Graf Zeppelin First Round The World Flight A Balloon Voyage Covering 21,2500 Miles

First Round The World Flight A Balloon Voyage Covering 21,2500 Miles. In 1929, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, a German passenger-carrying hydrogen-filled rigid airship, embarked on its first round-the-world flight. The voyage covered an astonishing 21,500 miles (34,600 km) in five legs, spanning 21 days. This remarkable achievement marked the first time a passenger-carrying airship had circumnavigated the globe.

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Flight Legs
Lakehurst, New Jersey to Friedrichshafen, Germany (September 1929)
Friedrichshafen, Germany to Tokyo, Japan (October 1929)
Tokyo, Japan to Los Angeles, California (November 1929)
Los Angeles, California to Lakehurst, New Jersey (December 1929)
Lakehurst, New Jersey to Friedrichshafen, Germany (December 1929)

Notable Aspects
The longest leg of the journey was from Friedrichshafen to Tokyo, covering 11,247 km (6,974 miles) in 101 hours and 49 minutes.

The airship faced challenges, including a planned flight over Moscow being canceled due to adverse winds, prompting an official complaint from the Soviet government.

The Graf Zeppelin's crew of 36 and capacity for 24 passengers made it a significant undertaking, with the airship carrying thousands of pounds of freight and mail during its journey.

Legacy
Graf Zeppelin's Round-The-World Flight Cemented Its Reputation As A Pioneering Achievement In Aviation History. The airship’s success inspired international enthusiasm for zeppelins, and it paved the way for future long-distance airship travel.

Graf Zeppelin History The Graf Zeppelin was already famous, having already made a 71-hour, 6384.50km journey in 1928, making the FAI record books for distance and duration in an airship; records that still stand today.

In 1929, American media mogul William Randolph Hearst part-sponsored the Graf Zeppelin to make the first round-the-world trip by a passenger carrying airship. He insisted that the trip began and ended in the US, and so the airship departed from Lakehurst, New Jersey on 8th August 1929 with Dr Hugo Eckener at the helm.

It was the first round-the-world trip to carry passengers. A total of 20 men and one woman - Hearst reporters (including journalist Lady Grace Drummond-Hay), a millionaire socialite, an Australian explorer, US Naval representatives - joined the crew of 40, including physicians, meteorologists, navigators and engineers to make the record-breaking journey.

Graf Zeppelin Round-the-World Flight 1929.
The airship was composed of a lightweight metal frame covered by fabric and was 236 metres in length. Inside the structure were 12 hydrogen-filled buoyancy tanks, fuel tanks, work spaces and the crew quarters. The gondola which was mounted below this structure contained the flight deck, a sitting and dining room and passenger cabins. Its maximum speed was 128kmph (80mph).

THE GRAF ZEPPELIN’S ROUTE
The airship flew from Lakehurst, New Jersey, stopping in Friedrichshafen, Germany (where the airship had been constructed) to refuel, then over Siberia to Tokyo where the Eckner took tea with Emperor Hirohito. From there, it flew over to Los Angeles with a strategic fly-by of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. Taking off from Los Angeles, it then continued across the deserts of Arizona and Texas back to Lakehurst on 29th August.

To bring the airship back ‘home’ to Germany, it made a final stretch form Lakehurst to Friedrichshafen from 1-4 September 1929.

The flying time totaled 12 days and 11 minutes and received a huge amount of attention across the globe. It was also the first time that the Pacific Ocean had been crossed by any kind of aircraft. The entire circumnavigation took 21 days, 5 hours, 31 minutes.

Passengers and Crew of Graf Zeppelin’s Round the World Flight of 1929
A list of passengers and crew aboard the Round-the-World flight (Weltfahrt) of the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin from August 7, 1929 to September 4, 1929.

PASSENGERS
Lakehurst-Lakehurst (the “American Flight”)

Lady Grace Drummond-Hay (journalist for the Hearst organization)
Robert Hartmann (photographer for the Hearst organization)
William B. Leeds (American millionaire and socialite)
Lieutenant Jack C. Richardson (U. S. Naval observer)
Commander Charles E. Rosendahl (U.S. Naval observer)
Karl von Wiegand (journalist for the Hearst organization)
Sir Hubert Wilkins (Australian polar explorer; writer for the Hearst organization)
Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen (the “German Flight”)

Heinz von Eschwege-Lichberg (journalist for Verlag Scherl, publisher of Die Woche)
Lt. Col. Christof Iselin (Zurich, Switzerland)
Max Geisenheyner (journalist for the Frankfurter Zeitung and Das Illustrierte Blatt)
Gustav Kauder (journalist for Verlag Ullstein)
Dr. Jerónimo Megías (personal physician to King Alfonso XIII of Spain)
Heinz von Perckhammer (photographer for Verlag Scherl, publisher of Die Woche)
Leo Gerville-Reache (journalist for Le Matin, Paris)
Joachim Rickard (American-born journalist for Spanish newspapers; Madrid, Spain)
Heinrich Seilkopf (meteorologist, Deutsche Seewarte)
LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin made “two” Round-the-World flights. The trip’s American sponsor, William Randolph Heast, insisted that the flight begin and end in America, so the “American flight” began and ended at Lakehurst, New Jersey. But Germans believed that their ship should begin and end its flight in Germany, and so the “German flight” was from Friedrichshafen-Friedrichshafen.

