http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Azolides&feedformat=atomDead Media Archive - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T14:59:02ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.25.2http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=14060Passenger Dirigible2010-12-19T23:56:20Z<p>Azolides: </p>
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<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered, lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
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== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
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[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
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The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
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Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
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== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
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In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
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=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as it had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
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=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
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Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an airplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
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=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
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The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
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'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
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While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler and enthusiast expressed:<br />
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<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102). Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
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The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with features for the traveler as amazing today as they were then” (Vaeth 56). This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (56).<br />
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Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
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== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
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Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used. Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
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=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
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The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
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Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
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<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
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=== Looking Good ===<br />
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There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
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[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
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The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
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People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the intended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
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And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
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=== Working Poorly ===<br />
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The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
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Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
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It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
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Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
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== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
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While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible is a great representation of the connection between transportation and communication as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. Consequently, the "message" of the airship becomes visible through an understanding of the medium itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through two major elements: it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
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=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
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<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
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As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. As the Goodyear Pamphlet quotation indicates, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg, the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support" (Vaeth 53). While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess" (53). In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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=== The End of a Dream: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Dirigible ===<br />
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Dirigibles occupy a unique position in the collective consciousness. Today, they are seen as both relics of a long-ago past, as well as visions into fantastical futures. Strangely, airships appear in modern media in both positions, as historical markers and as predictions of future civilizations. This position as both past artifact and future possibility is very odd, but can perhaps be explained by the position dirigibles had during their development and research (as discussed throughout this dossier) in relation to how quickly and strikingly they were abandoned mostly due to the ''Hindenburg'' disaster of 1937.<br />
[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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Airships arrived with massive hype. As one can see throughout this dossier, with discussions of future dirigible designs and the construction of the mooring mast atop the Empire State Building, airships were thought by most to be the future of passenger aviation. This message was continued supported by media at the time. Then, suddenly, the ''Hindenburg'' disaster seemed to quiet all the hype. (Note: There were other factors regarding the airships decline in popularity and development, e.g. increase in airplane power, negative press, etc.). What was left is a void. The airship was silence amidst intense hype and speculation. Because it ended at this time and in this manner, the airship represents an 'unfulfilled promise.' The hype created a need that did not really exist and promised a fantastic solution. Consequently, the solution never really succeeded, as there were very few passenger airships ever in service at one time, and the airship never became available for the non-affluent. As such, airships still remain frozen in the collective consciousness as an image of the future and of progress, despite their existence a century ago.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
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"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
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Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
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"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
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Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
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Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
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Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
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Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
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Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924).<br />
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== Dirigibles on Film ==<br />
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Last Zeppelin Out of Berlin<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39ZuGNaGVg<br />
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Captain Sky Original Short: ''Hindenburg III'' Docks at Empire State Building<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqRvdm8jHz4<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
[[Category:Dossier]]<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=14054Passenger Dirigible2010-12-15T20:34:23Z<p>Azolides: </p>
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<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered, lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
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== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
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[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
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The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
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Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
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== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
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In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
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=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as it had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
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=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
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Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an airplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
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=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
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The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
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'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
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While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler and enthusiast expressed:<br />
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<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102). Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
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The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with features for the traveler as amazing today as they were then” (Vaeth 56). This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (56).<br />
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Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
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== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
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Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used. Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
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=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
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The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
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Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
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<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
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=== Looking Good ===<br />
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There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
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[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
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The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
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People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the intended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
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And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
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=== Working Poorly ===<br />
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The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
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Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
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It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
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Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
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== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
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While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible is a great representation of the connection between transportation and communication as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. Consequently, the "message" of the airship becomes visible through an understanding of the medium itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through two major elements: it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
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=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
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<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
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As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. As the Goodyear Pamphlet quotation indicates, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg, the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support" (Vaeth 53). While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess" (53). In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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=== The End of a Dream: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Dirigible ===<br />
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Dirigibles occupy a unique position in the collective consciousness. Today, they are seen as both relics of a long-ago past, as well as visions into fantastical futures. Strangely, airships appear in modern media in both positions, as historical markers and as predictions of future civilizations. This position as both past artifact and future possibility is very odd, but can perhaps be explained by the position dirigibles had during their development and research (as discussed throughout this dossier) in relation to how quickly and strikingly they were abandoned mostly due to the ''Hindenburg'' disaster of 1937.<br />
[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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Airships arrived with massive hype. As one can see throughout this dossier, with discussions of future dirigible designs and the construction of the mooring mast atop the Empire State Building, airships were thought by most to be the future of passenger aviation. This message was continued supported by media at the time. Then, suddenly, the ''Hindenburg'' disaster seemed to quiet all the hype. (Note: There were other factors regarding the airships decline in popularity and development, e.g. increase in airplane power, negative press, etc.). What was left is a void. The airship was silence amidst intense hype and speculation. Because it ended at this time and in this manner, the airship represents an 'unfulfilled promise.' The hype created a need that did not really exist and promised a fantastic solution. Consequently, the solution never really succeeded, as there were very few passenger airships ever in service at one time, and the airship never became available for the non-affluent. As such, airships still remain frozen in the collective consciousness as an image of the future and of progress, despite their existence a century ago.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
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"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
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Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
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"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
