Count Zeppelin

It is ironic that Count Zeppelin even started out to create a massive, rigid airship. Zeppelin was a veteran of the German army, a hero of the Franco-Prussian war, and a dedicated army career man. As such, it was not his intention to build a national icon, but to become a member of Germany's aristocracy within the high ranks of the German army. Yet, an unfortunate occurrence motivated Zeppelin to rebuild from the ashes of his destroyed dream, a formidable weapon that would lift Germany's standing among the national powerhouses in Western Europe.

Military Career

Ferdinand Zeppelin chose to obtain his adult career in the army. Planning to rise within the ranks, the Count von Zeppelin wanted to be a military career man. Raised in southern Germany, he was not overly pleased with the overbearing Prussian influence on the Reich army. As a result of his prejudice, Zeppelin estranged a number of important imperial staff members. The political politics came back to haunt him, when in 1890 he received a bad review and was forced into early retirement at the age of fifty-two. With his military career no longer a reality, Zeppelin needed something to fill the gap. ⁵

Zeppelin had been an avid supporter for the use of aircraft for military purposes since the early beginnings of his military career. His first experience with lighter than craft probably came as a young army officer from the German state of Württemberg. On a trip to the United States as neutral observer to the Civil War, Zeppelin received permission from President Abraham Lincoln to participate with Union troops in observing and launching a tethered hot-air balloon. Zeppelin's earliest recorded thoughts on lighter than air craft come in 1874, in response to an address given by the German postmaster general on the need for the mail system to "take advantage of new technologies to benefit humanity." ⁶

The address used examples from the Franco-Prussian war, in which the citizens of Paris, while under siege in 1870, carried out over sixty balloon maneuvers carrying passengers and mail to safety. Concerned by the progress the French were making with lighter-than-air craft, Zeppelin wrote in 1887 to the king of Württemberg, requesting the need for a machine that could "give Germany the advantage of flying militarily and commercially." ⁷

Career Change

In 1890, no longer able to push for a military craft from within the army, Zeppelin sought produce an airborne weapon with his own finances and with the financial support of the German government and the technical stamp of approval from the leading engineering group in Germany, the German Engineer's Association. The count received lukewarm support from the engineering society and nothing from the government. At this point, Zeppelin was on a long list of other would be inventors contending for prize of sustained, steerable flight. Not until after the crash at Echterdingen, did the association and the government fully support the ideas of the Zeppelin airship.

Count Zeppelin's first airships were a struggle to find a working system. Of initial importance was finding monetary support for constructing the large ships that Zeppelin envisioned. Eager to begin construction and unable to find support from the government or military, Zeppelin overcame this first obstacle by relying on small grants from the king of Württemberg and moneys obtained by mortgaging his wife's estate. Another issue was where to build such a large vessel. In order to avoid excessive building fees, and to ensure a place with little obstruction during ascents and descents of the fragile behemoth, a large shed was built on Lake Constance.

The First Test Flight

Three great airships were built and tested, with varying results, before the construction and successfully disastrous flight of the LZ4. The test flight for the first airship went less smoothly than hoped for, and laid out the basic problems that Zeppelin would need to overcome before his vehicles would be of worth to the German government. Described in the American Science Journal of 1900, the first flight was fraught with broken machinery and leaky envelopes. "Experts who either shared in or watched the recent experiment," wrote the article, "declared that improvements in the steering apparatus were necessary, ... the screw blades [or propellers] did not respond properly, ... the air pressure motors failed, ... the steering rods ... became bent, ... the method of transmitting power to the screws will need great improvement to enable the airship to contend against even a light wind," and perhaps the greatest defect to overcome, stated the article, "was the continual escape of gas, necessitating constant filling of the receptacle up to the moment of starting." ⁸ Succeeding ships continually with continually improved construction led to improved test flights.

Evident throughout this learning period was the patriotism Count Zeppelin felt for Germany, and his hope that the airship would prove valuable to the German army and restore honor lost with his military position. During his experiments with the first few ships Zeppelin was not interested in public opinion, and a comment to a news reporter seeking a story about the "aerial dreamer down at the lake" shows both his unconcern for public approval and his patriotic intentions. When asked for information, Zeppelin brusquely replied, "I am not a circus rider performing for the public; I am completing a serious task in service of the Vaterland." As his airships began to perform more successfully, Zeppelin received positive reviews from the press and also began renewed contact with official circles. Continually appearing in his memorandums to these officials was his warning that "failure to heed his appeals presaged a disaster for the Vaterland; [and that] the empire must press ahead to acquire the best possible airship advantage over France." In hopeful prophetic prose, Zeppelin stated that, "in days to come my airships are destined to erase the advantages or disadvantages of the geographical location of nations. For Germany, as the power most capable of supplying proficient crews, they will assure her world military domination, as indeed they will cause a complete revolution in commerce and transportation." Zeppelin's prophesy would prove to be more appropriate to airplanes, rather than his own airships. ⁹