Some passengers were onboard only for particular legs of the flight:

Friedrichshafen-Tokyo

Dr. Enti (journalist for the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, Tokyo)
Professor Karklin (representative of the Soviet government)
Lt. Cdr. Fujiyoshi (Head of Aviation for the Japanese Imperial Navy; representative of the Japanese government)
____ Kitano (journalist for the Asahi Press, Tokyo)
Tokyo-Los Angeles

Lt. Cdr. Ryunosuke Kusaka (representative of the Japanese government; later an Admiral involved in the planning of the Pearl Harbor attack and the Battle of Midway)
Major Schinichi Shibata (Japanese Army, representative of the Japanese government)
Dofu Shirai (journalist for Nippon Denpo news service)

Certainly the most successful zeppelin ever built, LZ-127 was christened “Graf Zeppelin” by the daughter of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin on July 8, 1928, which would have been the late count’s 90th birthday.

By the time of Graf Zeppelin’s last flight, nine years later, the ship had flown over a million miles, on 590 flights, carrying thousands of passengers and hundreds of thousands of pounds of freight and mail, with safety and speed. Graf Zeppelin circled the globe and was famous throughout the world, and inspired an international zeppelin fever in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Graf Zeppelin Test Flights
Graf Zeppelin made its first flight on September 18, 1928, under the command of Hugo Eckener. The ship lifted off at 3:32 PM and flew a little over three hours before returning to its base in Friedrichshafen.

A series of successful test flights followed, including a 34-1/2 hour endurance flight during which the new German ship was shown off to the residents of Ulm, Nuremberg, Wurzburg, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Bremen, Hugo Eckener’s hometown of Flensburg, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden.

Graf Zeppelin’s First Flight Across the Atlantic
Graf Zeppelin made the very first commercial passenger flight across the Atlantic, departing Friedrichshafen at 7:54 AM on October 11, 1928, and landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey on October 15, 1928, after a flight of 111 hours and 44 minutes. The ship carried 40 crew members under the command of Hugo Eckener, and 20 passengers including American naval officer Charles E. Rosendahl and Hearst newspaper reporter Lady Grace Drummond-Hay.

The ship’s first transatlantic crossing almost ended in disaster when it encountered a strong squall line on the morning of October 13th. Captain Eckener had uncharacteristically entered the storm at full power — he was known to reduce speed in bad weather — and the ship pitched up violently in the hands of an inexperienced elevatorman; the airships R-38 and USS Shenandoah had broken up under similar circumstances.

Eckener and his officers re-established control, but soon learned that the lower covering of the port fin had been torn away, threatening further damage which would have rendered the ship uncontrollable. Eckener sent a repair team of four men — including his son, Knut Eckener; senior elevatorman and future zeppelin commander Albert Sammt; and Ludwig Knorr, who would become chief rigger on LZ-129 Hindenburg — to repair the covering in flight. Eckener also made the difficult decision to send out a distress call, knowing that he was risking the reputation of his brand new ship, and perhaps the entire zeppelin enterprise. The distress signal was soon picked up by the press, and newspapers around the world ran sensational stories about the looming destruction of the overdue Graf Zeppelin on its maiden voyage.

The emergency repairs were successful, but the ship encountered a second squall front near Bermuda. Graf Zeppelin made it through the second storm, even with the temporary repairs to the damaged fin, and reached the American coast on the morning of October 15th. After a detour over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, to show Graf Zeppelin off to the wildly enthusiastic American public, Eckener brought his damaged ship to a safe landing at the United States naval base at Lakehurst, New Jersey on the evening of October 15, 1928. Graf Zeppelin was overdue, damaged, and had run out of food and water, but Eckener, his crew, and his passengers were greeted like heroes with a ticker-tape parade along New York City’s Broadway.

After two weeks of repairs to the damaged fin, Graf Zeppelin departed Lakehurst on October 29, 1928 for its return to Germany. The return flight took 71 hours and 49 minutes, or just under three days; the ocean liners of the day took twice as long to carry passengers across the Atlantic.

Graf Zeppelin Round-the-World Flight (“Weltfahrt”) In 1929, Graf Zeppelin made perhaps its most famous flight; a round-the-world voyage covering 21,2500 miles in five legs from Lakehurst to Friedrichshafen, Friedrichshafen to Tokyo, Tokyo to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to Lakehurst, and then Lakehurt to Friedrichshafen again.

It was the first passenger-carrying flight around the world and received massive coverage in the world’s press.

The flight was partly sponsored by American newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, who paid for about half the cost of the flight in return for exclusive media rights in the United States and Britain.

Hearst had insisted that the flight begin and end in America, while the Germans naturally thought the Round-the-World flight of a German ship should begin and end in Germany. As a compromise, there were two official flights; the “American” flight began and ended at Lakehurst, while the “German” flight began and ended at Friedrichshafen.

The Round-the-World flight carried 60 men and one woman, Hearst newspaper reporter Lady Grace Hay-Drummond-Hay, whose presence and reporting greatly increased the public’s interest in the journey. Other passengers included journalists from several countries, American naval officers Charles Rosendahl and Jack C. Richardson, polar explorer and pilot Sir Hubert Wilkins, young American millionaire Bill Leeds, and representatives of Japan and the Soviet Union.

Graf Zeppelin left Friedrichshafen on July 27, 1929 and crossed the Atlantic to Lakehurst, New Jersey, and the “American” flight began on August 7, 1929 with an eastbound crossing back to Germany.