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Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
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Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
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Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
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Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
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Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924).<br />
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== Dirigibles on Film ==<br />
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Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Last Zeppelin Out of Berlin<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o39ZuGNaGVg<br />
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Captain Sky Original Short: ''Hindenburg III'' Docks at Empire State Building<br />
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqRvdm8jHz4<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Colossus_Computer&diff=14053Colossus Computer2010-12-15T20:28:38Z<p>Azolides: /* Structure */</p>
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<div>The Colossus is arguably the first digital computer in human history. Created during World War II in order to help decipher encrypted German messages sent by the Lorenz Cipher, it stands as both an influential, technological advancement as well as a singular creation unto itself. Although its creation spawned a technological revolution in terms of electronic computation, its existence remained secret for over 30 years. Unlike the majority of technological media, the Colossus Computer was built with a singular purpose in mind, achieved its goal, and was immediately destroyed. It was never re-appropriated for a new use, except perhaps as an historical object, as it has recently been 'restored' as part of a museum for World War II code breaking at Bletchley Park.<br />
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In this way, as a technological medium, the Colossus is both hugely influential and entirely unique. Its role as a translator of another medium, that of German code, is a position not seen easily today. Perhaps this is why the Colossus can be easily forgotten, but deserves acknowledgement and remembrance.<br />
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[[File:Colossus.jpg|450px|thumb|right|Colossus Computer with two WREN operators]]<br />
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== Life of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== Machine-Cryptography Before Colossus ===<br />
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Following WWI, cryptography was becoming more mechanized than ever before. Along with this trend came a development of cryptanalysis as its own field of science and study. Since these new enciphering schemes were becoming more and more mechanical. the process of breaking their codes was also turning into a more electronic field. This development would not only change the course of cryptology, but begin the field of computer science that continues to this day. (Ratcliff 198)<br />
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[[File:Bombe.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Bombe]]<br />
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The first German cipher to utilize mechanical means was the [[Enigma machine]]. Code-breaking took its first steps into the mechanical realm with the development of the Bombe, developed by a primarily Polish team of cryptographers and engineers. The concept was simple: electricity utilized by a machine would allow for faster checking of possible decipherments than human checking. It should be noted that using machines to aid in deciphering was used before the Enigma. Germans and Americans relied on a punch card-based system to sort information. The Bombe, however, worked electromagnetically, like the Enigma it was attempting to break. This meant it, in many respects, replicated the machine itself. Rather than just checking possibilities for the message to be deciphered, the Bombe aimed to use the design of the encoding device itself, the [[Enigma machine]], to decode the messages. Developed in the late 1930s, the Bombe and its reaction to the German [[Enigma machine]] would serve as a major influence when the time came for a new cipher to be broken, requiring an even more complicated and sophisticated machine to crack it. (Ratcliff 203-205)<br />
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=== A New Cipher, A New Problem ===<br />
''The aim of the cryptographer is to produce a system that is convenient or simple to use legitimately but is too expensive, complex, or impossible in principle for the cryptanalyst to break'' ~ Jack Good (Good 149)<br />
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[[File:Lorenz SZ42.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Lorenz SZ42]]<br />
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After the German [[Enigma machine]] was effectively proven useless due to Allies breaking the code, a new encoding devised was devised known as the Lorenz SZ 40/42, named after the Lorenz Company that was commissioned to create the device. This device would allow for secure radio communication based on the 'additive method' of enciphering invented in 1918 by Gilbert Vernam. This meant the Lorenz utilized a non-Morse cipher known as Baudet (Ratcliff 205).<br />
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The Vernam method was simple enough; a text would become enciphered by adding obscure and 'randomly' generated characters to the actual textual message. The receiver of the message would then use their own Lorenz machine to add the same obscuring characters (by setting their rotors to the correct starting position for said-message), and cancel them out, revealing the intended message. This entire method of addition was known as Modulo-2 addition, referencing the addition of characters on both ends of the communications line (Sale 351).<br />
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The key to both the perceived success and ultimate failure of the Lorenz cipher system was the concept of creating random, obscuring characters. If the characters were created randomly by a computerized machine, the code would be unbreakable without a corresponding machine set to the same positions as the sender. Theoretically, this meant the Lorenz cipher system was a perfect example of encoded communication, as only those with the proper technology would be able to gain access to the intended message/text.<br />
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[[File:Lorenz SZ4042.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Lorenz SZ40/42]]<br />
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In brief, the cryptographic machine converts input (plain language, P) into a cipher (Z) by using some function (f). The equation is thus, Z=f(P,K), with K being the key to the cipher. Without K, presumably, Z cannot be converted into P by means of the function. If K has N possible values, the higher N is, the more difficult the code is to break. With a random character generator, N has a very high value. (Good 150).<br />
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However, the machination of a random character generator also reveals the system's brutal flaw; there is no such thing as a random character generator. What is actual made is a "pseudo random sequence" of characters. This would eventual lead to the Bletchley Park code-breakers to be able to truly break the Lorenz cipher without requiring access to a Lorenz machine itself (which would not have been breaking the code as much as stealing it). In fact, the code-breakers at Bletchley Park "never saw an actual Lorenz machine until right at the end of the war, but they had been breaking the Lorenz cipher for two and a half years" (Sale 352).<br />
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=== Fish and Tunny: Breaking the Code ===<br />
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It was 1940 when the first Lorenz-based German transmissions were intercepted by Allied officials in the UK. This non-Morse traffic was given the code name "Fish," a reference to the fact that this system of transmission was known by some Germans as ''Sagefish'' (Hinsley 141). "Fish" was clearly generated by a new machine, as the Enigma was based in Morse. What was also clear was the fact that the Germans based the transmission system around the concept that the same machine was used to both encipher and decipher the message over the radio (Hinsley 141).<br />
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"Tunny" was the word used to describe the "Fish" traffic messages as well as the machine that was being used to encipher/decipher it. The Tunny machine had two sets of five coding wheels or rotors that were used to generate the obscuring characters. In order to break the code and convert the cipher into plain language text, the receiver had to know the starting positions of the code wheels (Halton 170).<br />
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[[File:Bletchley Park Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Map of Bletchley Park]]<br />
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In code-breaking, a 'Depth' is more than one message, making it possible to hopefully see patterns and break the code. As more and more Depths were accrued through 1941, the hope of breaking the code did not seem to brighten. However, a critical German error allowed for British cryptanalysts to make the biggest break yet. On August 30, 1941, a nearly 4,000 character piece of text was sent between two German Lorenz machines and intercepted by British agents. The receiving end of the message sent back a transmission by radio a request for the message to be sent again, as (for whatever reason) it had not been properly received. The sender and the receiver both reset their Lorenz machines ''to the same starting position'' as the last transmission. Now, the German sending the message typed this second text slightly different from the first, this time making abbreviations and short-hamnd at points, clearing not wanting to type the entirety of the previous message again. The resulting text was about 500 characters shorter than the first. Thus, two mistakes were made. First, the Germans reset their wheels to the original position, meaning both texts would use the same obscuring numbers (pseudo randomly generated). Second, the second message was typed out differently. If it was the same, the same ciphered text would have been intercepted, and would have not been able to be broken. However, since the texts were different, but using ''the same'' obscuring characters, a pattern would become more visible. (Sale 353)<br />
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A young recent graduate at Bletchley Park named Bill Tutte was given the texts and, without a computer, started working out how the code must have been generated. Over the next two months, the structure of the Tunny machine was worked out. It cannot be oversold how amazing this was as a code-breaking effort. How they were able to deduce not only the ciphers but how the machine created them is astounding. However, a major issue was still noting where the code wheels had to be in the starting position. In essence, this was simply a "guess-and-see" game that could take anywhere between four to six weeks to discover. This was too long, as the messages deciphered by then were worthless. It was at this point that the machine was meant to step in as an answer. (Sale 354)<br />
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=== Rise of the Machines ===<br />
[[File:Heath Robinson.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Robinson, precursor to Colossus]]<br />
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Because the code took too long to break by hand, it was determined that a speedy, mechanized device was the only way to help break the code in a reasonable amount of time. The first electronic machine built to help break the "Tully" was the Heath Robinson, named after the British cartoonist of fantastical machines (a British equivalent of Rube Goldberg). The biggest problem with the Heath Robinson was its difficulty in synchronizing two pieces of input tape to read at 1,000 characters per second (cps). One tape had the Lorenz wheel patterns on it, the other the encrypted text. Both had to run equally multiple times through the machine in order to determine the starting position of the Lorenz wheels. While Heath Robinson worked in theory, enough to show Max Newman's mathematical theory of applying code-breaking to this electronic machine was accurate, it was too problematic to be effective. (Sale 354)<br />
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[[File:Colossus X.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Colossus X]]<br />
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The Colossus fixed this problem by having the wheel patterns be generated electronically within the machine itself, fixing the need for synchronization. This massive intellectual contribution by Tommy Flowers led to the creation of the Colossus Mk 1. The Colossus was up and running by the end of 1943. The result was an increase in the speed of decoding messages from weeks to hours. The Colossus aided in several Allied programs, most notably in the lead up to D-Day. Intercepted messages deciphered by Colossus proved that Hitler and the Germans were falling for the deception campaigns laid out by the Allies leading up to the Normandy invasion. This gave the Allies confidence in launching the crucial assault and bringing an end to the war. (Sale 355)<br />
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=== Colossus Wiped From Memory ===<br />
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Over the course of the war, Colossus was upgraded to the Colossus Mk 2 in June of 1944. By the end of the war, there were ten functioning Colossi in the Bletchley Park facilities. Following the war's end on Victory Day, the Colossi were deemed to have no more function and were ordered to be dismantled immediately. Eight were dismantled, while the other two were sent back to the Government Code Headquarters until being destroyed in 1960. All the drawings and schematics were burned and the entire existence of Colossus was kept secret. It was not until the 1970s that information began to emerge. In the 1980s, some of the researchers and scientists behind its invention began writing papers on the Colossus, its function, and its contributions to not only the war effort, but to the invention of the computer. (Sale 362)<br />
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== Mind of the Colossus ==<br />
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[[File:The Mansion.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Mansion at Bletchley Park, Headquarters of British Code-breaking]]<br />
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The men and women who created and operated the Colossus are many, yet specific. Unlike many technologies with varied origins, the creation of the Colossus computer was done with keen intent and diligence by specific, known people. They came from many walks of life and were motivated by the hopes of serving their country in a wartime effort. The early code-breaking computers, thus, "sprang from the imaginative, sometimes desperate, often improvised innovations of the Anglo-American war effort against German machine ciphers" (Ratcliff 198). People came from many fields, both theoretical and practical, in order to help. In this way, the construction of the Colossus was motivated by nationalism more than any believe in scientific progress. The following are just a few of the key figures in the creation of the Colossus and the breaking of the Tully.<br />
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=== Max Newman ===<br />
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[[File:Max Newman.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Max Newman]]<br />
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Max Newman was in charge of the Tunny-breaking team at Bletchley Park. This group would come to be named after him, the 'Newmanry.' The 'Newmanry's' function was "to work on machine attacks on Tunny, and it complemented the Testery, where hand and linguistic attacks were used" (Good 160). He was the main managerial force behind the creation and overseeing of Colossus (and the Heath Robinson before that). He deserved credit in the creation of Colossus mainly in this administrative capacity, as well as deciding to bring in the brilliant Tommy Flowers who, it will be discussed, was the main creative force behind building Colossus (Good 163).<br />
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=== Jack Good ===<br />
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[[File:Jack Good.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Jack Good]]<br />
