More from "Dr. Eckner's Dream Machine"

As I’ve read more of “Dr. Eckner’s Dream Machine”, I have come to appreciate much more of the history of the 20’s and 30’s especially from a global perspective.  I must admit when I first picked up the book I wasn’t excited about reading a biography of one of the men responsible for Zeppelins, but (at least in this book) you can see how Hugo Eckner and the rigid airships really become the same story and one can not be told without the other.

In all the history classes I’ve every had we learned about WWII and Hitler… but not a word about Hugo Eckner.  Of all the anti-Nazi supporters, Eckner might have been the only man that could have challenged Hitler openly.  Eckner was so wildly popular that even while thousands of German citizens were being imprisoned or killed, the Nazis could not eliminate him.  Dr. Eckner would loudly and aggressively speak out against what was happening in Germany.  His force of personality which was always that of a good, dedicated man would keep Zeppelin in business even while Germany was broke.  It would be Eckner who could get Americans and other worldly investors to keep his dream alive.

The great irony of the Zeppelins was that massive Germanic funding would ultimately be a contributor to their end.  Once Eckner had proved his design and ability beyond a doubt—only then did the Third Reich take possession of the Zeppelin company.  They could not “fire” him, but they did remove him from business concerns.  With the full weight of the Nazi propaganda engine and the shift climate, Eckner could no longer prevent politics from taking priority over operational perfection and safety.  If Hugo Eckner stood for anything it was the principle that all other concerns were secondary to the safe operation of the rigid airships.  This would always be difficult with powerful men who wanted to maintain a schedule would press to launch on time in bad weather.  Hugo would give to these demands only one, on his first Zeppelin launch.  The ship was destroyed by high winds as it exited the hanger.  He never made the same mistake twice.

When the Hindenburg took to the air, it would never be commanded by Dr. Eckner.  It was forced by Nazi demands to fly untested; it lost two engines on its first overseas trip.  It would fly without helium; we all know how that worked out.  The Hindenburg was doomed from its first days, not by failures of design, weather, or even human error.  It was doomed by politics.  Politics would prevent America from selling helium to the German owned Zeppelin corp.  Politics would force the hands of captains to fly against their expert judgement.  If the disaster had not occurred at Lakehurst then it surely would have happened elsewhere.

After the Hindenburg the world soon erupted in to WWII.  The giant Zeppelins have never returned.  But the reasons for this are rooted in misconception—the idea that these airships were too unsafe, too expensive, or too slow.  They may never be the economically efficient transport that airplanes are today, but we still take cruise ships and trains.  We do it for the joy of the experience and few could deny that a trip in a massive rigid airship over the world would not be an experience of a lifetime.  Many advantages still exist for a commercial airship.  In today’s world of GPS positioning, global weather tracking, and precision electronics, these machines would be every bit the dream that Dr. Eckner would imagine.  I sincerely hope I get to see one someday.