4 March 1936

Airship Hindenburg, D-LZ129, at Friedrichsafen, Germany
Airship Hindenburg, D–LZ 129, over Friedrichshafen, Germany, March 1936. (Unattributed)
Dr. Hugo Eckener

4 March 1936: The airship Hindenburg (D–LZ 129) made its first flight at Friedrichshafen, on the north shore of Lake Constance in southern Germany. In command was Hugo Eckener,¹ chairman of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH. There were 87 passengers and crew aboard.

The airship was operated by a flight crew of 40, with 12 stewards and cooks. There were 50 passenger sleeping berths in private cabins, with large public areas on the upper, “A” deck, with crew quarters, galley, a public bar and smoking lounge on the lower “B” deck. The ship’s control station was located in a gondola below the forward part of the hull.

The airship was designed by Ludwig Dürr. Its rigid structure was built of triangular-section duralumin girders (a specially heat-treated alloy of aluminum and copper, and anodized blue for corrosion protection). There were 15 ring frames and 36 longitudinals.

The airship’s control surfaces were operated by electric servo motors.

The Zeppelin’s covering was cotton fabric painted with a cellulose varnish which had been impregnated with aluminum powder, both to give it the silver color, but also to act as a reflector to protect the sixteen hydrogen-filled bouyancy gas bags contained inside from heat and ultraviolet light.

Hindenburg's dining room (Speisesaal).
Hindenburg‘s dining room (Speisesaal). (O. v. Stetten)

Hindenburg was 803 feet, 10 inches (245.008 meters) long, with a diameter of 135 feet, 1 inch (41.173 meters). Hindenburg had a gross weight of approximately 215,000 pounds (97,522 kilograms).

The huge airship was powered by four liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 88.514 liter (5,401.478-cubic-inch-displacement) Daimler-Benz DB 602 50° V-16 diesel engines with 4 valves per cylinder and a compression ratio of 16:1. Mounted in a pusher configuration, the engines turned 19 foot, 8.4 inch (6.005 meter) diameter, four-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propellers through a 0.50:1 gear reduction. The DB 602 had a cruise power rating of 850 horsepower at 1,350 r.p.m. It could produce 900 horsepower at 1,480 r.p.m., and a maximum 1,320 horsepower at 1,650 r.p.m. (5 minute limit). The engines could be run in reverse. The DB 602 was 2.69 meters (8 feet, 10 inches) long, 1.02 meters (3 feet, 4 inches) wide and 1.35 meters (4 feet, 5 inches) high. Each engine weighed 1,976 kilograms (4,356 pounds).

A Daimler-Benz DB 602 V-16 diesel airship engine at the Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen. (Wikipedia)
This photograph shows Hindeburg's duralumin structure and a latex/cotton hydrogen cell. A walkway goes through the center of the cell.
This photograph shows Hindenburg‘s duralumin structure and a latex/cotton hydrogen cell. A walkway goes through the center of the cell. (Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH)

Lift was provided by 16 hydrogen gas cells which were made of multiple layers of cotton fabric which was brushed with latex gelatin. These contained 7,062,000 cubic feet (199,974 cubic meters) of hydrogen with a lift capacity of 511,500 pounds (232,013 kilograms), nearly double the airship’s weight when fully loaded.

LZ 129 had a cruising speed of 76 miles per hour (122 kilometers per hour) and a maximum speed of 84 miles per hour (135 kilometers per hour).

Airship Hindenburg, D-LZ129, moored.
Airship Hindenburg, D–LZ 129, moored at Lakehurst, New Jersey, 1936. (U.S. Navy).

¹ Eckner is universally referred to as “Dr. Eckener.” He earned a doctorate from the Institute for Experimental Psychology, University of Leipzig, 1892.

© 2019, Bryan R. Swopes

Share this article:

2 thoughts on “4 March 1936

  1. WASNT IT DESIGNED FOR HELIUM GAS THAT HAD LESS LIFTING POWER THAN H2. DUE TO RESTICTIONS H2 WAS NOT AVAILABLE.

Leave a Reply to Bryan Swopes Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *