The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships

Drawing on the extensive photographs, notes, diaries, reports, recorded data, and manuals he collected during his five years at the Zeppelin Company in Germany, from 1934 through 1938, Harold G. Dick tells the story of the two great passenger Zeppelins. Against the background of German secretiveness, especially during the Nazi period, Dick's accumulation of material and pictures is extraordinary. His original photographs and detailed observations on the handling and flying of the two big rigids constitute the essential data on this phase of aviation history.“[A] major contribution to aeronautical history. . . .Well illustrated with photos and drawings (some never before published) and handsomely designed.”—Booknews

“This is the very best account of the high point of the zeppelin era. The book abounds in technical details of design and construction. . . . Readers will learn about airship operation from the inside out.”—Aerospace Historian

“A valuable book, enhanced by excellent illustrations and a useful glossary of terms.”—Isis

“A wealth of interesting design, engineering, construction and operating information. . . . Technically sound and authoritative.”—AerospaceHarold G. Dick, the only American to have made twenty-two transatlantic crossings in the passenger airships, is an honorary life member of the Lighter-Than-Air Society. He lives in Wichita, Kansas.
Douglas H. Robinson, an aviation historian, is the author of several books, including The Zeppelin in Combat: A History of the German Naval Airship Division, 1912-1918; Giants in the Sky; and, with Charles L. Keller, “Up Ship!”: A History of the U.S. Navy's Rigid Airships, 1919-1935.Stories of the Graf Zeppelin and Hindenburg draw on materials collected during author Harold Dick's five years at the Zeppelin Company in Germany.