THE ZEPPELIN: The History of German Airships from 1900 to 1937

by Christopher Chant, Annegret Hunke-Wormser (Translator)

THE The History of German Airships from 1900 to 1937

112 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Christopher Chant is a successful writer on modern military matters, and has a substantial number of authoritative titles to his credit. Military history, and the history of military aviation in particular have long been his passion. Having been part of the editorial team on Purnell's best-selling 'History of the First World War' and 'History of the Second World War', he became a full-time writer and editor in 1974, working extensively on military and aviation subjects. He is also a regular contributor to specialist journals.

Reviews

[Royce Ratterman]

The reader is introduced to a detailed Zeppelin history, inventory, and specifications galore before entering the era of WWI where the excitement grows steadily. The number of airships Germany produced is astounding. By the summation of WWI, only 9 remained in service, those to be turned over to the Allies- Photographs grace almost every page featuring a wide variety of Zeppelins, their construction, them in flight, and accidents and crashes, including those accidental and war related. The use of airships produced large numbers of casualties for each disaster and that alone would have convinced me to scrap the program.

When four of these Zeppelin airships drifted over France during wartime, they were unable to escape high winds forcing them to lower altitudes. One was brought down near Lunéville before the other three ran out of fuel. The crew of one set it afire after grounding their airship and were captured; another crew abandoned ship in the mountains of Switzerland, their Zeppelin then rose into the sky and was never seen again. The crew froze to death with their bodies discovered later.

A thorough appendix of technical details and an index complete this informative work.

Another work of interest:
Zeppelin: The Story of Lighter-Than-Air Craft by Ernst A. Lehmann

[Amanda Witt]

A short but detailed book about the history of these airships, with many black and white photos, some full page length, and the various attempts and successes made until the disasterous Hindenberg crash in America in 1937.

Issues from Germany losing both world wars meant no more airships could be constructed and in 1945, the Allies ordered the company's liquidation.

At the back of the book is a table of all the airships built and their technical details.

[Michael Heath-Caldwell]

Good book on Zeppelins.

[Hruotland]

Gut gemachter Bildband, aber es bleibt ein Bildband. Kann mensch Leuten schenken, wenn einem nichts besseres einfällt. Die blättern das dann einmal durch, sagen »Dankeschön« und das war’s.