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Jack Good was a statistician summed to Newman's team to help build an electronic machine to aid in the decoding process. He had previously worked on the Enigma code-breaking and the construction of the Bombe, as well as the Colossus's immediate predecessor, the Heath Robinson machine.<br />
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According to Good, "one of the greatest secret inventions of the war was the discovery that ordinary teletype tape could be run at thirty miles per hour without tearing" (Budiansky 314). In many way, Good helped pave the way for mechanized aid in code-breaking. It wasn't until he received help from Tommy Flowers that the Colossus would take form.<br />
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[[File:Bill Tutte.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Bill Tutte]]<br />
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=== Bill Tutte ===<br />
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Bill Tutte is the man who broke the Tunny code before any machines were even involved. Using two streams of intercepted text, Tutte was able to figure out the entire structure and functionality of the Tunny machine (Lorenz Cipher) without ever having seen it. Granted this took months, and individual decipherings could possibly take weeks, making the translated text unhelpful. That is why the creation of the Colossus was taken up (Good 161).<br />
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=== Tommy Flowers ===<br />
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[[File:Post Office Dollis Hill.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill]]<br />
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Tommy Flowers was a British Post Office electronics engineer working at the Research Station at Dollis Hill. He was recruited as an automaton specialist by the Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS). Along with Jack Good, he worked on theories derived by noted mathematicians Alan Turing and J von Neumann that led to the production of the Colossus (Ratcliff 205).<br />
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The biggest contribution to the Colossus construction from Tommy Flowers was the suggestion that the wheel patterns in the machine be generated electronically. In this way, there was no need for dual paper tape, and the issue that plagued the Heath Robinson machine, synchronization, was eliminated (Sale, 354). "Alan Turing contributed to the thinking in developing these machines, as did Max newman and several others, but an enormous part of the credit for designing Colossus, and all the credit for building it, goes to Tommy Flowers" (Copeland 192).<br />
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== Body of the Colossus ==<br />
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[[File:Rack Diagram.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Eight Racks of the Colossus]]<br />
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=== Structure ===<br />
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In total, there ended up being ten Colossi computers, the original Mk 1 and Mk 2, and eight replications of the Mk 2. The Colossus was made up of eight racks, arranged in two rows of four. The racks were 90 inches high. Each bay, holding four racks, stretched about 16 feet across. In addition to the racks, there would be a paper tape handler at one end as well as a output typewriter at the other (Sale 355).<br />
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[[File:IBM Typewriter.jpg|200px|thumb|right|IBM Electromatic Typewriter]]<br />
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The typewriter was a modified version of an IBM Electromatic Typewriter, common in the 1940s. For more, see [[Electric Typewriter]]. These modifications, placed by Tommy Flowers and his team, allowed the typewriter to interface with one of the Colossi. The typewriters were capable of printing ten characters per second, a high rate of performance that was necessary to quickly complete deciphering (Cragon 99).<br />
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=== How Colossus Worked===<br />
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[[File:Colossus VI Controls.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Some controls on Colossus VI]]<br />
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Input: Cipher text punched onto 5-hole paper tape, read at 5,000 characters per second (cps)<br />
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Output: Buffered onto relays, typewriter<br />
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Processor: Memory of 5 characters of 5-bits held in a shift register, pluggable logic gates, 20 decade counters arranged as 5 by 4 decades<br />
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Clock Speed: 5 KHz, derived from sprocket holes in the input tape<br />
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Vavles: 2500<br />
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[[File:Block Colossus Diagram.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Block Diagram of Colossus]]<br />
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(Sale 357)<br />
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In brief, the Colossus read intercepted, encoded text at 5,000 cps. The Colossus would 'read' the text multiple times and use a complicated Boolean function between the text and the wheel patterns used to encode it. Boolean functions are the basis of computers, registering results as either true or false based on the punched holes in the tape.<br />
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The Colossus was made up of, basically, an optical reader system, a master control panel, thyratron rings and driver circuits, calculators, shift registers, logic gates, counters, and printer logic (Sale 357).<br />
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== Shadow of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== Rebuilding ===<br />
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The Colossus rebuild project was begun by Anthony Sale and colleagues in July, 1994 as part of the opening of the Museums of Bletchley Park dedicated to the history of code-breaking in World War II. Some actual Post Office and radio engineers ended up taking part in the project. A basic functioning Colossus was finished by June of 1996, with Dr. Tommy Flowers in attendance for the 'switch-on' occasion (Sale 362).<br />
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[[File:ENIAC.jpg|200px|thumb|left|ENIAC]]<br />
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The major purpose of the rebuilding of the Colossus and the opening of the Museums at Bletchley Park is an attempt at changing the conception that the American-made ENIAC was the first digital computer ever made. In fact, the Colossus was completed two whole years before the ENIAC was switched on in 1944, yet the knowledge and nature of its secret war origins and the immediate destruction of the devices following their use has led to the Colossus being forgotten in computer history. The tide is slowly turning, however, as more information and research is being revealed into the creation and implementation of the Colossus.<br />
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== Meaning of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== A Historic and Technological Anomaly ===<br />
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The Colossus is important for many reasons spanning multiple disciplines. Historically, the Colossus altered the course of human history in several ways. Most obviously, it helped pave the way for Allied victory in World War II. But perhaps more importantly, the Colossus opened an entire field of intellectual thought and study, computer science. Not only did it prove the capabilities and possibilities of an entirely electronic and digital computation device, it led to this new concept of electronic computers to take off. Today, over 5 decades later, computer science is one of the most important fields of both theoretical and practical work. Even within media studies, digital information production, storage, and sending is a highly researched field. The Colossus stands as an important part of that study as the first historical example of digital computing.<br />
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[[File:Colossus V Back View.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Colossus V]]<br />
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But more importantly than simply affecting the history of computers and technology, the Colossus's story provides a deeper insight into the motivations for technological advancement. It cannot be ignored that the creation of the innovation of the Colossus, the world's first digital computer, was fueled by the fires of war, specifically World War II. Whereas the invention of most technologies follows a progressive path over multiple generations, usually from many different actors on several stages, the Colossus was built entirely with a specific purpose and goal in mind. Many technologies arise from a form of scientific curiosity and experimentation, perhaps without the intention of being produced. Sometimes the innovation is not clear until reflection upon it after the fact.<br />
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The Colossus, however, was built with the particular goal in mind of breaking the Lorenz cipher. There were no other possible uses of the device, nor was there any chance for such uses to be discovered or brought out. Immediately after its primary goal was no longer needed; i.e., the war was over, the Colossus and its clones were dismantled, shelved, and basically eradicated not only from space, but time as well, as their existence was kept secret for over thirty years.<br />
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Very rarely in the history of technology does one see such an innovation as the Colossus take place. Technology is looked upon as a progressive endeavor, with each new innovation owing debt to previous ones and paving the way for future technology. Although the Colossus has a place in the fostering of computer science and technology, it was hardly a specific influence for anyone, seeing how its entire existence and knowledge about it was so brief and hidden. The Colossus was made for one purpose, and, surprisingly from a philosophy of technology standpoint, only used for that one purpose.<br />
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=== Colossus: 'Outsider' Media Device ===<br />
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The Colossus also fits into a unique place as a communication device; i.e. in relation to other media in this archive. The entire study and practice of cryptology is a fascinating sidebar to the theory of communication. Cryptography is meant as a very specific form of communication that can pervade almost any other communication medium. Cryptography exists in inscription and writing, as well as radio and broadcast communication. No matter where it occurs, however, the goal is the same: transmit a message from sender to receiver that only the receiver can accurately understand the meaning of. As languages and communication in general become more ubiquitous, the need for secretive communication tends to rise.<br />
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[[File:Colossus VII Side View.jpg|320px|thumb|left|Colossus VII]]<br />
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In the theory of communication, this places special importance on both the receiver and the sender in granting meaning to the message. Cryptography is, in essence, mucking up the text of a given communication, providing purposeful static and interference. The key is having the receiver be aware not only of the addition of these interferences, but being able to work through them and eliminate them to reveal the actual message. This is seen most clearly in the additive cipher system of the Lorenz machine, which added obscuring characters to a given text with the aid of the machine, then used the same machine with the same unique settings to remove the excess characters on the receiving end. This is taking communication into an entirely new system, wherein the existence of 'Outsiders' is added, giving new relationships between the sender, receiver, the message, and the 'outsiders.'<br />
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In this cryptography-based communication system, the Colossus is an 'outsider.' Not meant to be part of the specifically controlled communication network establish, the Colossus (and the code-breakers working alongside it) intercepted messages and translated them by ''imitating'' the device used to encipher and decipher the texts. Of course, this was not a perfect imitation, as then decoding would not really be an issue. The computer-aspect is important as this code-breaking requires 'guess-and-check' sorts of operation, and the computerized Colossus could perform these much faster than human hands.<br />
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The Colossus is without question a media device. Its role was to transfer a message from one place to another, from one body to another. However, what makes the Colossus so unique was its innate ability and necessity to also translate this message from one language to another and its position as an 'outsider' to the man-made communication system it was infiltrating. The German Lorenz Cipher system created a specific, unique form of communication that no man could even produce on his own. It required machines who could produce 'random character' sequences in order to make the system more difficult to break. However, British code-breakers, mathematicians, and engineers were able to mimic the computer and build a device to break the code and infiltrate the communication circuit, without being detected. It rerouted the message to new senders, going against the very aim of the enciphering system. In this way, the Colossus was a reaction to a new, closed communication system with the ability to extract the hidden message.<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
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Andresen, S.L. “Donald Michie: Secrets of Colossus Revealed.” ''IEEE Intelligent Systems''. Vol. 16. No. 6<br />
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Budiansky, Stephen. ''Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II''. New York, NY: The Free Press, 2000.<br />
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Cragon, Harvey G. ''From Fish To Colossus: How the German Lorenz Cipher was broken at Bletchley Park.'' 2003.<br />
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Copeland, B.J. “Colossus: Its Origins and Originators.” ''Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE''. Vol. 26. No 4.<br />
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Copeland, B.J. ''Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park’s Codebreaking Computers''. Oxford University Press, 2006.<br />
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Good, Jack. “Enigma and Fish.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.<br />
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Halton, Ken. “The Tunny Machine.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993<br />
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Hayward, Gil. “Operation Tunny.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993<br />
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Hinsley, F.H. “An Introduction to Fish.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.<br />
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Ratcliff, R.A. ''Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma, Ultra, and the End of Secure Ciphers.'' New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.<br />
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Sale, Anthony. “The Colossus of Bletchley Park.” ''IEEE Review''. Vol 41 Issue 2. 1995<br />
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Sale, Anthony E. "The Colossus of Bletchley Park – The German Cipher System." ''The First Computers: History and Architectures.'' Eds. Raul Rojas and Ulf Hashagen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000.<br />
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Wells, Benjamin. “Advances in I/O, Speedup, and Universality on Colossus, an Unconventional Computer.” ''Unconventional Computation.'' 8th International Conference, 2009.<br />
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[[Category:Dossier]]<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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[[Category:Computation]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptology]]<br />
[[Category:War]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Colossus_Computer&diff=14052Colossus Computer2010-12-15T20:28:24Z<p>Azolides: /* Structure */</p>
<hr />
