"The Airship That Never Was"

LII

"Ride, Captain, ride, upon your mystery ship . . . " A rendering of the LZ-128, bigger sister to the U.S.S. Los Angeles and the Graf Zeppelin

Although people imagined "the airship that never was" as a flying country club with the passenger capacity of some modern airliners, this drawing from DELAG's files shows that LZ-128 was just an enhanced version of the Graf Zeppelin and did not have a golf course or a unicorn farm aboard

The DELAG airship numbered LZ-128 was blueprinted in late 1928, not very long after the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) took to the sky.

In design, LZ-128 was the third (and largest) of the three Los Angeles-class airships. She was designed to carry 25 passengers in increased comfort. Her overall length was 781 feet, not significantly longer than the Graf Zeppelin's 776 feet, but her hydrogen volume was intended to be 5.5 million cubic feet, or 150% of the Graf Zeppelin's capacity. She would have ten engines. She would also carry ten tons of freight. She would contain her passenger accommodations not in the gondola but within the hull. Essentially, she would be a sleeker and more refined version of the Los Angeles-type airship.

Money, which always bedeviled DELAG, was the main stumbling block in building LZ-128 (which was never named). Due to her volume, she needed a new larger hangar before construction could even begin, but DELAG was just keeping its going operations in the air. In the meantime, LZ-128 remained locked in a file cabinet.

After the Graf Zeppelin's Worldflight in mid-1929, there was a brief renewed interest in building the LZ-128, but it was derailed by Goodyear-Zeppelin's offer to partner with DELAG in building a whole new class of giant helium airships on the scale of the U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Macon. Again, attention was diverted from the LZ-128.

The Great Depression put a halt to any and all construction plans. DELAG did not even consider building any airships for three years, not until the South America run began to turn a profit in late 1932. At that point, the old blueprints and specifications were dusted off.

At that point in time, a new airship wasn't just desirable, it was a necessity. The Graf Zeppelin had been overutilized. It had over 1,000,000 miles on its odometer, and though it was as dependable as always, the ship really needed to be taken out of service for a while. A major mechanical and structural refit was overdue. Also, the passengers (many of whom were regulars) had begun to talk about the ship as a "comfortable old shoe." Clearly, the threadbare accommodations needed upgrading.

DELAG, for once, was flush with cash. Upon reflection, LZ-128, the uber-Graf Zeppelin, seemed like just more of the same. Her plans were put back in the file cabinet. Of course, never having even been started, time has created legends around the LZ-128. According to such legends she was supposed to be "twice the size of the Hindenburg" and carry 120 passengers. None of that was fact. DELAG indeed wanted to break some barriers, but not with the LZ-128. She became, and remained, the "mystery airship," and would always be "the airship that never was."

It was decided instead (that since a new hangar was needed anyway) to combine the LZ-128 budget with the LZ-129 budget and build the much bigger ships that Goodyear-Zeppelin had proposed. Goodyear-Zeppelin, though, would not have a hand in the project.