Lakehurst – Friedrichshafen

August 7, 1929 – August 10, 1929
7,068 km / 55 hrs 22 mins

Friedrichshafen – Tokyo
August 15, 1929 – August 19, 1929
11,247 km / 101 hrs 49 mins

Tokyo – Los Angeles
August 23, 1929 – August 26, 1929
9,653 km / 79 hrs 3 mins

Los Angeles – Lakehurst
August 27, 1929 – August 29, 1929
4,822 km / 51 hrs 57 mins

Lakehurst – Friedrichshafen
September 1, 1929 – September 4, 1929
8,478 km / 57 hrs 31 mins

The longest leg of the journey was the 11,247 km, 101 hour 49 minute flight from Friedrichshafen to Tokyo, which crossed thousands of miles of emptiness over Siberia. A planned flight over Moscow had to be canceled due to adverse winds, prompting an official complaint from the government of Soviet dicatator Joseph Stalin, which felt slighted by the change in plan. The passage over Russia’s Stanovoy mountain range in eastern Siberia brought Graf Zeppelin to an altitude of 6,000 feet. The ship landed to a tumultuous welcome and massive press coverage in Japan, where a crowd estimated at 250,000 people greeted the ship’s arrival and Emperor Hirohito entertained Eckener and guests at tea.

The next leg of the flight crossed the Pacific ocean enroute to Los Angeles; Eckener deliberately timed his flight down the American coast to make a dramatic entrance through San Francisco’s Golden Gate with the sun setting behind the ship. According to F.W. “Willy” von Meister (later New York representative of the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei), Eckener explained: “When for the first time in world history an airship flies across the Pacific, should it not arrive at sunset over the Golden Gate?”

After slowly cruising down the California coast to land in daylight the next morning, Graf Zeppelin made a difficult landing at Los Angeles on August 26th, through a temperature inversion which made it difficult to bring the ship down, requiring the valving of large quantities of hydrogen. The lost hydrogen could not be replaced at Los Angeles, and the takeoff, with the ship unusually heavy, was even more challenging; Graf Zeppelin only narrowly missed hitting power lines at the edge of the field.

Graf Zeppelin Over San Francisco
On August 26, 1929, the German passenger airship Graf Zeppelin, commanded by Dr. Hugo Eckener, made a historic landing in San Francisco, California, after completing a transpacific flight from Japan. This remarkable journey marked the first time a dirigible had crossed the Pacific Ocean, setting a record for the fastest crossing of the Pacific, beating the old record set by Army pilots in 1924 by several hours.

Arrival in San Francisco
The Graf Zeppelin entered the Golden Gate Strait at 6:25 p.m., passing the Mile Rock Lighthouse, and floated above the city, drawing throngs of people to gather in downtown San Francisco to witness this extraordinary sight. The airship’s arrival was precisely timed by Dr. Eckener to maximize dramatic effect.

Greetings and Tribute
Mayor James Ralph radioed a warm greeting to Dr. Eckener, comparing the Graf Zeppelin’s achievement to those of Magellan, Fulton, and Lindbergh, and expressing admiration for the crew’s feat. The crew responded with a simple “Greetings from Graf Zeppelin” before continuing their journey to Los Angeles.

Notable Flyby
As the Graf Zeppelin flew over San Francisco, it made a brief stop to acknowledge the home of William Randolph Hearst, the financier behind the expedition, at San Simeon. Although the castle was initially dark, a switch was flipped, and Hearst Castle erupted in lights for the benefit of the crew.

Legacy
The Graf Zeppelin’s globe-circling voyage, which began on August 7, 1929, from Lakehurst, New Jersey, and ended on August 29, 1929, marked the pinnacle of dirigible travel. Although dirigible travel continued for eight more years, the Hindenburg disaster in 1937 ultimately led to the decline of airships, paving the way for airplanes to dominate commercial air travel.

After a difficult summertime passage over the deserts of Arizona and Texas, Graf Zeppelin flew east across America. The ship was greeted with wild enthusiasm by the people of Chicago, and ended its record breaking flight with a landing at Lakehurst the morning of August 29, 1929. The Lakehurst to Lakehurst voyage had taken just 12 days and 11 minutes of flying time, and brought worldwide attention and fame to Graf Zeppelin and its commander, Hugo Eckener

Graf Zeppelin Polar Flight In July, 1931, Graf Zeppelin carried a team of scientists from Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Sweden on an exploration of the Arctic, making meteorological observations, measuring variations in the earth’s magnetic field in the latitudes near the North Pole, and making a photographic survey of unmapped regions using a panoramic camera that automatically took several pictures per minute. The size, payload, and stability of the zeppelin allowed heavy scientific instruments to be carried and used with an accuracy that would not have been possible with the airplanes of the day.

The polar journey, like other zeppelin flights, was largely financed by stamp collectors; Graf Zeppelin carried approximately 50,000 letters sent by philatelists, and made a water-landing to exchange mail with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin, which itself carried a large quantity of mail sent by stamp collectors.

After the three-day Arctic flight, which included a landing in Leningrad, Graf Zeppelin returned to Berlin to a hero’s welcome at Tempelhof airfield, where the ship was met by celebrities including famed polar explorer Admiral Richard Byrd.

[Read a detailed account of the Graf Zeppelin’s Polar Flight.]

The Century of Progress Flight to 1933 Chicago World’s Fair
By late 1933, Graf Zeppelin had not been to the United States in over four years, since the Round-the-World flight of 1929. When the Zeppelin Company was asked to fly the ship to the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, officially dubbed the “Century of Progress International Exposition,” Eckener agreed on condition that the United States issue a special commemorative stamp and share the postal revenue with the Zeppelin Company. After initial opposition by the United States Post Office (and President Franklin Roosevelt’s initial rejection of the idea of a fourth zeppelin stamp), the Post Office eventually agreed to issue the stamp, and so at the end of Graf Zeppelin’s last flight to South America in October, 1933, instead of returning directly to Germany from Brazil, Graf Zeppelin flew to the United States for stops in Miami, Akron, and Chicago.

