Zeppelin worldwide flight from U.S.In 1929, the German airship Graf Zeppelin began a planned 21,700-mile round-the-world flight. Lifting off in the dark, at 12:40 am, it headed west leaving Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey (to where it returned 21 days, 7 hrs and 26 mins later). Its passengers, including millionaires, scientists, writers and just one woman, were sent off with the cheers of about 15,000 onlookers. It was expected, within an hour, to circle the Statue of Liberty. UP reported it to be “flying strongly” as it passed over lower New York, with “the drone of its powerful motors penetrating buildings all over town.” It had five Maybach motors to propel it. An engineer from that company was reported to declare “his firm conviction that these motors could be relied upon to work without cessation for 1,000 hours.”« |