<div>The Colossus is arguably the first digital computer in human history. Created during World War II in order to help decipher encrypted German messages sent by the Lorenz Cipher, it stands as both an influential, technological advancement as well as a singular creation unto itself. Although its creation spawned a technological revolution in terms of electronic computation, its existence remained secret for over 30 years. Unlike the majority of technological media, the Colossus Computer was built with a singular purpose in mind, achieved its goal, and was immediately destroyed. It was never re-appropriated for a new use, except perhaps as an historical object, as it has recently been 'restored' as part of a museum for World War II code breaking at Bletchley Park.<br />
<br />
In this way, as a technological medium, the Colossus is both hugely influential and entirely unique. Its role as a translator of another medium, that of German code, is a position not seen easily today. Perhaps this is why the Colossus can be easily forgotten, but deserves acknowledgement and remembrance.<br />
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[[File:Colossus.jpg|450px|thumb|right|Colossus Computer with two WREN operators]]<br />
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== Life of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== Machine-Cryptography Before Colossus ===<br />
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Following WWI, cryptography was becoming more mechanized than ever before. Along with this trend came a development of cryptanalysis as its own field of science and study. Since these new enciphering schemes were becoming more and more mechanical. the process of breaking their codes was also turning into a more electronic field. This development would not only change the course of cryptology, but begin the field of computer science that continues to this day. (Ratcliff 198)<br />
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[[File:Bombe.jpg|250px|thumb|left|The Bombe]]<br />
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The first German cipher to utilize mechanical means was the [[Enigma machine]]. Code-breaking took its first steps into the mechanical realm with the development of the Bombe, developed by a primarily Polish team of cryptographers and engineers. The concept was simple: electricity utilized by a machine would allow for faster checking of possible decipherments than human checking. It should be noted that using machines to aid in deciphering was used before the Enigma. Germans and Americans relied on a punch card-based system to sort information. The Bombe, however, worked electromagnetically, like the Enigma it was attempting to break. This meant it, in many respects, replicated the machine itself. Rather than just checking possibilities for the message to be deciphered, the Bombe aimed to use the design of the encoding device itself, the [[Enigma machine]], to decode the messages. Developed in the late 1930s, the Bombe and its reaction to the German [[Enigma machine]] would serve as a major influence when the time came for a new cipher to be broken, requiring an even more complicated and sophisticated machine to crack it. (Ratcliff 203-205)<br />
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=== A New Cipher, A New Problem ===<br />
''The aim of the cryptographer is to produce a system that is convenient or simple to use legitimately but is too expensive, complex, or impossible in principle for the cryptanalyst to break'' ~ Jack Good (Good 149)<br />
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[[File:Lorenz SZ42.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Lorenz SZ42]]<br />
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After the German [[Enigma machine]] was effectively proven useless due to Allies breaking the code, a new encoding devised was devised known as the Lorenz SZ 40/42, named after the Lorenz Company that was commissioned to create the device. This device would allow for secure radio communication based on the 'additive method' of enciphering invented in 1918 by Gilbert Vernam. This meant the Lorenz utilized a non-Morse cipher known as Baudet (Ratcliff 205).<br />
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The Vernam method was simple enough; a text would become enciphered by adding obscure and 'randomly' generated characters to the actual textual message. The receiver of the message would then use their own Lorenz machine to add the same obscuring characters (by setting their rotors to the correct starting position for said-message), and cancel them out, revealing the intended message. This entire method of addition was known as Modulo-2 addition, referencing the addition of characters on both ends of the communications line (Sale 351).<br />
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The key to both the perceived success and ultimate failure of the Lorenz cipher system was the concept of creating random, obscuring characters. If the characters were created randomly by a computerized machine, the code would be unbreakable without a corresponding machine set to the same positions as the sender. Theoretically, this meant the Lorenz cipher system was a perfect example of encoded communication, as only those with the proper technology would be able to gain access to the intended message/text.<br />
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[[File:Lorenz SZ4042.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Lorenz SZ40/42]]<br />
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In brief, the cryptographic machine converts input (plain language, P) into a cipher (Z) by using some function (f). The equation is thus, Z=f(P,K), with K being the key to the cipher. Without K, presumably, Z cannot be converted into P by means of the function. If K has N possible values, the higher N is, the more difficult the code is to break. With a random character generator, N has a very high value. (Good 150).<br />
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However, the machination of a random character generator also reveals the system's brutal flaw; there is no such thing as a random character generator. What is actual made is a "pseudo random sequence" of characters. This would eventual lead to the Bletchley Park code-breakers to be able to truly break the Lorenz cipher without requiring access to a Lorenz machine itself (which would not have been breaking the code as much as stealing it). In fact, the code-breakers at Bletchley Park "never saw an actual Lorenz machine until right at the end of the war, but they had been breaking the Lorenz cipher for two and a half years" (Sale 352).<br />
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=== Fish and Tunny: Breaking the Code ===<br />
<br />
It was 1940 when the first Lorenz-based German transmissions were intercepted by Allied officials in the UK. This non-Morse traffic was given the code name "Fish," a reference to the fact that this system of transmission was known by some Germans as ''Sagefish'' (Hinsley 141). "Fish" was clearly generated by a new machine, as the Enigma was based in Morse. What was also clear was the fact that the Germans based the transmission system around the concept that the same machine was used to both encipher and decipher the message over the radio (Hinsley 141).<br />
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"Tunny" was the word used to describe the "Fish" traffic messages as well as the machine that was being used to encipher/decipher it. The Tunny machine had two sets of five coding wheels or rotors that were used to generate the obscuring characters. In order to break the code and convert the cipher into plain language text, the receiver had to know the starting positions of the code wheels (Halton 170).<br />
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[[File:Bletchley Park Map.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Map of Bletchley Park]]<br />
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In code-breaking, a 'Depth' is more than one message, making it possible to hopefully see patterns and break the code. As more and more Depths were accrued through 1941, the hope of breaking the code did not seem to brighten. However, a critical German error allowed for British cryptanalysts to make the biggest break yet. On August 30, 1941, a nearly 4,000 character piece of text was sent between two German Lorenz machines and intercepted by British agents. The receiving end of the message sent back a transmission by radio a request for the message to be sent again, as (for whatever reason) it had not been properly received. The sender and the receiver both reset their Lorenz machines ''to the same starting position'' as the last transmission. Now, the German sending the message typed this second text slightly different from the first, this time making abbreviations and short-hamnd at points, clearing not wanting to type the entirety of the previous message again. The resulting text was about 500 characters shorter than the first. Thus, two mistakes were made. First, the Germans reset their wheels to the original position, meaning both texts would use the same obscuring numbers (pseudo randomly generated). Second, the second message was typed out differently. If it was the same, the same ciphered text would have been intercepted, and would have not been able to be broken. However, since the texts were different, but using ''the same'' obscuring characters, a pattern would become more visible. (Sale 353)<br />
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A young recent graduate at Bletchley Park named Bill Tutte was given the texts and, without a computer, started working out how the code must have been generated. Over the next two months, the structure of the Tunny machine was worked out. It cannot be oversold how amazing this was as a code-breaking effort. How they were able to deduce not only the ciphers but how the machine created them is astounding. However, a major issue was still noting where the code wheels had to be in the starting position. In essence, this was simply a "guess-and-see" game that could take anywhere between four to six weeks to discover. This was too long, as the messages deciphered by then were worthless. It was at this point that the machine was meant to step in as an answer. (Sale 354)<br />
<br />
=== Rise of the Machines ===<br />
[[File:Heath Robinson.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Robinson, precursor to Colossus]]<br />
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Because the code took too long to break by hand, it was determined that a speedy, mechanized device was the only way to help break the code in a reasonable amount of time. The first electronic machine built to help break the "Tully" was the Heath Robinson, named after the British cartoonist of fantastical machines (a British equivalent of Rube Goldberg). The biggest problem with the Heath Robinson was its difficulty in synchronizing two pieces of input tape to read at 1,000 characters per second (cps). One tape had the Lorenz wheel patterns on it, the other the encrypted text. Both had to run equally multiple times through the machine in order to determine the starting position of the Lorenz wheels. While Heath Robinson worked in theory, enough to show Max Newman's mathematical theory of applying code-breaking to this electronic machine was accurate, it was too problematic to be effective. (Sale 354)<br />
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[[File:Colossus X.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Colossus X]]<br />
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The Colossus fixed this problem by having the wheel patterns be generated electronically within the machine itself, fixing the need for synchronization. This massive intellectual contribution by Tommy Flowers led to the creation of the Colossus Mk 1. The Colossus was up and running by the end of 1943. The result was an increase in the speed of decoding messages from weeks to hours. The Colossus aided in several Allied programs, most notably in the lead up to D-Day. Intercepted messages deciphered by Colossus proved that Hitler and the Germans were falling for the deception campaigns laid out by the Allies leading up to the Normandy invasion. This gave the Allies confidence in launching the crucial assault and bringing an end to the war. (Sale 355)<br />
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=== Colossus Wiped From Memory ===<br />
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Over the course of the war, Colossus was upgraded to the Colossus Mk 2 in June of 1944. By the end of the war, there were ten functioning Colossi in the Bletchley Park facilities. Following the war's end on Victory Day, the Colossi were deemed to have no more function and were ordered to be dismantled immediately. Eight were dismantled, while the other two were sent back to the Government Code Headquarters until being destroyed in 1960. All the drawings and schematics were burned and the entire existence of Colossus was kept secret. It was not until the 1970s that information began to emerge. In the 1980s, some of the researchers and scientists behind its invention began writing papers on the Colossus, its function, and its contributions to not only the war effort, but to the invention of the computer. (Sale 362)<br />
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== Mind of the Colossus ==<br />
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[[File:The Mansion.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The Mansion at Bletchley Park, Headquarters of British Code-breaking]]<br />
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The men and women who created and operated the Colossus are many, yet specific. Unlike many technologies with varied origins, the creation of the Colossus computer was done with keen intent and diligence by specific, known people. They came from many walks of life and were motivated by the hopes of serving their country in a wartime effort. The early code-breaking computers, thus, "sprang from the imaginative, sometimes desperate, often improvised innovations of the Anglo-American war effort against German machine ciphers" (Ratcliff 198). People came from many fields, both theoretical and practical, in order to help. In this way, the construction of the Colossus was motivated by nationalism more than any believe in scientific progress. The following are just a few of the key figures in the creation of the Colossus and the breaking of the Tully.<br />
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=== Max Newman ===<br />
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[[File:Max Newman.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Max Newman]]<br />
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Max Newman was in charge of the Tunny-breaking team at Bletchley Park. This group would come to be named after him, the 'Newmanry.' The 'Newmanry's' function was "to work on machine attacks on Tunny, and it complemented the Testery, where hand and linguistic attacks were used" (Good 160). He was the main managerial force behind the creation and overseeing of Colossus (and the Heath Robinson before that). He deserved credit in the creation of Colossus mainly in this administrative capacity, as well as deciding to bring in the brilliant Tommy Flowers who, it will be discussed, was the main creative force behind building Colossus (Good 163).<br />
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=== Jack Good ===<br />
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[[File:Jack Good.jpg|150px|thumb|right|Jack Good]]<br />
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Jack Good was a statistician summed to Newman's team to help build an electronic machine to aid in the decoding process. He had previously worked on the Enigma code-breaking and the construction of the Bombe, as well as the Colossus's immediate predecessor, the Heath Robinson machine.<br />
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According to Good, "one of the greatest secret inventions of the war was the discovery that ordinary teletype tape could be run at thirty miles per hour without tearing" (Budiansky 314). In many way, Good helped pave the way for mechanized aid in code-breaking. It wasn't until he received help from Tommy Flowers that the Colossus would take form.<br />
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[[File:Bill Tutte.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Bill Tutte]]<br />
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=== Bill Tutte ===<br />
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Bill Tutte is the man who broke the Tunny code before any machines were even involved. Using two streams of intercepted text, Tutte was able to figure out the entire structure and functionality of the Tunny machine (Lorenz Cipher) without ever having seen it. Granted this took months, and individual decipherings could possibly take weeks, making the translated text unhelpful. That is why the creation of the Colossus was taken up (Good 161).<br />
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=== Tommy Flowers ===<br />