While Graf Zeppelin’s appearance was one of the highlights of the Chicago Fair, the swastika-emblazoned ship, which was viewed as a symbol of the new government in Berlin, triggered strong political responses from both supporters and opponents of Hitler’s regime, especially among German-Americans. The political controversy muted the enthusiasm that Americans had previously displayed toward the German ship during its earlier visits, and when Eckener took Graf Zeppelin on a aerial circuit around Chicago to show his ship to the residents of the city, he was careful to to fly a clockwise pattern so that Chicagoans would see only the tricolor German flag on the starboard fin, and not the swastika flag painted on the port fin under the new regulations issued by the German Air Ministry.

Graf Zeppelin and the Nazis
The Graf Zeppelin was recruited as a tool of Nazi propaganda remarkably soon after the National Socialist takeover of power in early 1933. Only three months after Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor, the Propaganda Ministry ordered Graf Zeppelin to fly over Berlin as part of the government’s May 1, 1933 celebration of the “Tag de Nationalen Arbeit,” the Nazi version of the May Day celebration of labor.

Later in May, 1933, Graf Zeppelin flew to Rome in connection with Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ first official meeting with the fascist government of Italy; Goebbels invited Italian Air Minister Italo Balbo to join him on a flight over Rome.

In September, 1933, Graf Zeppelin flew over the Reichsparteitag congress at Nuremberg (the “1933 Nuremberg Rally’) to dramatically herald Hitler’s appearance before the crowd.

Throughout the remainder of its career Graf Zeppelin was ordered to make numerous propaganda flights, occasionally in concert with LZ-129 Hindenburg after that ship was launched in 1936.

South American Service
By the summer of 1931, after many pioneering flights which demonstrated the airship’s impressive capabilities and captured the enthusiasm of the world, Graf Zeppelin began regularly scheduled commercial service on the route between Germany and South America.

The passage to South American was an almost ideal route for a German airship; Brazil and Argentina had a considerable German population, and there were strong business and trade connections between these countries and Germany, yet the transportation of mail, passengers, and freight by ship took weeks. In addition, the ships to South America were far less comfortable than the luxury liners which crossed the North Atlantic to New York. Graf Zeppelin reduced the travel time between Germany and South America from weeks to days, and was therefore hugely popular.

Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 18 times in 1932, and made a similar number of flights in 1933. By 1934, the Zeppelin Company was advertising a regular service to South America, departing Germany almost every other Saturday to Brazil, with connecting airplane flights to Argentina. In 1935 and 1936, Graf Zeppelin’s schedule was almost exclusively devoted to passenger and mail service between Germany and Brazil, with crossings back and forth almost every two weeks between April and December. Over its career, Graf Zeppelin crossed the South Atlantic 136 times; it was first regularly scheduled, nonstop, intercontinental airline service in the history of the world.

Graf Zeppelin’s Last Flight
Graf Zeppelin was over the Canary Islands on the last day of a South American flight from Brazil to Germany when it received news of the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Captain Hans von Schiller withheld the news from his passengers, and told them of the disaster only after the ship’s safe landing in Germany.

Graf Zeppelin landed in Friedrichshafen on May 8, 1937, and never carried a paying passenger again. The ship made only one additional flight, on June 18, 1937, from Friedrichshafen to Frankfurt, where she remained on display — all her hydrogen removed — until she was broken up on the orders of Hermann Goering’s Luftwaffe in March, 1940.

Graf Zeppelin’s Arctic Flight, 1931
Graf Zeppelin’s 1931 Arctic Flight was both a scientific expedition and a dramatic display of the airship’s ability under extreme conditions.

In July, 1931, the ship carried a team of scientists from Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Sweden on an exploration of the Arctic, making meteorological observations, measuring variations in the earth’s magnetic field in the latitudes near the North Pole, and making a photographic survey of unmapped regions using a panoramic camera that automatically took several pictures per minute. The size, payload, and stability of the zeppelin allowed heavy scientific instruments to be carried and used with an accuracy that would not have been possible with the airplanes of the day.

The five-stage flight covered 13,310 kilometers in 136:26 flying hours between July 24 – July 31, 1931, and literally changed the map of the Arctic region with the information obtained during the flight.

Airships and the North Pole
Polar explorers had been interested in airships from the earliest days of lighter-than-air flight, and American airship pioneer Walter Wellman flew a dirigible inside the Arctic Circle as early as 1907. Wellman made two more attempts to explore the Arctic by airship in 1909 and 1910.

On May 12, 1926 the airship Norge (video), designed and commanded by Umberto Nobile, became the first aircraft to reach the North Pole, on an expedition organized by Norwegian Roald Amundsen and American Lincoln Ellsworth.

Nobile returned to the Arctic in 1928 in his semi-rigid airship Italia, which crashed on May 25, 1928, killing almost half the crew and leaving the survivors stranded on the ice for more than six weeks before they were rescued.

Even before Graf Zeppelin was constructed, polar explorers had expressed interest in using a zeppelin to fly over the Arctic. The International Association for Exploring the Arctic by Means of Airships, or Aeroarctic, led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen and Walther Bruns, began advocating the use of a zeppelin for polar exploration in the early 1920’s, and the successful transatlantic delivery flight of LZ-126 in 1924 added momentum to their interest.

Hugo Eckener himself discussed the possibility of Arctic exploration during the Zeppelin-Eckener-Spende lectures he gave around Germany to raise money for the construction of LZ-127, and the prospect of polar exploration was a factor in the decision of the German government to support the construction of LZ-127. When Fridtjof Nansen died suddenly of a heart attack in 1930, Eckener was elected president of Aeroarctic and plans for LZ-127’s participation in the Arctic expedition were solidified.

The original plan envisioned a rendezvous between LZ-127 and a submarine expedition led by explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins (who had been a passenger on Graf Zeppelin’s 1929 Round-the-World flight), to be financed by the Hearst press organization. Wilkins obtained a surplus submarine from U.S. Navy, which he renamed Nautilus, but mechanical difficulties prevented the vessel from participating in the expedition.

Scientific Goals and Equipment
The Graf Zeppelin’s Arctic expedition had three principal scientific goals:

Mapping and geographic exploration of poorly charted Arctic areas
Metereological observations of the upper air of the Arctic
Measurement of the earth’s magnetic field in the Arctic region
Mapping

Mapping was done by means of two cameras, including a 9-lens panoramic camera, invented and operated by Professor Aschenbrenner of Munich, which automatically took nine photographs every few seconds and recorded the time and altitude of each panorama.

Meteorology

Meteorological observations were made by Professors Pavel Molchanov and Ludwig Weickmann, and included high-altitude observations taken with radiosondes (“Molchanov balloons”) released in three locations: East of Franz-Josef Land, over Severnaya Zemlya, and near Vaigach Island.

Magnetic Field Measurements

Magnetic field measurements were taken every four hours with a “double compass” loaned by the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, under the direction of Dr. Gustaf S. Ljungdahl of the Swedish Hydrographic Office, assisted by Lincoln Ellsworth and Lt. Cdr. Edward H. Smith of the United States Coast Guard.

Personnel of the Flight
The flight was under the command of Hugo Eckener and included a reduced complement of zeppelin crewmembers to accomodate the heavy scientific equipment and many scientists participating in the expedition.

The expedition’s participants included:
Professor Rudolf Lazarevich Samoilovich (Рудольф Лазаревич Самойлович): Soviet polar explorer and chief scientist of the expedition.
Professor Ludwig F. Weickmann, Director of the Geophysical Institute, University of Leipzig, and chief meteorologist of the expedition.
Professor Pavel Alexandrovich Molchanov ( Павел Александрович Молчанов), Soviet meterologist and inventor of the radiosonde (“Molchanov balloon”).
Dr. Aschenbrenner, German engineer, aerogeodicist, and photographer from Munich.
Dr. W. Basse, engineer, aerogeodicist, and photographer for Carl Zeiss Co.
Dr. Ludwig Kohl-Larsen, German physician and explorer, zoologist, and anthropologist.

Lincoln Ellsworth, polar explorer and representative of the American Geographical Society.
Lieutenant Commander Edward H. (“Iceberg”) Smith, of the United States Coast Guard and the International Ice Patrol.
Dr. Gustaf S. Ljungdahl, of the Swedish Hydrographic Office, in charge of magnetic observations.
Captain Walther Bruns, General Secretary of Aeroarctic.
Ernst Teodorovich Krenkel (Эрнст Теодо́рович Кре́нкель), Soviet polar explorer and noted radio operator.
Fyodor F. Assberg, Soviet lighter-than-air aviation engineer, later head of the USSR Bureau of Airship Construction.
Arthur Koestler, Journalist.
Preparations for the Expedition
LZ-127 required several modifications in preparation for the challenging Arctic flight; metal in portions of the gondola were removed to eliminate interference with observations of the earth’s magnetic field, and the passenger cabins were stripped to create space and remove weight to accommodate the scientific instruments needed for the expedition. The partitions between cabins were removed and replaced by curtains, and even the china, crockery, and glassware was removed and replaced by paper cups and plates to eliminate the weight of water which would have been required for washing.

The ship was also loaded with 11,200 lb of survival gear and rations, including hunting and fishing gear, sleeping bags, 23 sledges, cooking stoves, and 12 tents; the organizers of the expedition were very aware of the situation faced by the survivors of the Italia crash and other polar expeditions which experienced unexpected difficulties.

The Flight
First Stage: Friedrichshafen-Berlin

The journey began on Friday, July 24, 1931, with an 8 hour-7 minute flight from Friedrichshafen to Berlin-Staaken airfield.

Second Stage: Berlin-Leningrad

LZ-127 departed Berlin-Staaken in the early hours of July 25, and passed over Sweden, Estonia, and Finland before landing that evening in Leningrad, where the ship met by an enthusiastic crowd of 100,000 people.

Third Stage: Leningrad to Franz-Josef Land / Rendezvous with Icebreaker Malygin.

On Sunday, July 26, Graf Zeppelin left Leningrad to began its voyage north.

The ship passed over Lakes Ladoga and Onega, and the forests and tundra of northern Russia, before reaching the port of Archangel at the mouth of the Dvina River. At around 7:00 PM in the evening the ship crossed the Arctic Circle, flying over the White Sea between the peninsulas of Kola and Kanin.

In the late afternoon of July 27, 1931, LZ-127 reached Hooker Island in Franz-Josef Land and landed on the water to exchange sacks of mail with the Soviet icebreaker Malygin, which was on a tourist cruise to the Arctic. As with other Graf Zeppelin flights, the polar expedition was largely financed with revenue from stamp collectors. Graf Zeppelin transferred about 650 pounds of mail to the Malygin, and picked up about 270 pounds of mail from the Soviet ship in return; about 50,000 pieces of philatelic mail (see example) in total were carried on the flight.

