Archive for the ‘History’ Category

Zeppelin LZ-129 Hindenburg crash cover from May 6, 1937

Thursday, May 6th, 2010

Flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Lakehurst, NJ, USA, zeppelin LZ-129 HINDENBURG carried on the 1st North America Flight 1937 a total of 8 mail bags containing 17,609 cards, covers and parcels. When approaching Lakehurst, the airship burst into flames. Only 368 of the 17,609 postal items were salvaged after the crash, most of them in more or less bad condition.

The illustrated postcard survived the crash and was found in the wreckage of LZ-129 HINDENBURG – the picture side of the card illustrates the good old days of airship travel while parts of the card were burnt. The stamp in the top left corner was washed off another postcard and stuck on this card.

39215

Today, crash covers from the 1937 LZ-129 HINDENBURG disaster are rare collectible items.

If you want to learn more about zeppelin mail and zeppelin crash covers, visit the website of the ZEPPELIN STUDY GROUP at http://www.ezep.de/

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Posted in History, Postal History, ZEPPELIN POST JOURNAL, airships | 12 Comments »

Zeppelin LZ-5, Z-II strands at Weilburg, 100 years ago

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

weilburg

100 years ago, on April 25, 1910, German airship Zeppelin LZ-5, which was also known as military airship Z-II, stranded at Weilburg and was completely destroyed.

Contemporary newspaper reports about that crash can be found here: http://www.weilburg-lahn.info/zeppelin/z2_3.htm

And if you want to know more about zeppelin and zeppelin mail, visit the website of the ZEPPELIN STUDY GROUP at http://www.ezep.de/

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Posted in History, ZEPPELIN POST JOURNAL, airships | 2 Comments »

LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II – Rare Colour Footage

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

Rare colour footage of the Graf Zeppelin II over Friedrichshafen in 1938, filmed by Goodyear Engineer Harold G. Dick. From the documentary “Hindenburg Disaster: Probable Cause.” The documentary mistook this footage as color footage of the Hindenburg. This is the only known colour footage of a Zeppelin; the colour footage of the Hindenburg in various video sharing sites was hand-colourized in the 1960s.

This was posted by “Charlie” on MaYoMo, to see the video go to his post: http://www.mayomo.com/74620

Visit the ZEPPELIN STUDY GROUP at www.eZEP.de

LZ-130

Photo take from the above listed video.

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Posted in History, airships | 2 Comments »

100 years of Swiss aviation

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Yesterday (March 10), 100 years ago: The first motor driven airplane took off from Switzerland. A Wright biplane brought in by train flew for five minutes over the frozen St. Moritzersee in Switzerland. The plane was piloted by Paul Engelhard. And 100 years later — Zurich has one of the largest and most modern airports with airline connections to all over the world. And Swiss International Air Lines (Swiss, LX) is one of the few European airlines making profit!

And the Swiss aerophilatelic community?!?! We are waiting for an invitation to join your centenuary festivity…. although German zeppelins had been frequently seen over Switzerland before that first flight with various recorded zeppelin mail drops over Switzerland between 1907 and 1910!!!

Anyhow… Congratulations to Switzerland for a centenuary of aviation!

stmoritzersee

Photo showing Engelhard in March 1910 flying over St. Moritz area, courtesy of Dokumentationsbibliothek St. Moritz

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Posted in General, History | 2 Comments »

100 Zeppelin Letters, congratulations Bob!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

Bob Wilcsek published in the Airpost Journal, the monthly pblication of the American Airmail Society, his 100th Zeppelin Letter. His first Zeppelin Letter column in the Airpost Journal was published in June 1992 and Bob continuesly fed his readership with stunning and interesting facts and discoveries on zeppelin mail. The February 2010 issue (Volume 81, Number 2) of the Airpost Journal printed now his 100th column. Incredible – might this fountain of information never run dry!

Congratulations Bob!

P.S. Has anyone counted the columns Bob wrote for the Zeppelin Post Journal?

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Posted in General, History, Personal | 1 Comment »

Today in history: LZ-127 departs for Chicago World’s Fair

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Today (October 26) in 1933, LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin departs Akron for Chicago’s “A Century of Progress” World’s Fair and returns after a brief landing at Chicago.

chicagofahrt

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Posted in Exhibitions, History, airships | No Comments »

New Italian zeppelin mail catalogue out

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

Fiorenzo Longhi published an new zeppelin mail catalogue: Zeppelin mail from Italy, Italian Colonies, San Marino and Vatican City from the period 1929 – 1939. This covers the flights of LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin, LZ-129 Hindenburg and LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II. 972 covers are listed and 730 of them are illustrated. Included is also a price list for all of this material. The book will be presented on October 21, 2009 at ITALIA2009, the international stamp show at Rome, Italy.

Title of the book: CATALOGO STORICO DESCRITTIVO DEGLI AEROGRAMMI ZEPPELIN DI ITALIA – COLONIE ITALIANE – SAN MARINO – VATICANO – 1929 – 1939

Source: http://www.ezep.de/books/books.html

italianzeppelin

Ordering information will follow in the next days.

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Posted in Exhibitions, History, Postal History, airships | No Comments »

Zeppelin LZ-127 and Zeppelin NT-07 first flight anniversary

Friday, September 18th, 2009

This day in 1928, airship LZ-127 “Graf Zeppelin” made the first flight.

This day in 1997, airship Zeppelin NT-07 “Friedrichshafen” made the first flight.

Both happened at the city of Friedrichshafen.

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Posted in History | 1 Comment »

USS Shenandoah – triumph and tragedy

Friday, September 4th, 2009

Yesterday (September 3) in 1925, US airship USS Shenandoah crashed at southern Ohio.

Today (September 4) in 1923, US airship USS Shenandoah made the first flight of one hour at Lakehurst, NJ.

Source: http://www.ezeptalk.de/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=169#p571

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