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[[File:Post Office Dollis Hill.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Post Office Research Station at Dollis Hill]]<br />
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Tommy Flowers was a British Post Office electronics engineer working at the Research Station at Dollis Hill. He was recruited as an automaton specialist by the Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS). Along with Jack Good, he worked on theories derived by noted mathematicians Alan Turing and J von Neumann that led to the production of the Colossus (Ratcliff 205).<br />
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The biggest contribution to the Colossus construction from Tommy Flowers was the suggestion that the wheel patterns in the machine be generated electronically. In this way, there was no need for dual paper tape, and the issue that plagued the Heath Robinson machine, synchronization, was eliminated (Sale, 354). "Alan Turing contributed to the thinking in developing these machines, as did Max newman and several others, but an enormous part of the credit for designing Colossus, and all the credit for building it, goes to Tommy Flowers" (Copeland 192).<br />
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== Body of the Colossus ==<br />
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[[File:Rack Diagram.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The Eight Racks of the Colossus]]<br />
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=== Structure ===<br />
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In total, there ended up being ten Colossi computers, the original Mk 1 and Mk 2, and eight replications of the Mk 2. The Colossus was made up of eight racks, arranged in two rows of four. The racks were 90 inches high. Each bay, holding four racks, stretched about 16 feet across. In addition to the racks, there would be a paper tape handler at one end as well as a output typewriter at the other (Sale 355).<br />
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[[File:IBM Typewriter.jpg|200px|thumb|right|IBM Electromatic Typewriter]]<br />
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The typewriter was a modified version of an IBM Electromatic Typewriter, common in the 1940s. For more, see [[Electric_Typewriter]]. These modifications, placed by Tommy Flowers and his team, allowed the typewriter to interface with one of the Colossi. The typewriters were capable of printing ten characters per second, a high rate of performance that was necessary to quickly complete deciphering (Cragon 99).<br />
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=== How Colossus Worked===<br />
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[[File:Colossus VI Controls.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Some controls on Colossus VI]]<br />
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Input: Cipher text punched onto 5-hole paper tape, read at 5,000 characters per second (cps)<br />
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Output: Buffered onto relays, typewriter<br />
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Processor: Memory of 5 characters of 5-bits held in a shift register, pluggable logic gates, 20 decade counters arranged as 5 by 4 decades<br />
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Clock Speed: 5 KHz, derived from sprocket holes in the input tape<br />
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Vavles: 2500<br />
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[[File:Block Colossus Diagram.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Block Diagram of Colossus]]<br />
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(Sale 357)<br />
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In brief, the Colossus read intercepted, encoded text at 5,000 cps. The Colossus would 'read' the text multiple times and use a complicated Boolean function between the text and the wheel patterns used to encode it. Boolean functions are the basis of computers, registering results as either true or false based on the punched holes in the tape.<br />
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The Colossus was made up of, basically, an optical reader system, a master control panel, thyratron rings and driver circuits, calculators, shift registers, logic gates, counters, and printer logic (Sale 357).<br />
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== Shadow of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== Rebuilding ===<br />
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The Colossus rebuild project was begun by Anthony Sale and colleagues in July, 1994 as part of the opening of the Museums of Bletchley Park dedicated to the history of code-breaking in World War II. Some actual Post Office and radio engineers ended up taking part in the project. A basic functioning Colossus was finished by June of 1996, with Dr. Tommy Flowers in attendance for the 'switch-on' occasion (Sale 362).<br />
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[[File:ENIAC.jpg|200px|thumb|left|ENIAC]]<br />
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The major purpose of the rebuilding of the Colossus and the opening of the Museums at Bletchley Park is an attempt at changing the conception that the American-made ENIAC was the first digital computer ever made. In fact, the Colossus was completed two whole years before the ENIAC was switched on in 1944, yet the knowledge and nature of its secret war origins and the immediate destruction of the devices following their use has led to the Colossus being forgotten in computer history. The tide is slowly turning, however, as more information and research is being revealed into the creation and implementation of the Colossus.<br />
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== Meaning of the Colossus ==<br />
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=== A Historic and Technological Anomaly ===<br />
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The Colossus is important for many reasons spanning multiple disciplines. Historically, the Colossus altered the course of human history in several ways. Most obviously, it helped pave the way for Allied victory in World War II. But perhaps more importantly, the Colossus opened an entire field of intellectual thought and study, computer science. Not only did it prove the capabilities and possibilities of an entirely electronic and digital computation device, it led to this new concept of electronic computers to take off. Today, over 5 decades later, computer science is one of the most important fields of both theoretical and practical work. Even within media studies, digital information production, storage, and sending is a highly researched field. The Colossus stands as an important part of that study as the first historical example of digital computing.<br />
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[[File:Colossus V Back View.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Colossus V]]<br />
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But more importantly than simply affecting the history of computers and technology, the Colossus's story provides a deeper insight into the motivations for technological advancement. It cannot be ignored that the creation of the innovation of the Colossus, the world's first digital computer, was fueled by the fires of war, specifically World War II. Whereas the invention of most technologies follows a progressive path over multiple generations, usually from many different actors on several stages, the Colossus was built entirely with a specific purpose and goal in mind. Many technologies arise from a form of scientific curiosity and experimentation, perhaps without the intention of being produced. Sometimes the innovation is not clear until reflection upon it after the fact.<br />
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The Colossus, however, was built with the particular goal in mind of breaking the Lorenz cipher. There were no other possible uses of the device, nor was there any chance for such uses to be discovered or brought out. Immediately after its primary goal was no longer needed; i.e., the war was over, the Colossus and its clones were dismantled, shelved, and basically eradicated not only from space, but time as well, as their existence was kept secret for over thirty years.<br />
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Very rarely in the history of technology does one see such an innovation as the Colossus take place. Technology is looked upon as a progressive endeavor, with each new innovation owing debt to previous ones and paving the way for future technology. Although the Colossus has a place in the fostering of computer science and technology, it was hardly a specific influence for anyone, seeing how its entire existence and knowledge about it was so brief and hidden. The Colossus was made for one purpose, and, surprisingly from a philosophy of technology standpoint, only used for that one purpose.<br />
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=== Colossus: 'Outsider' Media Device ===<br />
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The Colossus also fits into a unique place as a communication device; i.e. in relation to other media in this archive. The entire study and practice of cryptology is a fascinating sidebar to the theory of communication. Cryptography is meant as a very specific form of communication that can pervade almost any other communication medium. Cryptography exists in inscription and writing, as well as radio and broadcast communication. No matter where it occurs, however, the goal is the same: transmit a message from sender to receiver that only the receiver can accurately understand the meaning of. As languages and communication in general become more ubiquitous, the need for secretive communication tends to rise.<br />
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[[File:Colossus VII Side View.jpg|320px|thumb|left|Colossus VII]]<br />
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In the theory of communication, this places special importance on both the receiver and the sender in granting meaning to the message. Cryptography is, in essence, mucking up the text of a given communication, providing purposeful static and interference. The key is having the receiver be aware not only of the addition of these interferences, but being able to work through them and eliminate them to reveal the actual message. This is seen most clearly in the additive cipher system of the Lorenz machine, which added obscuring characters to a given text with the aid of the machine, then used the same machine with the same unique settings to remove the excess characters on the receiving end. This is taking communication into an entirely new system, wherein the existence of 'Outsiders' is added, giving new relationships between the sender, receiver, the message, and the 'outsiders.'<br />
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In this cryptography-based communication system, the Colossus is an 'outsider.' Not meant to be part of the specifically controlled communication network establish, the Colossus (and the code-breakers working alongside it) intercepted messages and translated them by ''imitating'' the device used to encipher and decipher the texts. Of course, this was not a perfect imitation, as then decoding would not really be an issue. The computer-aspect is important as this code-breaking requires 'guess-and-check' sorts of operation, and the computerized Colossus could perform these much faster than human hands.<br />
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The Colossus is without question a media device. Its role was to transfer a message from one place to another, from one body to another. However, what makes the Colossus so unique was its innate ability and necessity to also translate this message from one language to another and its position as an 'outsider' to the man-made communication system it was infiltrating. The German Lorenz Cipher system created a specific, unique form of communication that no man could even produce on his own. It required machines who could produce 'random character' sequences in order to make the system more difficult to break. However, British code-breakers, mathematicians, and engineers were able to mimic the computer and build a device to break the code and infiltrate the communication circuit, without being detected. It rerouted the message to new senders, going against the very aim of the enciphering system. In this way, the Colossus was a reaction to a new, closed communication system with the ability to extract the hidden message.<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Andresen, S.L. “Donald Michie: Secrets of Colossus Revealed.” ''IEEE Intelligent Systems''. Vol. 16. No. 6<br />
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Budiansky, Stephen. ''Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II''. New York, NY: The Free Press, 2000.<br />
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Cragon, Harvey G. ''From Fish To Colossus: How the German Lorenz Cipher was broken at Bletchley Park.'' 2003.<br />
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Copeland, B.J. “Colossus: Its Origins and Originators.” ''Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE''. Vol. 26. No 4.<br />
<br />
Copeland, B.J. ''Colossus: The Secrets of Bletchley Park’s Codebreaking Computers''. Oxford University Press, 2006.<br />
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Good, Jack. “Enigma and Fish.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.<br />
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Halton, Ken. “The Tunny Machine.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993<br />
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Hayward, Gil. “Operation Tunny.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993<br />
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Hinsley, F.H. “An Introduction to Fish.” ''Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park.'' Eds. F.H. Hinsley & Alan Stripp. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1993.<br />
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Ratcliff, R.A. ''Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma, Ultra, and the End of Secure Ciphers.'' New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006.<br />
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Sale, Anthony. “The Colossus of Bletchley Park.” ''IEEE Review''. Vol 41 Issue 2. 1995<br />
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Sale, Anthony E. "The Colossus of Bletchley Park – The German Cipher System." ''The First Computers: History and Architectures.'' Eds. Raul Rojas and Ulf Hashagen. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000.<br />
<br />
Wells, Benjamin. “Advances in I/O, Speedup, and Universality on Colossus, an Unconventional Computer.” ''Unconventional Computation.'' 8th International Conference, 2009.<br />
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[[Category:Dossier]]<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
[[Category:Computation]]<br />
[[Category:Cryptology]]<br />
[[Category:War]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13629Passenger Dirigible2010-12-14T03:24:16Z<p>Azolides: /* Bibliography */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
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== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
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[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
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The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
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Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
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== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
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In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
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=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
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While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
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[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
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People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
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And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
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Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
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As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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=== The End of a Dream: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Dirigible ===<br />
<br />
