The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”
Landing at Friedrichshafen September 1919.
The “DELAG” Passenger Zeppelin “Bodensee.”
Floating in the large shed at Friedrichshafen.
Zeppelin Builds Giant Airplanes
But there was another angle to the Zeppelin airplane activities. Count Zeppelin held the rank of General in the German Army. He had long been in a position which kept him informed of the needs of the fighting forces. For several months after the declaration of war he observed the heavy tasks to which his airships were put and then undertook the development of larger airplanes, far larger than any existing in the world at the time.
He consulted the noted aviator Hellmuth Hirth, and together they conferred with Professor Baumann of the technical university at Stuttgart. Baumann was already noted for his work as an aeronautical engineer. Within a few months they produced a multi-engined giant bomber. It proved successful. To produce these machines in quantity the Zeppelin works at Staaken were erected at the same time as the airship building plant. The airplane factory at Staaken soon employed more than a thousand men in turning out the giant night bombers, numbers of which were flown in the raids over London and Paris in 1917 and 1918.
The Airplane Works at Staaken
The plant at Staaken was complete, including two great airplane assembling sheds, workshops, offices, etc. It is now closed. Other German firms have built similar bombing planes under the Zeppelin patents. Twenty-six of them were built at Staaken, however.
They had a 137.76 foot (42 meters) wing span, carried 4.5 tons useful load, could climb to a height of 14,760 feet (4,500 meters) with their motors which aggregated 1,250 horsepower. Their average speed was 90 miles per hour ([Plate 23]).