Part 5 (1/2)

Carl Maybach]

CHAPTER II

The Zeppelin Organization at the Time of Its Greatest Activity 1918-1919

The Zeppelin Endowment for the Propagation of Air Navigation (Zeppelinstiftung zur Foerderung der Luftfahrt) which Count Zeppelin founded with the subscription fund of 6,000,000 marks presented to him by the German people in 1908, is administered by a Board of Directors, of which Baron Max Freiherr von Gemmingen, Zeppelin's nephew, who worked with him from the start, is Chairman. The other Directors are Baron von Ba.s.sus and Dr. Hugo Eckener.

The Zeppelin Endowment owns Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin (Zeppelin Airs.h.i.+p Building Co.), the construction company organized in 1908 and controls the ”DELAG” organized, as stated before, in 1910 for the operation of commercial Zeppelins. Interested in the ”DELAG” are a number of financiers, though with all the others, it was under the personal supervision of Count Zeppelin, and after him the Directorate of the Zeppelin Endowment.

At the time of the Armistice the construction and operating companies employed 1,600 persons on their executive and engineering staffs and 12,000 workmen.

Many subsidiary companies were organized and operated, specializing in the various branches of Zeppelin work, experimenting and producing.

Many Subsidiary Companies

[PLATE 29: Zeppelin Village (Zeppelindorf), 1916.

Constructed by the Zeppelin Airs.h.i.+p Building Company for its employees and their families.

A Typical Double House.

A Typical Single House.]

These subsidiary companies are also controlled by the Directorate. They were not permitted to disintegrate during the difficult period following the war, but instead, have kept their personnel and facilities intact and are ready to continue the work which was interrupted by the terms of the treaty. They produce respectively motors, gas bags, propellers, gears, sheds and, in fact, everything pertaining to aerial navigation including airplanes, flying boats and parts.

The Construction Plants

The great construction plants are organized on the same principles as s.h.i.+p yards. Over them all is the General Director, Mr. Alfred Colsman, and Chief Engineer, Dr. Ing. Ludwig Durr, the latter having been with Count Zeppelin since the first airs.h.i.+p was started and to whom much of the credit must be given for the success attained.

There are various departments including the planning and supervising divisions, two designing divisions (one for scientific and general design, the other for works.h.i.+p and drawings), the manufacturing and erecting divisions, calculating and accounting, testing and controlling, and general maintenance divisions. The research department is a separate organization.

The Airs.h.i.+p Factories

In the airs.h.i.+p factories the framework is made and erected. The envelope is prepared, pa.s.senger and engine gondolas completed and a.s.sembled along with other apparatus and instruments. The power plant is built, excepting the motors and parts of the gear work. Research work along the lines of airs.h.i.+p development is conducted there.

The original plant built at Friedrichshafen in 1910 included a double shed, workshops, offices and laboratory buildings. The shed would not accommodate s.h.i.+ps of greater diameter than 52feet (16 meters), so in 1914 new workshops and another shed was built, to be followed the next year by a still larger shed.

[PLATE 30: The ”DELAG” Pa.s.senger Zeppelin ”Schwaben”, 1912.

The ”DELAG” Pa.s.senger Zeppelin ”Schwaben”, 1910.

Count Zeppelin and Doctor Eckener in the pilot car.]

During 1915 and 1916 better workshops (Plate 16), offices and a larger laboratory, together with the largest wind tunnel on earth were completed, along with a low pressure chamber for testing motors, a new development as unique as it was important to the automotive science.