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1st Transatlantic flight... Graf Zeppelin German airship...



Item # 565680

October 12, 1928

THE DAY, New London, Connecticut, October 12, 1928

* D-LZ127 Graf Zeppelin German airship
* 1st Transatlantic flight


This 22 page newspaper has a three column headline on the front page: "Storms Drive Zeppelin South; Not to Arrive Before Monday; Now on Course Via Bermuda" with subheads. (see photos)

Other news of the day throughout. few, small binding holes along the spine, otherwise in nice condition.

wikipedia notes: Dr. Eckener commanded the "Graf Zeppelin" on its first intercontinental trip, a transatlantic crossing which left Friedrichshafen, Germany, at 07:54 on 11 October 1928, and arrived in the United States at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey, on 15 October after having traveled 9,926 km in 111 hours. Notwithstanding the heavy headwinds and stormy weather that slowed the journey, Eckener had nevertheless repeated the success of his first transatlantic crossing made four years earlier in October 1924, to deliver the D-LZ126 (renamed the USS Los Angeles) to the U.S. Navy. Eckener and the crew were welcomed enthusiastically with a "ticker tape" parade in New York the next day and a subsequent invitation to the White House.
A portion of the damaged fabric covering removed from the "Graf Zeppelin" in October 1928, after its first transatlantic flight from Germany to NAS Lakehurst, NJ.
A portion of the damaged fabric covering removed from the "Graf Zeppelin" in October 1928, after its first transatlantic flight from Germany to NAS Lakehurst, NJ.

This first transatlantic trip was not without its difficulties, however, as the airship suffered potentially serious damage to its port tail fin on the third day of the flight when a large section of the linen covering was ripped loose while passing through a mid-ocean squall line. With the engines stopped, the ship's riggers did their best to tie down the torn fabric to the framework and sew blankets to the ship's envelope while attempting to not fall to the raging seas just below. Fortunately the riggers finished just before Dr. Eckener had to restart the engines when the ship had dropped to within a couple of hundred feet of the ocean's surface. The Graf crossed the U.S. coast at Cape Charles, Virginia, around 10 AM on [[[October 15|15 October]], passed over Washington, D.C., at 12:20PM, Baltimore, MD, at 1PM, Philadelphia, PA, at 2:40 PM, New York City at 4 PM, and landed at NAS Lakehurst at 5:38 PM.[8]

In addition to the passengers and crew, there was also a stowaway on the fight, 19-year old Clarence Tehune, who had secreted himself onboard the Graf Zeppelin at Friedrichshafen and appears in a Gaumont Graphic Newsreel working for his passage in the airship's kitchen. Terhune was returned to Europe on the French liner SS Ile de France along with a number of airship crewmembers.

Category: The 20th Century