Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport

Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport Aeroporto Bartolomeu de Gusmão
South door of the Zeppelin Hangar
IATA: SNZ ICAO: SBSC
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Serves	Rio de Janeiro
Elevation AMSL	3 m / 10 ft
Coordinates	22°55′56″S 043°43′09″W / 22.93222°S 43.71917°W / -22.93222; -43.71917Coordinates: 22°55′56″S 043°43′09″W / 22.93222°S 43.71917°W / -22.93222; -43.71917
Map
SNZ Location within greater Rio de Janeiro
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 2,739 8,986 Asphalt
Sources: World Aero Data

Bartolomeu de Gusmão Airport (IATA: SNZ, ICAO: SBSC) was an airport built to handle the operations with the rigid airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg. The airport was named after Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão (1685–1724), a Portuguese priest born in Brazil who did research about transportation with balloons.

In 1942 it became an Air Force Base of the Brazilian Air Force and therefore with exclusive military use. The following year its name was changed to Santa Cruz Air Force Base. It is located in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz in the western region of Rio de Janeiro.

Between 1931 and 1937, Deutsche Luft Hansa had regular flights between Germany and Brazil, which were operated by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin using its rigid airships Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg. Rio de Janeiro was the final stop, where passengers could connect with aircraft services to Southern Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia operated by Syndicato Condor, the Brazilian subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa. During its five years of regular scheduled summer season intercontinental commercial airship service between Germany and South America, the hangar was used only nine times: four by the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin and five by the LZ-129 Hindenburg. Designed and assembled with parts brought from Germany, the construction was subsidized by the Brazilian government.