Dirigibles occupy a unique position in the collective consciousness. Today, they are seen as both relics of a long-ago past, as well as visions into fantastical futures. Strangely, airships appear in modern media in both positions, as historical markers and as predictions of future civilizations. This position as both past artifact and future possibility is very odd, but can perhaps be explained by the position dirigibles had during their development and research (as discussed throughout this dossier) in relation to how quickly and strikingly they were abandoned mostly due to the ''Hindenburg'' disaster of 1937.<br />
[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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Airships arrived with massive hype. As one can see throughout this dossier, with discussions of future dirigible designs and the construction of the mooring mast atop the Empire State Building, airships were thought by most to be the future of passenger aviation. This message was continued supported by media at the time. Then, suddenly, the ''Hindenburg'' disaster seemed to quiet all the hype. (Note: There were other factors regarding the airships decline in popularity and development, e.g. increase in airplane power, negative press, etc.). What was left is a void. The airship was silence amidst intense hype and speculation. Because it ended at this time and in this way, the airship represents an 'unfulfilled promise.' The hype created a need that did not really exist and promised a fantastic solution. However, the solution never really came, as there were very few passenger airships ever in service at one time, and it never became available for the non-affluent. As such, airships still remain in the collective consciousness's mind as a future creation of progress, despite its existing a century ago.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924).<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13604Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T21:54:14Z<p>Azolides: </p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
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The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
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Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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=== The End of a Dream: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Dirigible ===<br />
<br />
Dirigibles occupy a unique position in the collective consciousness. Today, they are seen as both relics of a long-ago past, as well as visions into fantastical futures. Strangely, airships appear in modern media in both positions, as historical markers and as predictions of future civilizations. This position as both past artifact and future possibility is very odd, but can perhaps be explained by the position dirigibles had during their development and research (as discussed throughout this dossier) in relation to how quickly and strikingly they were abandoned mostly due to the ''Hindenburg'' disaster of 1937.<br />
[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
<br />
Airships arrived with massive hype. As one can see throughout this dossier, with discussions of future dirigible designs and the construction of the mooring mast atop the Empire State Building, airships were thought by most to be the future of passenger aviation. This message was continued supported by media at the time. Then, suddenly, the ''Hindenburg'' disaster seemed to quiet all the hype. (Note: There were other factors regarding the airships decline in popularity and development, e.g. increase in airplane power, negative press, etc.). What was left is a void. The airship was silence amidst intense hype and speculation. Because it ended at this time and in this way, the airship represents an 'unfulfilled promise.' The hype created a need that did not really exist and promised a fantastic solution. However, the solution never really came, as there were very few passenger airships ever in service at one time, and it never became available for the non-affluent. As such, airships still remain in the collective consciousness's mind as a future creation of progress, despite its existing a century ago.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13603Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T21:53:32Z<p>Azolides: /* Dirigibles as Communicative Force */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
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While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
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[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
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People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
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<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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=== The End of a Dream: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Dirigible ===<br />
<br />
Dirigibles occupy a unique position in the collective consciousness. Today, they are seen as both relics of a long-ago past, as well as visions into fantastical futures. Strangely, airships appear in modern media in both positions, as historical markers and as predictions of future civilizations. This position as both past artifact and future possibility is very odd, but can perhaps be explained by the position dirigibles had during their development and research (as discussed throughout this dossier) in relation to how quickly and strikingly they were abandoned mostly due to the ''Hindenburg'' disaster of 1937.<br />
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Airships arrived with massive hype. As one can see throughout this dossier, with discussions of future dirigible designs and the construction of the mooring mast atop the Empire State Building, airships were thought by most to be the future of passenger aviation. This message was continued supported by media at the time. Then, suddenly, the ''Hindenburg'' disaster seemed to quiet all the hype. (Note: There were other factors regarding the airships decline in popularity and development, e.g. increase in airplane power, negative press, etc.). What was left is a void. The airship was silence amidst intense hype and speculation. Because it ended at this time and in this way, the airship represents an 'unfulfilled promise.' The hype created a need that did not really exist and promised a fantastic solution. However, the solution never really came, as there were very few passenger airships ever in service at one time, and it never became available for the non-affluent. As such, airships still remain in the collective consciousness's mind as a future creation of progress, despite its existing a century ago.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
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Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
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Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13592Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:47:56Z<p>Azolides: /* Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg */</p>
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<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13591Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:47:28Z<p>Azolides: </p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
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<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13590Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:46:59Z<p>Azolides: /* Dirigibles During the War */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13587Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:45:45Z<p>Azolides: /* Image Appendix */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
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'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
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While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
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The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
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<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
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[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
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Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
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And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
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[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
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Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
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<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
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As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
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The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
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Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
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=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
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And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
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Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|300px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|300px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|300px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
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== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
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"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
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Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
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Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
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Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13584Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:45:16Z<p>Azolides: /* Image Appendix */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
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The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
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=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
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=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
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Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|Popular Science Magazine's imagined vision of tomorrow's skyport]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|400px|thumb|Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|400px|thumb|Poster for the 1931 film ''Dirigible'']]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|250px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13579Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:42:54Z<p>Azolides: /* Image Appendix */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
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<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|400px|thumb|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|400px|thumb|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|250px|thumb|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
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Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
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Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
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"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
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"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
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Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13578Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:42:31Z<p>Azolides: /* Image Appendix */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
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This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
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[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|left|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|400px|thumb|right|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|400px|thumb|left|alt text]]<br />
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[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
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"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
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Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13576Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:42:10Z<p>Azolides: /* Image Appendix */</p>
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<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
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Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
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[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:Constructing_Mooring_Mast.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Mooring Mast Being Constructed]]<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|left|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
<br />
== Image Appendix ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Skyscraper_airport.jpg|400px|thumb|left|alt text]]<br />
<br />
[[File:Goodyear_Ad.png|400px|thumb|left|alt text]]<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigible_Movie.png|400px|thumb|left|alt text]]<br />
<br />
[[File:The_ Story_of_the_Airship.jpg|250px|thumb|right|The Story of the Airship, Goodyear Corporation Pamphlet]]<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=File:Goodyear_Ad.png&diff=13573File:Goodyear Ad.png2010-12-13T20:41:10Z<p>Azolides: Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides offered
(''New York Times'' Nov. 29, 1932, pg 15)</p>
<hr />
<div>Goodyear Advertisement. Note the $3 dirigible rides offered<br />
<br />
(''New York Times'' Nov. 29, 1932, pg 15)</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=File:Dirigible_Movie.png&diff=13572File:Dirigible Movie.png2010-12-13T20:40:00Z<p>Azolides: Poster for the Movie ''Dirigible!'' (''New York Times'' April 3, 1931, pg. 20)</p>
<hr />
<div>Poster for the Movie ''Dirigible!'' (''New York Times'' April 3, 1931, pg. 20)</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13560Passenger Dirigible2010-12-13T20:26:42Z<p>Azolides: /* Looking Good */</p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
[[File:Empire_State_Building_and_Dirigible.jpg |175px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Hovering Dirigible]]<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be. <br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
[[File:Dirigibles_at_War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Royal Navy Dirigibles in WW1]]The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
[[File:Graf_Crossection.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Crosssection of Gondola of the Graf]]<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
[[File:Mooring_Mast_Diagram.jpg|150px|thumb|left|Diagram of Empire State Building Mooring Mast]] There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|250px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
[[File:Nazi_Dirigible.jpg|200px|thumb|left|German Advertisement for the Hindenberg (note prominent Nazi swastikas) Translation: "North America in 2 Days!", 1936 ]]<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13339Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T18:15:31Z<p>Azolides: </p>
<hr />
<div>The dirigible is a steerable, powered lighter-than-air vehicle developed soon after the turn of the 20th Century. The brainchild of German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the dirigible has been used for many purposes throughout its existence. First as a war machine, then in the 1920s and 30s as a commercial passenger and freight vehicle, and into the present as a form of brand presence and advertising, most notably with the Goodyear Corporation.<br />
<br />
This dossier focuses on the commercial passenger uses of the dirigible. This medium lasted very briefly, thriving in the time between the two World Wars. Despite the vast amount of hype and academic research surrounding dirigibles, many hailing it as the future of passenger aviation, the passenger dirigible did not survive past the second World War. This is mainly attributable to improvements in airplane technology as well as the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, killing 35 people and effectively destroying confidence in the airship as a viable form of transportation.<br />
<br />
