Around the world on a Dream Machine — 77 years ago, the
giant German airship
LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin left
Lakehurst, NJ on an aerial
world tour sponsored by American media mogul
William Randolph Hearst. The airship's
gondola carried 20 passengers in high-tech
style, including: U.S. Navy observer
Charles Rosendahl; English
pilot, Zeppelin
frequent flyer, and Hearst reporter
Lady Grace Drummond-Hay; and Japanese naval aviator
Ryunosuke Kusaka. The 41 crewmen were captained by
Dr. Hugo Eckener, Zeppelin
champion and the world's
best airship pilot. The
hydrogen-filled LZ-127 flew over the Atlantic to
Germany,
Siberia,
Japan, over the Pacific to
California, across the
United States, and
back to Lakehurst. The 20,500 mile, 21-day flight—with 12 flying days at ~80 mph top speed—defined airship travel's
golden age.
[More inside]
posted by cenoxo
on Aug 8, 2006 -
24 comments
