filmed, this shocking newsreel spread all over the world and contributed to the formation of public opinion against airships, although in terms of the number of victims it was only the fifth accident in the history of aeronautics.
The causes of the accident remained a mystery. The German commission of inquiry and American experts who investigated the crash site and the wreckage of the aircraft agreed on the most likely version, according to which the explosion of the airship was caused by a hydrogen leak and the ignition of the air mixture from a spark resulting from the potential difference between parts of the outer shell and the frame. Conspiracy theorists believe that the cause of the disaster was the detonation of an explosive device planted by opponents of the National Socialists.
The crash of the flagship of the airship flotilla and the ensuing media coverage put an end to the commercial use of aircraft and caused the end of the era of huge airships. The owner of the airship, Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei, canceled all subsequent flights to the United States and Brazil, and soon the German government banned passenger airships, marking the beginning of the end of an era that lasted more than thirty years. The brother of the Hindenburg is the LZ 130 airship, which at the time of the disaster was under construction, although it was completed to the end, but was used for several years only for military and propaganda purposes, after which in the spring of 1940, by order of the Minister of Aviation Hermann Goering, it was cut into scrap metal.
Only 60 years after that accident in September 1997, the first airship of the new generation Zeppelin NT built in these decades, created right there in Friedrichshafen, took to the skies. Currently, his flights over Friedrichshafen can be observed almost daily.
28. To date, little has survived from the more than 30-year history of world airship construction, and most of the artifacts of that period are kept in the best museum dedicated to aeronautics - the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen.
29. In addition to the reconstructed part of the Hindensburg, the wreckage left after the crash of the world's largest aircraft is also on display.
30. Elements of the original frame.
31. There are also various devices taken from the brother "Hindenburg", sawn for metal - LZ 130. In the photo is a gyrocompass.
32. One of five engine nacelles sawn in the same 1940 airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin. After being cut, this gondola lay unprotected in the open air and was gradually taken away for souvenirs by collectors, only in 1972 the workers of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH saved what had survived.
33. Inside the nacelle is a 12-cylinder VL 2 engine manufactured by Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH. It was the last engine of the concern, created for airships, it was developed specifically for the airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin and could run on both gasoline and gas. The engine power was 570 hp.
34. The next exhibition shows a model of the Hindensburg and its hangar, which is no less impressive in size than the airship itself.
This is how this structure looked in the pictures.
35. Nearby, the top of the mooring mast with a piece of the Hindenburg's bow is exhibited
In general, if you are in those parts, I recommend visiting the museum, there is something to see, besides, there is nothing like it in the world. Fans of the history of aeronautics should include Friedrichshafen in their vacation in Germany.
Thanks to the French verb with the meaning "to manage", at least two words have appeared in the Russian language. One of them - the word conductor - is the name of the person who directs a group of musicians. The second word is called a controlled - as opposed to an uncontrolled hot air balloon - aerostat. Meet the airship.
By definition, an airship is an aircraft lighter than air, a balloon with an engine. The engine allows the airship to move regardless of the direction of the air flow. It is clear that airships arose only after the appearance of engines: before that, mankind, dreaming of the sky, made do with hot air balloons.
The inventor of the airship is considered to be the French mathematician Jean Baptiste Marie Charles Meunier. He came up with everything: the shape of an ellipsoid, three propellers for controllability, which had to be rotated manually by as many as 80 people, two shells: to change the volume of gas and, consequently, the flight altitude.
Meunier's ideas were implemented by a completely different person, the French engineer Henri Giffard. He constructed the world's first airship with a steam engine producing three horsepower. In September 1852, Giffard rode it over the Paris Hippodrome and flew about 30 kilometers at an average speed of 10 kilometers per hour. It is from this flight that the era of motor aviation and the era of airships are counted.
Twenty years later, an internal combustion engine was installed on a similar aircraft - this was done by the German engineer Paul Henlein.
The Giffard airship is usually called a soft airship. In such systems, the fabric casing also serves as a casing for the gas. The great Tsiolkovsky noted the shortcomings of such airships: the inability to maintain altitude, the high probability of fires, and poor horizontal controllability.
If you install a metal truss in the lower part of the shell, you get a semi-rigid airship - such was the famous "Italy" by Umberto Nobile.
Tsiolkovsky criticized soft airships not unfounded: back in the 80s of the 19th century, he calculated and proposed a project for a large cargo airship of rigid construction with metal sheathing.
Early airships contained the entire volume of gas in a single envelope, which was a simple oiled cloth. Then the shells began to be created from rubberized materials. This increased the service life of the airship. A little later, the gas began to be divided into different cylinders.
Airships differ in:
A type of shell that can be rigid, soft or semi-rigid;
By power plant (gasoline or diesel engine, electric motor or steam engine)
By appointment (for passenger transportation, military or cargo)
By the method of controlling Archimedean forces (thermal airships, displacement or combined), etc.
The idea invented in Russia was realized. At his own expense, Count Zeppelin built a rigid airship and personally tested it. By the First World War, the count's airships, which were named "zeppelins" in his honor, became a means of transportation.
Even at the time when the first airplanes were more like flying whatnots, airships were already flying and amazed people with their size, elegant shapes and flight capabilities. And in the first half of the twentieth century, a real competition began between airships and airplanes in their practical use for civil and military purposes.
During the war, the zeppelins bombed London, after its end they sailed across the Atlantic in a shuttle, and one even made a round-the-world flight. The zeppelins were brought down by hydrogen, which was used instead of helium: after the explosion and fire of the Hindenburg airship, nicknamed the "heavenly Titanic", the zeppelins went down in history.
The first airship was built in 1923. Then, at the headquarters of the Glavvozdukhflot, they created an airship and invited Nobile to the designers. Nobile coped with it, and created a semi-rigid Soviet airship "USSR V-5". Then they created the "USSR V-6", and he even set a world record for the duration of the flight.
Germany especially succeeded in airship building, whose comfortable aircraft began to transport passengers and goods over long distances. And who knows what means would have won this competition if not for the war, which rejected airships because of their slow speed and easy defeat even with simple weapons. Of course, in battle, aircraft were faster, more maneuverable, better protected, etc., and motor fuel was then relatively cheap.
Despite this, interest in airships did not fade away throughout the twentieth century, especially when all sorts of energy crises began, but their mass production did not take place. Firstly, it is difficult to overcome the competition of aircraft construction, which has turned into a giant industry, and secondly, in technical terms, airship construction has lagged far behind both in terms of design and in terms of infrastructure for design, construction and maintenance.
In the late XX - early XXI century, interest in airships increased again due to a sharp rise in the price of motor fuel and their obvious advantages over aviation. Why is the airship so attractive?
When using helium, it is much safer than an airplane. After all, helium does not completely fill the entire body of the airship, but is in bags. One bag bursts - the rest work. The airship is much more environmentally friendly. It does not require the use of hydrocarbon fuel for its movement. You can use atomic engines, electric motors, including solar-powered ones, etc.
The Russian "aeronautic fleet" currently has 7 transport ships. But there are already federal and regional programs for the development and construction of airships for various purposes. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation is not lagging behind with orders either. At the same time, the ideas of K.E. Tsiolkovsky, and new developments that allow you to control the lifting force of the airship, make vertical takeoff and landing, hover in the air with almost no energy consumption, land vertically on water and a solid surface, etc.
Hybrids of an airship and an airplane are in domestic development, which can be used in any mode - airplane, helicopter, as a sea hovercraft, etc. Also being developed are unmanned versions of airships, controlled from the ground, for the transport of goods, video surveillance, telecommunications purposes, etc.
Let's talk about some of the future airships being developed in different countries. The hydrojest is designed to fly over the surface of the sea to transport cargo and passengers faster than sea vessels and cheaper than airplanes. Of course, its speed characteristics will be lower than that of our ekranoplan, but the level of passenger service is no worse than on a comfortable ocean liner. The military is also interested in this type of airship, in order to use it to find the enemy and coordinate the actions of their own means.
It is also planned to use, instead of Earth satellites, stratospheric airships, rising to an altitude of 20-25 km, for receiving and transmitting digital radio signals, organizing mobile communications, etc. The use of such devices will be much cheaper than launching satellites. In addition, their equipment is easy to replace, they can be safely disposed of, while satellites cannot be disposed of, and they pose a danger to spacecraft and the environment long after failure. There are many projects for private use of airships, such as air bicycles, etc.
In general, it is possible that soon we will see on our TV screens annoying advertisements like: "Fly with Rosdirigibleflot airships - reliably, profitably, conveniently!"