Also on board Malygin was Umberto Nobile, who was in the boat which rowed to Graf Zeppelin’s gondola; Nobile shook hands with fellow explorer Lincoln Ellsworth, whose colleague Roald Amundsen had died in the attempt to rescue Nobile and his crew from the wreck of the Italia five years earlier.

Fourth Stage: Franz-Josef Land to Berlin

Hooker Island was used at the starting point for the ship’s panoramic mapping cameras, which needed to be calibrated with a known location, and after departing the Malygin LZ-127 began its mission to map Franz-Josef Land and other areas of the Arctic. The scientists aboard Graf Zeppelin soon began to correct inaccuracies on existing charts; two islands which were recorded on maps of Franz-Josef Land (Albert Edward and Harmsworth Islands) were found not to exist, and what was thought to be an island (Armitage Island) was actually a peninsula of Prince George Island.

At about midnight the ship reached the nothernmost point of the flight, Prince Rudolf Island, about 490 nautical miles from the North Pole.

The next morning LZ-127 reached the poorly-charted region of Severnaya Zemlya (“North Land,” which was known as Nicholas II Land before the Russian Revolution), and discovered for the first time that it is actually two islands divided by a channel. The ship continued to the Taimyr Peninsula, and then to the small settlement at Dickson Island, at the mouth of the Yenisey River, where LZ-127 dropped a gift of food, mail, and newspapers by parachute.

The next day, July 29, was spent mapping the islands of Novaya Zemlya (“New Land”), and then LZ-127 began its return to Germany, passing over Leningrad at approximately 3:00 in the morning of July 30, and landing at Berlin-Tempelhof in the evening.

Fifth Stage: Berlin to Friedrichshafen

LZ-127 made a short, two-hour celebratory stop in Berlin before returning to its base in Friedrichshafen, where the ship arrived early in the morning of July 31, 1931.

Film of the Arctic Flight
Graf Zeppelin’s expedition to the Arctic was documented on film, and highlights of the flight can be seen in this footage:

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In 1926 Roald Amundsen, Lincoln Ellsworth and Umberto Nobile flew with 13 others in the airship “Norge” from Ny-Ålesund at Svalbard over the North Pole to Teller in Alaska. With this “Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile Transpolar Flight” the Arctic Ocean was crossed for the first time.

An Arctic Timeline : 1496-1962
The exploration of the North has extended over five hundred years and rather than finding a northwest passage to the eastern trade, it discovered a great fur trade and valuable fisheries, and even great oil fields. Early crews were often separated from their homes for years and some never returned. While hopes of finding a northwest passage was the initial objective, the ice conditions discouraged expectations of success. In the past, the problems of reaching the North Pole have been subordinate to the hope of finding, via that route, a water way to the east, and though the early north polar attempts failed in their main purpose, they resulted in the discovery of new lands and industries.

Why Huge Magnetic Rock North Pole Magnetic Stone An Arctic Timeline 1496-1962 - https://rumble.com/v3e30gf-why-huge-magnetic-rock-north-pole-magnetic-stone-an-arctic-timeline-1496-19.html

Traveling in vulnerable wooden ships first powered only by sails, they gradually changed to powerful new and innovative vehicles and a commercial trade in the north was established. But even from the beginning of polar exploration the ships that sailed with orders to attain the North Pole have been in number and importance the exception, not the rule. Attempts to reach the North Pole itself followed using stronger ships with newer designs as a base for the dashes to the almost mythical prize. Balloons and the new dirigibles were tried, followed by airships and submarines. When the Pole itself was finally reached, it proved to be a vain goal since it was just a point on the ice above a moving body of water.

The oceans of the Arctic basin and the frozen lands around it are now recognized as important study areas, and over the years virtually all exploration parties became directed toward studies of some kind.

Below Is 120 Of My Top Video's With All Link To Watch Them... Thanks !

Real Illuminati Media CIA Television Mass Mind Control Operation Mockingbird U.S.A. - https://rumble.com/v4b6vkr-real-illuminati-media-cia-television-mass-mind-control-operation-mockingbir.html

Real Illuminati One World Headquarter Order Out Of Chaos Freemasonry 1776-2024 - https://rumble.com/v4b8nqr-real-illuminati-one-world-headquarter-order-out-of-chaos-freemasonry-1776-2.html

Real Illuminati Media Ultimate TV Mind Control Media Manipulation Pt.2 Documentary - https://rumble.com/v4bd5cq-real-illuminati-media-ultimate-tv-mind-control-media-manipulation-pt.2-docu.html

Global Citizen One World Together At Home 15 Min. City UN Extreme Propaganda - https://rumble.com/v4bfaqz-global-citizen-one-world-together-at-home-15-min.-city-un-extreme-propagand.html

Hey Man USA-Mexico Border Is Closed-Border Is Secure-We Our A Sanctuary Cities - https://rumble.com/v4bm0ln-hey-man-usa-mexico-border-is-closed-border-is-secure-we-our-a-sanctuary-cit.html

Illusion Of Democracy Their Is No Border Crisis, No Drug Epidemic, No Pedophile's ! - https://rumble.com/v447lj9-illusion-of-democracy-their-is-no-border-crisis-no-drug-epidemic-no-pedophi.html

UN Invasion, Martial Law, Rex 84 Death Camps, Globalist Purge, Operation Cable Splicer - https://rumble.com/v41h3zp-un-invasion-martial-law-rex-84-death-camps-globalist-purge-operation-cable-.html

