Zeppelin, Ferdinand Adolf August Heinrich Graf von |
| AIRSHIP DESIGNER (GERMANY) |
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BORN 8 Jul 1838, Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg - DIED 8 Mar 1917, Berlin-Charlottenburg GRAVE LOCATION Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg: Pragfriedhof, Friedhofstrasse 44 |
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Son of Friedrich von Zeppelin (a Lord Chamberlain in Württemberg) and Amélie Macaire d'Hogguer. In 1853 he started his studies at the Polytechnikum in Stuttgart, switching to a military career in 1855 (eventually he would become a brigadier general). In 1863, when he served in America as an observer, he flew in a balloon for the first time. In 1864 he returned to Germany and in 1869 he married Isaballa Freiin von Wolff. In 1879 they had a daughter, Hella. During the Franco-Prussian War he saw the French using balloons for observation and communication. After he was forced to retire from the army in 1891 (he had made too many critical remarks) he worked on an engine powered airship in his own factory in Friedrichshafen. In 1895 he presented his cigar shaped Zeppelin. A first test flight was made in 1900, carrying five persones over a distance of a few miles. In 1908 he established a commercial service for passengers. In the same year his first ship burnt down at Echterdingen. Until 1914 over 1,500 flights were made and 35,000 people were transported, without a single accident. During the First World War Zepelins were used to raid France and Britain, but they were shot down easily by the enemy. Zeppelin died in 1917 before the Zeppelin project was stopped due to the Treaty of Versailles. Related persons • cooperated with Maybach, Wilhelm |
| Images | |
 The grave of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin at the Pragfriedhof, Stuttgart. Picture by Androom (31 Jan 2007) |
 The grave of Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin at the Pragfriedhof, Stuttgart. Picture by Androom (31 Jan 2007) |