What follows is a discussion of the experience of flying in a passenger dirigible, using both the ''Graf Zeppelin'' and ''Hindenburg'' as core examples. Next, this dossier examines a particular relic of this time period, the Empire State Building, and its unusable mooring mast built at the top. Although visible today, it stands as a vision of the future that never came to be.<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
While the airship is clearly a transportation medium, taking people from one place to another, it can also be viewed as a communicative force in its own right. In fact, the dirigible represents a particular time, before the advent of the telegraph, when transportation and communication were still inherently connected as message generators. As Marshall McLuhan famously said, the "medium is the message", therefore, how one was transported had a particular message in itself. The communicative force of the airship thus becomes clear through both it's emphasis on luxury and it's connecting of previously warring nations.<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13336Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:48:09Z<p>Azolides: /* International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Dream */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machines to Luxury Dreams ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13335Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:45:38Z<p>Azolides: /* International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with both respect and fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to, and in many ways succeeded in, crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After encouraging Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, enabling passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Dream ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13329Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:06:29Z<p>Azolides: /* Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13328Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:06:07Z<p>Azolides: /* Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg'' was one of the greatest surprises to me'' (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13327Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:05:36Z<p>Azolides: /* Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg was one of the greatest surprises to me'' (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13326Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T17:05:12Z<p>Azolides: /* Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination.<br />
<br />
Yet the airship was seen as the future of cross-oceanic travel and spiritual successor to the steamship, due to several distinct, often scientifically supported, advantages. Supporters of airships at the time report that there had never been a reported case of seasickness or airsickness aboard the ''Graf Zeppelin'' or the ''Hindenburg.'' Much like the steamships, airships also had no need for seat or safety-belts nor the restriction of fixed-shut windows as are needed on airplanes. Commercial dirigibles flew at lower levels, thus they did not require having a pressurized cabin (Rosendahl 200).<br />
<br />
Scientists even weighed in on the side of dirigibles over steamships and airplanes. Studies by Preston B. Bassett, the vice president in charge of engineering at Sperry Gyroscope Company, released reports about the quality of noise and sound on board an airship versus an aeroplane. He reported that "The quietness of the passengers' quarters on the ''Hindenburg was one of the greatest surprises to me" (Rosendahl 203). Decibel measurements placed the ''Hindenburg'' as the quietest form of transportation Bassett had recorded. Similar accolades were heaped upon the ''Hindenburg'' in relation to its lack of vibrations and noticeable disturbances. He concludes with, "In my opinion, the dirigible has found a permanent position in transocean commercial transportation" (Rosendahl 207).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13325Passenger Dirigible2010-12-10T16:26:11Z<p>Azolides: /* Dirigible Flying Experience */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. In fact, in the 1920s and 1930s, the period between World War 1 and World War 2, scholars, naval officers, governments and planners wrote heavily about the possibilities for passenger airship travel. Ultimately, despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Cover of Advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936(Zeppelin Decor 49)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was believed to be of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute (or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” ("Lighter-Than-Air Machines" Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the dominant form of long-distance transportation up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48). Hence, the design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship. With the airship, as with the steamship, travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. <br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crown jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience available on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' ("Lighter..." Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel should be an experience of convenience, comfort, and to a certain extent, glamor.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room from advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei, 1936 (Zeppelin Decor 51)]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship's common room, a room about sixteen square feet was decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets and rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small-sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, advertising brochure "Two and One Half Days to Europe' issued by Deutsche Zeppelin- Reederei,1936 (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, who was working as the chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press at the time of the journey (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg (Zeppelin Decor 57)]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff that "run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world (Vaeth 56).<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace? - Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
Hunsaker, J.C. "The Day of the Dirigible". ''The North American Review''. Vol 229, No 4. (April 1930).<br />
<br />
Lochner, Louis P. "Aboard the Airship Hindenburg: Louis P. Lochner's Diary of Its Maiden Flight to the United States". ''The Wisconsin Magazine of History''. Vol. 49, No 2. (Winter, 1965-1966).<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, C.E. "Lighter-Than-Air Machines". ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society''. Vol 67, No 4. (1928).<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
Vaeth, J. Gordon. "Zeppelin Decor: The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg". ''The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts''. Vol. 15- Transportation Theme Issue (Winter - Spring 1990)<br />
<br />
Warner, Eric P. "Development of Transportation by Air". ''Scientific Monthly'', Vol 18 No. 4. (April 1924). <br />
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Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
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Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
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[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
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Put other relevant categories here.<br />
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[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13294Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T21:33:22Z<p>Azolides: /* Bibliography */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
"Airship Flies About Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Dec 17, 1930. pg 20.<br />
<br />
Botting, Douglas. ''The Giant Airships.'' Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life, 1981.<br />
<br />
"Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast." ''New York Times.'' Mar 27, 1931. pg. 27.<br />
<br />
Goldman, Jonathan. ''The Empire State Building Book.'' New York: St. Martin's Press, 1980.<br />
<br />
"Moors to Empire State." ''New York Times.'' Sept 16, 1931. pg 6.<br />
<br />
Rosendahl, Commander C.E. ''What About the Airship?'' New York: Scribner's Sons, 1938.<br />
<br />
Shanor, Rebecca Read. ''The City That Never Was.'' New York: Viking, 1988.<br />
<br />
"Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet." ''New York Times.'' Jan 23, 1931. pg 28.<br />
<br />
"Smith Skyscraper Has a Novel Design." ''New York Times.'' Jan 8, 1930. pg 11.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13293Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T21:25:16Z<p>Azolides: /* Working Poorly */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
It was September 15, 1931 that the first blimp was able to moor to the mast. A small, private dirigible arrived at just past 9:00 in the morning, and took over a half hour to become attached, due to combating forty-mile winds. It stayed moored down by ropes for three minutes. No permanent contact was made, and no people were let on or off (''Moors to Empire State'' "New York Times").<br />
<br />
Two weeks following this first successful mooring, another dirigible looked to connect and drop off editions of the ''Evening Journal'' to commemorate their 35 year anniversary. Unable to actually connect, the papers were (somewhat) successfully delivered, as they had to be lowered on a line and cut by a man leaning over the balcony with a penknife. Attempts continued throughout the rest of 1931, until it proved fruitless. The mast and the flight-lounge at the base were all converted into observation balconies and souvenir shops. The current observation level is the 86th floor, once the future home of the dirigible terminal (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13292Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T21:19:07Z<p>Azolides: /* Working Poorly */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
Even preliminary inspections of the mast proved unfavorable. The commander of the ''Graf Zeppelin,'' Dr. Hugo Eckener himself inspected the mooring mast. The article describes his visit to the mast in detail, as he accompanied Raskob as well as the wife and son of Winston Churchill. Eckener claimed that "only under favorable weather conditions" would the mast work successfully. During the press conference with Eckener's results, he went on to extol the science and art of airships in general, saying, "I am convinced that the voyages of this new and great ship (''Akron'') will give a new impulse to the development of airships and new success to the art. Also, we in Germany have now started construction on a new ship for commercial use. This airship will be considerably larger and quite a bit faster than the ''Graf Zeppelin''" ("Eckener Inspects Empire State Mast" ''New York Times'').<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13291Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T21:14:04Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). <br />
<br />
Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. In fact, the building appeared in the press time and again, like a January, 1930 ''New York Times'' article describing the "novel design" of the skyscraper, focusing on the inttended mooring mast issues. According to the article, "The dirigible mooring mast, due to rise more than 200 feet above the roof, is presenting technical problems, but these are no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan" ("Smith Skyscraper Has A Novel Design" ''New York Times'')<br />
<br />
And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press had a great deal of interest in the mooring mast, both its visual aesthetic and its practical usage. Interest in skyscrapers in general was piqued at this time, with the construction of the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and the Manhattan bank all occurring around this time. A meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers took place on January 22, 1931 and received coverage in the ''New York Times'' and discussed the importance of wind-bracing towers. One of the subjects of this meeting was the perceived affects the Empire State Building's mooring mast would have to endure to successfully moor a dirigible ("Skyscraper Trend Called Higher Yet" ''New York Times'' ).<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13290Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:43:06Z<p>Azolides: /* Travel: More than Point A to Point B */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. In reference to the Goodyear Pamphlet quote, the new importance laid onto time over distance also means a raised awareness of how that time was spent. Thus, luxury and comfort were major indicators of 'good' travel as well as speed.<br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13289Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:41:24Z<p>Azolides: /* Travel: More than Point A to Point B */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)</blockquote><br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible that eventually they would be seen outside of the sphere of combat and destruction. <br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post World War 1 context became strong associated with the building of a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl said in 1928, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was overly idealistic and naive. While the Germans were establishing their reputation on the world stage as peace builders through the Graf and the Hindenburg the Nazis were gaining more power and hunger for expansion. In fact, the Hindenburg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was largely ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". In other words, while dirigibles were presented as instruments of peace, bridging gaps between nations, in reality, particularly in the case of the Germans, it was far more about putting a single nation on display before the world, than about spreading goodwill throughout the globe.<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13287Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:40:24Z<p>Azolides: /* Travel: More than Point A to Point B */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
''Distance today is no longer computed in miles, but in expenditure of time required to travel from one place to another.'' ~ Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Pamphlet "The Story of the Airship" (p. 15)<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with the possibility of building a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl says, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was idealistic, and naive. While the Germans were building their repuation on the world stage, the Nazis were gaining more and more power. In fact, the Hindenberg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". While passengers were<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13286Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:38:42Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was successfully at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But it would not live up to the hype when put to a practical usage test.<br />
<br />
Leading up to the first attempt at mooring an airship, the press<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with the possibility of building a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl says, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was idealistic, and naive. While the Germans were building their repuation on the world stage, the Nazis were gaining more and more power. In fact, the Hindenberg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". While passengers were<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13285Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:18:23Z<p>Azolides: /* Looking Good */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|right|Empire State Building with Mast Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But would the mast succeed when put to the test?<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with the possibility of building a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl says, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was idealistic, and naive. While the Germans were building their repuation on the world stage, the Nazis were gaining more and more power. In fact, the Hindenberg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". While passengers were<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13284Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:17:50Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But would the mast succeed when put to the test?<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with the possibility of building a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl says, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was idealistic, and naive. While the Germans were building their repuation on the world stage, the Nazis were gaining more and more power. In fact, the Hindenberg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". While passengers were<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13283Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T20:17:30Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance into New York City for its passengers. The entrance into New York would have been astounding. The ship would be guided in by a blazing white light, much like a lighthouse guides sailors at night. Upon connecting with the tower, eight portholes on the mast would emit mile-long streams of light in all directions as a signal to the city of an airship's arrival. After mooring with the mast, the airship would extend a narrow gangplank out onto an open balcony on the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. This would no doubt be an exhilarating experience, a quarter of a mile above the streets below. After debarking, passengers would ride an elevator down to the 86th floor, which would feature lounges, a ticket agency, customs, and baggage services, not to mention a breathtaking view of the city (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
