LZ 130 Graf Zeppelin

Graf Zeppelin
Other name(s)	Graf Zeppelin II
Type	Hindenburg-class airship
Manufacturer	Luftschiffbau Zeppelin
Construction number	LZ 130
Manufactured	1936-38
Registration	D-LZ130
First flight	14 September 1938
In service	1938–40
Flights	30
Fate	Broken up April 1940
Preserved at	Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen (bow)

The Graf Zeppelin II (Deutsche Luftschiff Zeppelin #130; Registration: D-LZ 130) was the last of the great German rigid airships built by the Zeppelin Luftschiffbau during the period between the World Wars, the second and final ship of the Hindenburg class named in honor of Paul von Hindenburg. The airship, which made 30 flights over 11 months in 1938–39 before being scrapped in 1940, was the second zeppelin to carry the name "Graf Zeppelin" (after the LZ 127) and thus is often referred to as Graf Zeppelin II.

The Graf Zeppelin II was nearly identical to the Hindenburg, and originally designed to use hydrogen as lifting gas. After the Hindenburg disaster, however, Hugo Eckener vowed never to use hydrogen alone in a passenger airship again. The only source of helium in large enough quantities was in the United States, so Eckener went to Washington, D.C. to lobby for helium for his airships. He visited President Roosevelt himself, who promised to supply helium, but only for peaceful purposes. After the annexation of Austria in March 1938, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes refused to supply helium, and the Graf Zeppelin II was ultimately filled with hydrogen.

The design of LZ-130 incorporated a few improvements over the design of the LZ 129 Hindenburg. Initially, the engine cars were designed and installed to have same pusher configuration as the Hindenburg. After the Hindenburg disaster, however, the engine pods were completely redesigned and reinstalled, using diesel engines powering tractor propellers. These new pods were larger and better insulated than those used on the Hindenburg and engine noise was noticeably quieter. In later flights, the airship used three-bladed propellers on both of its rear engines; trials were run on the forward port engine car as the ship neared completion, but only the aft-port engine car had a three-bladed propeller on its first flight. Unlike the wooden propellers of the Hindenburg, which had problems with moisture absorption causing imbalance, these three-bladed propellers were made of plastic wood and individual blades were assembled onto a main hub. The engines had a water recovery system which captured the exhaust of the engines, recovering water vapor present in the exhaust gases and condensing it for storage in tanks aboard the airship, to compensate for the fuel's weight lost during flight.

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