Guide To Understanding Globalist Purge FEMA Quarantine Re-Education Death Camp - https://rumble.com/v41deia-guide-to-understanding-globalist-purge-fema-quarantine-re-education-death-c.html

World Economic Forum Great Reset Medical Tyranny, Woke Culture, Green Agenda - https://rumble.com/v3jfm06-world-economic-forum-great-reset-medical-tyranny-woke-culture-green-agenda.html

It's a Woke World After All - What If Everything You Were Taught Was A Lie?
https://rumble.com/v27su50-its-a-woke-world-after-all-what-if-everything-you-were-taught-was-a-lie.html

The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 41st US Congress Sold Out the Republic - https://rumble.com/v27tdu5-the-district-of-columbia-organic-act-of-1871-41st-us-congress-sold-out-the-.html

Your Momma Sold You Into Slavery ? Who owns your citizenship you or your government - https://rumble.com/v280ewg-your-momma-sold-you-into-slavery-who-owns-your-citizenship-you-or-your-gove.html

A Must See Video What On Earth Happened Parts (7) Eyes Wide Open
https://rumble.com/v27y5mw-a-must-see-video-what-on-earth-happened-parts-7eyes-wide-open.html

Claudette Colvin- the Girl who Came Before Rosa Parks Civil Rights Movement.
https://rumble.com/v28ufb6-claudette-colvin-the-girl-who-came-before-rosa-parks-civil-rights-movement..html

Sinclair's Soldiers in New Media War on Media a video that showcased news anchors - https://rumble.com/v28zjlc-sinclairs-soldiers-in-new-media-war-on-media-a-video-that-showcased-news-an.html

Five Billion Slaughter-bots Weapon AI based drone weapon are ready be launched now. - https://rumble.com/v28znek-five-billion-slaughter-bots-weapon-ai-based-drone-weapon-are-ready-be-launc.html

the drug adrenochrome is harvested from the blood of children by Hollywood elites. - https://rumble.com/v28z6ni-the-drug-adrenochrome-is-harvested-from-the-blood-of-children-by-hollywood-.html

Artist covering one eye with 666 Illuminati can be flashed in public by puppet ?
https://rumble.com/v28ziyu-artist-covering-one-eye-with-666-illuminati-can-be-flashed-in-public-by-pup.html

Fast & Furious How it went down about 122,000+ firearms sold over 10,000 people dead - https://rumble.com/v28zp34-fast-and-furious-how-it-went-down-about-122000-firearms-sold-over-10000-peo.html

I Pledge Of Allegiance To The Flag Was A Marketing Ploy Designed To Sell Flags
https://rumble.com/v2987kq-i-pledge-of-allegiance-to-the-flag-was-a-marketing-ploy-designed-to-sell-fl.html

This Land is Mine with English Subtitles and Years Killed or War Dates Very Cute One - https://rumble.com/v298918-this-land-is-mine-with-english-subtitles-and-years-killed-or-war-dates-very.html

Are You Lost in the World Like Me ? and The Moby & The Void Pacific Choir
https://rumble.com/v298af8-are-you-lost-in-the-world-like-me-and-the-moby-and-the-void-pacific-choir-w.html

United States is a Corporation and Corporate Origins of Modern Constitutionalism - https://rumble.com/v29quxm-united-states-is-a-corporation-and-corporate-origins-of-modern-constitution.html

Prototype For New American Flag Unveiled Today At A Secret Meeting In DC U.S.A. - https://rumble.com/v29r0ya-prototype-for-new-american-flag-unveiled-today-at-a-secret-meeting-in-dc-u..html

Whole banking system is a scam and fractional lending is just part of the problem ? - https://rumble.com/v2a45g0-whole-banking-system-is-a-scam-and-fractional-lending-is-just-part-of-the-p.html

Collapse of the American Dream Explained in Animation We're Doomed. Pass It On - https://rumble.com/v2a437q-collapse-of-the-american-dream-explained-in-animation-were-doomed.-pass-it-.html

Social Security Is Gone and U.S.A. Government Did Not Paid In One Single Penny
https://rumble.com/v2a4c7m-social-security-is-gone-and-u.s.a.-government-did-not-paid-in-one-single-pe.html

Statutes and Codes Are Not Law Corporate Policy Right to Travel and Privileges
https://rumble.com/v2aawx0-statutes-and-codes-are-not-law-corporate-policy-right-to-travel-and-privile.html

Abatement in Pleading Common law Abatement Explained All You Need To Know - https://rumble.com/v2aaz1y-abatement-in-pleading-common-law-abatement-explained-all-you-need-to-know.html

What Is an Affidavit of Truth? and Affidavit Certificate? and Common Law Affidavit? - https://rumble.com/v2aas98-what-is-an-affidavit-of-truth-and-affidavit-certificate-and-common-law-affi.html

Why COVID-19 Shot Is Not Safe ? Nuremberg Code ? Agent Orange ? Anthrax Vaccine ? - https://rumble.com/v2affqe-why-covid-19-shot-is-not-safe-nuremberg-code-agent-orange-anthrax-vaccine-.html

Gates from Hell - Like you Never Knew Him (Bill Gates) Before ? Corbett Report
https://rumble.com/v2afwv2-gates-from-hell-like-you-never-knew-him-bill-gates-before-corbett-report-w0.html

Truth about Agenda U.N. 21 and Plan to Control and Enslave the New World Order - https://rumble.com/v2ak54g-truth-about-agenda-u.n.-21-and-plan-to-control-and-enslave-the-new-world-or.html

