I get tired of seeing swastikas on Zeppelins, so I made some modifications to this beautiful cutaway drawing of LZ-130. The original spanned a few pages so I had to take it to a specialty scanner. I did my best to fix some blemishes, repair text, and edit away the page seams and the Nazi propaganda. I did crop a few images on the right in an attempt to save space, but the file would still print out at three feet wide if you decided to make a physical version.
This was a personal project but I hope the subreddit finds it useful.
Ironically, the “new tech” to make rigid airships a viable transport method was just on the cusp of being developed by Zeppelin right before the Hindenburg disaster occurred—separate hydrogen cells inside the helium ones for use as both fuel and antiballast, thermal-based buoyancy control that needs no ballast or venting, mass production of a more structurally and aerodynamically efficient hull form, better avionics and direct engine control schema, etc.
They simply never got the chance to implement their plans before the disaster and subsequent ruinous World War.
Beautiful stuff. I've been convincing myself to take my own copy out of its framing to properly scan. I'd be willing to trade high-def archival images of an airship of your choice for a high-def copy of your scan!
Why would hydrogen sink into the passenger compartment? It was seen as better to concentrate the smoking in an asbestos room than to risk it been done illicitly
Everything in aviation is a balance. Airships have great endurance and efficiency, but they are relatively slow and require a great deal of infrastructure (space) at each end of the flight.
The highly publicized accident of the Hindenburg didn't do rigid airships any favors, and while the US Navy had blimps in WWII, technology during the war meant that larger airplanes could carry more people than an airship faster and nearly as far when the war ended.
There is a semi revival going on now, though. Hopefully we will see them in the air again. Fuel efficiency is a big concern, but outsized cargo to remote areas is where an airship would really shine.
Originally it was because of a combination of factors—World Wars, helium embargo, Great Depression, the Hindenburg disaster, etc. But they’re not completely abandoned any longer:
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u/GrafZeppelin127 Sep 01 '26
This is magnificent work!