LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin - Operational History

Operational History

The LZ 127 was christened "Graf Zeppelin" by Countess Brandenstein-Zeppelin in July 1928, the 90th anniversary of the birth of her father Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917). The Zeppelin Company had originally planned to charter the LZ 127 to a Spanish company to carry mail from Seville in Spain to Buenos Aires, Argentina. A contract was signed just before the first flight of the airship with the intention to carry out test flights between Spain and Argentina in 1929.

The Graf's operational career spanned almost nine years from its first flight in September 1928 until its last in June 1937. During that period it was operated first by the Zeppelin Company's commercial flight arm, the Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-Aktiengesellschaft ("German Airship Travel Corporation") or "DELAG" in conjunction with the Hamburg-American Line (HAPAG), and for its final two years by the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei GmbH (DZR), a company established by Hermann Göring in March 1935 to increase Nazi party influence over Zeppelin operations. The DZR was jointly owned by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (German Air Ministry), and Deutsche Lufthansa A.G., Germany's national airline at that time.

From 1928 to 1932 the airship was used primarily for experimental and demonstration purposes to prepare the way for eventual regular commercial transatlantic passenger service. After making six domestic shake-down flights, the airship made its first long distance journey in mid October 1928 with a crossing of the Atlantic to the United States. Later demonstration flights included its round-the-world tour in 1929, the Europe-Pan American flight in 1930, a polar expedition in 1931, two round trips to the Middle East, and a variety of other flights around Europe. In 1932, however, the Graf began five years of providing regularly scheduled passenger, mail, and freight service between Germany and South America (Brazil). These commercial operations were the airship's principal function during this period until it was abruptly withdrawn from active service on the day after the loss of the Hindenburg in May 1937 after having made a total of 64 trips to Brazil. During its return trip to Germany on its last South American flight for 1933 the Graf also stopped in Miami (NAS Miami at Opa Locka), Akron (Goodyear-Zeppelin Company Airdock), and the "Century of Progress" world's fair in Chicago.

Other flights were also made to Spain London, Berlin and Moscow. During one of the Berlin visits a glider that was released from under its hull performed a loop in front of cheering crowds, and on one of the Brazil trips British Pathé News filmed on board.

While passengers paid premium fares to fly on the LZ 127 (1,500 RM from Germany to Rio de Janeiro), fees collected for both high value freight and air mails provided much if not most of the income needed to support the airship's commercial operations. In one transatlantic flight, for instance, the Graf would carry 52,000 postcards and 50,000 letters, and by its last flight it had carried 106,000 pounds of mails overall. Since 1912 Zeppelins had been authorized to postmark and sort mails on board and it could deliver South America-bound post about a week faster than by ship.

During its career the Graf Zeppelin flew more than 1.7 million km (1,056,000 miles) thus becoming the first aircraft in history to fly over a million miles, made 590 flights, 144 oceanic crossings (143 across the Atlantic, one across the Pacific), carried 13,110 passengers, and spent 17,177 hours aloft (the equivalent of 717 days, nearly two years), all of which was accomplished without ever injuring a passenger or crewman. Although the Graf was scrapped in 1940, hundreds of thousands of verifiable philatelic mementos of its career still exist in the form of the flown cacheted and post marked mails carried on hundreds of its flights which are avidly collected by stamp and postal history enthusiasts worldwide.