Biden Admin. Sale Girls 11 to 14 Age To Sex Trade 4 Illegals Arrive On Ghost Flights! - https://rumble.com/v2anh4g-biden-admin.-sale-girls-11-to-14-age-to-sex-trade-4-illegals-arrive-on-ghos.html

U.S. Government Run Human and Sex Trafficking & Enslavement of All Women & Races - https://rumble.com/v2atub0-u.s.-government-run-human-and-sex-trafficking-and-enslavement-of-all-women-.html

New World Order Says That All 50 State Will Not Comply Dishonest U.S. Administration - https://rumble.com/v2atzk6-new-world-order-says-that-all-50-state-will-not-comply-dishonest-u.s.-admin.html

A Organ Donor Card Will Get You Killed Very Fast As A Doctors Will Sell You 4 Money - https://rumble.com/v2auj9m-a-organ-donor-card-will-get-you-killed-very-fast-as-a-doctors-will-sell-you.html

Nothing to See Here “Accidental Destruction” Food Processing Plant Fire Suspicious - https://rumble.com/v2axqu6-nothing-to-see-here-accidental-destruction-food-processing-plant-fire-suspi.html

Orwellian Dystopia Both Side's Are Wrong Answer To Extremism Isn’t More Extremism - https://rumble.com/v2bngfk-orwellian-dystopia-both-sides-are-wrong-answer-to-extremism-isnt-more-extre.html

Rex 84 FEMADC’s Blueprint for Martial Law in America and A Police State America. - https://rumble.com/v2cf4yu-rex-84-femadcs-blueprint-for-martial-law-in-america-and-a-police-state-amer.html

Federal Emergency Management Agency Death Camp's Purchase 30,000 Guillotines - https://rumble.com/v2cfd3c-federal-emergency-management-agency-death-camps-purchase-30000-guillotines.html

What is Martial law in the US ? Habeas corpus ? Insurrection Act of 1807 ? NWO
https://rumble.com/v2cfl0c-what-is-martial-law-in-the-us-habeas-corpus-insurrection-act-of-1807-nwo-.html

Executive Orders Can’t Save The U.S.A. ? It's “WE THE PEOPLE” Who Own America ? - https://rumble.com/v2cgic2-executive-orders-cant-save-the-u.s.a.-its-we-the-people-who-own-america-.html

A Dangerous New Zombie Drug is Taking Over American Streets and Million Will Die ? - https://rumble.com/v2cjoog-a-dangerous-new-zombie-drug-is-taking-over-american-streets-and-million-wil.html

76 Million Gun Owners, Gun Culture, and 2nd Amendment Laws, Red Flags, U.S. Gangs - https://rumble.com/v2cuu12-76-million-gun-owners-gun-culture-and-2nd-amendment-laws-red-flags-u.s.-gan.html

We The Sheeple People of The United States of America and A Real Bill of State Rights - https://rumble.com/v2d7y7w-we-the-sheeple-people-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-a-real-bill-of-st.html

Pope's Audience Hall Is A Snake Head Revelation 20:2 Satan Is Bound Thousand Years - https://rumble.com/v3pizvl-popes-audience-hall-is-a-snake-head-revelation-202-satan-is-bound-thousand-.html

In The Name Of Jesus ? Who ? Most Evil Christians In World King James Bible 1611 - https://rumble.com/v32u9pw-in-the-name-of-jesus-who-most-evil-christians-in-world-king-james-bible-161.html

In The Name Of Jesus ? Who ? Out of all the gangsters, serial killers, mass murderers, incompetent & crooked politicians, spies, traitors, and ultra left-wing kooks in all of American history,” asked a conservative and have you ever wondered who the worst of the worst In The Name Of Jesus ? Who ?

Thank you 🙏 lord God! Many blessings so many are about to take in the truth I pray bet we get access to the whole Bible. Thank you for sharing this means allot to me and the world.

Jesus,” which later employed the letter “J,” is a derivation It was not until 1630 that the differentiation became general in England.” Note in the original 1611 version of the King James Version of the Bible there was no “J” letter in this Bible for because it did not exist. James was spelled Iames. Jesus was spelled Iesous. The 80 books of the King James Version include 39 books of the Old Testament, 14 books of Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament.

The Letter “J” did not Exist - https://ia800703.us.archive.org/33/items/kjvkingjamesbibl1611lman/kjvkingjamesbibl1611lman.pdf - The Son of Elohim was not a White Guy with an English Name, speaking Greek

One of the most asked questions of the century. How can the Messiah’s Name be Jesus if the letter “J” did not exist 500 years ago?

The Messiah walked on earth about 2,000 years ago. If the letter and sound of “J” did not exist when the Messiah walked on this earth, what was His Name?

In the English Alphabet, the letter “J” was originally used for the letter “I”. The first to distinguish the difference between the letter “J” and the letter “I” was in Gian Giorgio’s 1524 “I” and “J” were originally the same letter but different shapes both equally the same letter.

According to the history of the English Alphabet, the official and original sound of the letter “J” was the sound of “Y” in “yet” or “yellow”.

The very first English-language book to make clear distinction between the sound of “I” and the sound of “J” was not written until 1634. It wasn’t until then, after the 1611 Bible was published, that the English language officially accepted the shape and sound of the letter “J” as “jay” and no longer the “yuh” “Y” sound.

Jehovah or Jesus are Man made Names, with Man Made Doctrines. Tricked, Bait & Switch. Now after Reading this Post, you are No Longer Tricked. From this Point on you’re making a Choice who to follow.

A Savior Created by the Church of Constantine the Great; “Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Savior a different way.”

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