airship to Berlin, at the express invitation of the Kaiser, who gave a dinner in his honor at the Royal Palace following an enthusiastic popular reception from the entire populace in the capital. On his return to Lake Constance he met severe storms and a broken propeller compelled a landing. It was found that a piece of the blade had penetrated one of the gas bags; and three days were required to repair the damage. Finally, after 27 hours in the air, the ship once more rested in its home shed. It is said that this flight forever established Zeppelin in the confidence of the people and the Government. His ships acquired the reputation of the builder in being able to surmount tremendous difficulties. The Zeppelin headquarters at Friedrichshafen became the German Mecca. But the Germans were not alone in their pilgrimage for thousands of persons interested in aeronautics journeyed to Lake Constance on the shores of which great plants had grown up on the land which Zeppelin had purchased for his wonder city of the air.

In the fall of 1908 the members of the Reichstag and the Bundesrath came to Friedrichshafen, a hundred or more trusting themselves to the Zeppelin ship, the sole feature of the national celebration. Thousands of watercraft dotted the clear waters of the lake as the Zeppelin went up again and again filled to capacity with the leaders of German political, financial, and industrial life (Plate 4). Zeppelin was hailed as a national hero, and more, for it was generally recognized that his great vehicles possessing such speed and durability were world travelers and as such would do much toward bringing all parts of the world together and thereby eliminating national borders—as far as trade, travel, and commerce were concerned, at least.

The New Construction Plant

It was during the same year that Zeppelin abandoned the floating shed at Manzell, where all his ships had been built. New work shops were located on shore near Friedrichshafen (Plate 4). Half of the original contribution went into the new construction plant which was incorporated as Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin, G.m.b.H. (the Zeppelin Airship Building Co., Ltd.). Here the construction of the new Zeppelins was begun with augmented forces of engineers and workmen.

Naturally the first airship was ordered by the Deutsche Luftschiffahrt A. G. (“DELAG”)—the German Airship Transportation Company—which had a paid in capital of 3,000,000 marks ($714,000.00) subscribed by a number of public spirited men solely to start a Zeppelin passenger and mail service. It was planned to employ larger ships than those with which Zeppelin had convinced the public, to secure greater lifting and carrying capacity. These ships developed rapidly.

Military Value Proved by Commercial Operation

They attracted attention among the military authorities who had decided that the Zeppelins offered advantages over the existing types of observation aircraft, that they were in no way difficult to handle in the air or on the ground and, in fact, were better adapted to military purposes than others previously built. A deciding factor in favor of the Zeppelins was the ease with which they could be put into their sheds after each flight. The Government, accordingly, ordered three airships built and equipped for military service. Their performance was kept secret but they were accepted and obviously performed equally as well as their contemporary commercial craft.

There was the Zeppelin “Sachsen” which flew to Vienna from Baden-Baden in less than eight hours. This commercial flight led the German army to buy three more military ships of the “Sachsen” type.

Activities Early in the War

The Navy followed suit and in October, 1912, bought the L-1 (Plate 6), for experimental and training purposes in connection with the fleet. The L-1 carried 706,200 cubic feet (20,000 cubic meters) of Hydrogen and proved its worth on its trial flight from Friedrichshafen, thence north over Germany to Helgoland in the North Sea, thence to the Baltic, side trips here and there, and finally to the airship harbor at Johannisthal where it was to be stationed. The flight lasted 34 hours.