Koch, Jörg Ferdinand von Zeppelin und seine Luftschiffe

This book, richly illustrated with photos, documents the success of Count Zeppelin and the path of his development, starting with Zeppelin's hussars in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, the first long-distance flight with an airship in 1908 and its role in the First World War, and ending with its high and very successful airships. This development came to an abrupt end with the disaster of the airship "Hindenburg" in Lakehurst on 6 May 1937. Since then, this technology, for which Zeppelin rendered such outstanding services, has led a niche existence.

In addition to favourable conditions in the German Empire, personal factors also contributed to Zeppelin's success to a considerable extent. Particularly worthy of mention here are his military background and his technical talent. Zeppelin's single-mindedness and his persistence in developing step by step what he had already achieved were decisive moments of success, as the author documents with several examples. Even during his lifetime, he was showered with honours and was omnipresent. Even today, streets, schools and pharmacies are named after Count Zeppelin, and so-called Zeppelin stones can be found in many places to commemorate important milestones in the development and testing of zeppelins. He is also present on stamps from all over the world. Count Zeppelin has thus remained in the collective memory to this day, as only a few other protagonists from the fields of technology and science have.