People were intrigued, to say the least, with a variety of responses from positive amazement to indignant skepticism. After the building's official opening on May 1, 1931, Mayor Jimmy Walker called the skyscraper "the most beautiful building in the world" (Shanor 113). There were, however, more harsh criticisms directed towards the building, most of which centered on the mooring mast sitting atop it. Critics called the mast "a public comfort station for migratory birds" and claimed it "stuck on the top as awkwardly as a thumb" (Shanor 113). Despite the negative comments, people were talking, and Raskob believed in the old adage of any press is good press. And it worked on the street level, too, with people constantly craning their necks and gawking during construction and completion. A sidewalk astronomer who charged people a nickel per use said "I do four or five times as much business in the daytime as I do at night. People are more curious about that mooring mast... than they are about the moon, and all the stars and planets" (Shanor 113).<br />
<br />
The hype for the mooring mast was at fever-pitch, much like it was for airship travel in general. But would the mast succeed when put to the test?<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with the possibility of building a peaceful global community. As Rosendahl says, "by providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of the highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334). The notion of civilian travel was linked to the idea of cultural sharing, and in the wake of the horrors of WW1, the notion of German citizens traveling to New York City, or vice versa seemed as though it could have positive results for the relationships between the nations at large. <br />
<br />
Of course, this perspective was idealistic, and naive. While the Germans were building their repuation on the world stage, the Nazis were gaining more and more power. In fact, the Hindenberg "and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support". While Hitler was ambivalent to dirigibles, "Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German technical prowess". While passengers were<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13281Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:58:42Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
The mast was designed both as a port for the airships as well as a luxurious entrance for the <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with ideas of cultural sharing and global peace initiatives..<br />
<br />
Rosendahl" By providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of teh highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334)<br />
<br />
Irony: Nazi Machine: Zep decor: "the larger Hindenburg and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support. Hitler had no use for zeppelins; in fact, he distrusted them because ....Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German techincal prowess"...<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13280Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:55:19Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' Before the mast was added to the design, the Empire State Building was still in a tight competition with the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world. The Empire State Building, according to design, would be 1,000 feet tall, a mere 75 feet over the Chrysler's 925. Raskob did not like that close of a margin. According to Hamilton Weber, the rental manager of the Empire State Building, "Raskob was worried Walter Chrysler would pull a trick - like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute" (Shanor 108)<br />
<br />
In fact, that is exactly what Chrysler did. The Chrysler Building was suddenly 1,046 feet tall, and the Empire State Building needed to catch up. Despite design changes to make the Empire State Building 85-stories, Raskob was at an even smaller margin of victory than before: 4 feet. Enter, the 'hat.' According to Shanor, despite Raskob and Smith's allegations otherwise, the true intent of the mooring mast was never about dirigibles. Following the construction of the largest building in history, paired with the recent stock market crash to end the decade, the Empire State Building was in jeopardy of becoming a major bust. In this way, the mooring mast, and the announcement of it, became a keen marketing ploy. Suddenly, everyone was talking about the Empire State Building (Shanor 109).<br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
During the First World War, the image of the German Zeppelins as a war-machine was intensely branded onto the memory of the Allied nations, particularly for the British. As J.C Hunsaker says in "The Day of the Dirigible," "Londoners would have wanted strong persuasion in the early war years to believe that Zeppelins could easily be forgotten. Terror was too real and close a thing in those days" (Hunsaker 432). In other words, dirigibles were so strongly associated with war, that it seemed impossible to see past that association.<br />
<br />
And yet, incredibly, passenger dirigibles in a post world war 1 context became strong associated with ideas of cultural sharing and global peace initiatives..<br />
<br />
Rosendahl" By providing intimate and rapid contact of the people of the earth, this airship will soon be recognized as an instrument of teh highest order for helping reach that elusive goal of world peace" (334)<br />
<br />
Irony: Nazi Machine: Zep decor: "the larger Hindenburg and the larger hanger needed to build it were made possible by government, which is to say Nazi support. Hitler had no use for zeppelins; in fact, he distrusted them because ....Joseph Goebbels, his minister of propaganda, however, saw their agitprop as well as their commercial value: uniquely German, the ships could carry the swastika overseas and serve as highly visible symbols of German techincal prowess"...<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13278Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:41:45Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32) </blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' <br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13277Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:40:19Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman 32)<br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' <br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13276Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:39:49Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.'' (Goldman32) <blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Looking Good ===<br />
<br />
There were, of course, other motivations behind the addition of the mooring mast than simply providing the tallest building in the world a nice 'hat.' <br />
<br />
=== Working Poorly ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13275Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:37:35Z<p>Azolides: /* "It Needs A Hat!" */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.''<blockquote><br />
<br />
=== Try, Try, and Fail ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13274Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:37:20Z<p>Azolides: /* "It Needs A Hat!" */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.''</blockquote?<br />
<br />
=== Try, Try, and Fail ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13273Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:36:53Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> ''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)</blockquote><br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
Raskob then suggested his own solution, a dirigible 'mooring mast.' The mast would extend the height 200 feet above the 86th floor, as well as allow for passenger dirigibles to tie to the mast, allowing passengers to disembark right into their building, and into the heart of Manhattan. The announcement of the addition to the design was made by the face of the building, Alfred E. Smith:<br />
<br />
''The directors of the Empire State, Inc., believe that in a comparatively short time the Zeppelin airships will establish trans-Atlantic, trans-continental and trans-Pacific lines, and possibly a route to South America from the port of New York. Building with an eye to the future, it has been determined to erect this tower to land people directly on Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue after their ocean trip, seven minutes after the airship connects with the mast.''<br />
<br />
<br />
=== Try, Try, and Fail ===<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelins, airships conveyed a very particular attitude towards travel that was common in the early to mid 20th century. Through our examination of the decoration and design of these passenger dirigibles, it becomes clear, in fact, that the experience of the dirigible journey was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, enjoyed high caliber cuisine, and were serenaded with music off the ship's grand piano. Many passengers looked forward to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury and ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play. Our mainstream concept of air travel, however, is largely removed from the notion of travel as pleasurable. Consequently, the passenger dirigible of the 1920s and 30s acts as a snapshot of a historic moment in which the travel was thrilling, enjoyable, and even indulgent.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13268Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:22:47Z<p>Azolides: /* "It Needs A Hat! */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)<br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat!" ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin's, airships convey a very particular attitude towards travel of the early to mid 20th century. As is evident by the effort put into the decoration and design of the dirigibles, the experience of the journey, was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, and were serenaded with music on a grand piano. It was a honour to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury adn ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress, where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13267Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:22:38Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)<br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
=== "It Needs A Hat! ===<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin's, airships convey a very particular attitude towards travel of the early to mid 20th century. As is evident by the effort put into the decoration and design of the dirigibles, the experience of the journey, was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, and were serenaded with music on a grand piano. It was a honour to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury adn ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress, where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13266Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:21:58Z<p>Azolides: /* Empire State Building: Mooring Mast */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. In fact, most scholars note that "life on board [a dirigible] was like life on a transatlantic steamer, except that no one got seasick" (Vaeth 58). The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)<br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most symbolic, recognizable artifacts of the time when airships were believed to be the future is the 'mooring mast' spire atop the Empire State Building. When the Building was being built in the late 1920s and opened on May 1st, 1931, dirigibles were still believed to be the future of luxury air-travel, particularly for cross-Atlantic flights to and from Europe. This, among other factors, led to the inclusion of a mooring mast for dirigibles at the top of the 85th floor of the then-tallest building in the world, creating a one-of-a-kind airport that, unfortunately, never came to be used.Much like the airships themselves, the mooring mast on top of the Empire State Building became forgotten, re-appropriated (into an observation deck and radio tower), and failed to live up to its potential and expectations. What makes the mooring mast so interesting as a cultural artifact, however, is its persistence in existence, as an architectural construct that still exists today, hidden behind a layer of modernity but visible to the keen observer.<br />
<br />
There were three major figures behind the construction of the Empire State Building. Alfred E. Smith was a former governor of New York and a failed presidential candidate. Smith became one of the chief financiers of the project. His partner was John Jacob Raskob, his campaign manager and another major financial backer. Finally, the architect was William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon (Goldman 31)<br />
<br />
The major impetus behind the Empire State Building's construction was to break the record for tallest building in the world. The French had recently accomplished the feat with the construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Raskob was the main driving force behind the more 'flamboyant' gestures of the design, pushing for both the height and the Art Deco style. After pushing Lamb to make it as tall as he could so it wouldn't "fall down," Raskob looked at a finished scale model of the then 86-story building. His response was simple, only four words, yet led to the most defining feature of the building. He said, "It needs a hat!" (Goldman 32).<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
As is evident by the Hindenburg and Graf Zeppelin's, airships convey a very particular attitude towards travel of the early to mid 20th century. As is evident by the effort put into the decoration and design of the dirigibles, the experience of the journey, was as important to travelers as was their destination. <br />
<br />
The airship experience was a fundamentally entertaining and social one. Travelers got to know one another well, socialized in the common areas, and were serenaded with music on a grand piano. It was a honour to travel on an airship, not simply because of the efficiency, but because of the overall atmosphere of luxury adn ease.<br />
<br />
Our contemporary notion of air travel is coated in language of drudgery, inconvenience and discomfort. We dread trips to the airport, the environment of high stress, where we are dehumanized, searched, and crammed into a small space. Instead, our closest instance of this concept of travel as an "experience" is the cruise ship, where the entire boat is seen as a site for entertainment, socialization and play.<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13263Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T19:03:04Z<p>Azolides: /* Dirigible Flying Experience */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
<br />
In the post World War 1 context, dirigibles began to take on a completely different meaning: they were not to be viewed as instruments of war and terror, but as the transportation form of the future. Despite the Germans Zeppelin trustees transferring their patents and expertise over to the American Goodyear corporation following the Armistice, and much discussion in the United States about the future of dirigible travel, it was the Germans who truly excelled in the field of passenger dirigible travel throughout the 1920s and 30s (Hunsaker 432-3). <br />
<br />
=== Cross Oceanic Travel ===<br />
[[File:2.5daystoeurope.jpg|175px|thumb|left|Brochure for the Hindenberg, 1936(Zeppelin Decor)]]<br />
The interest in airships as a passenger transportation form was of particular relevance for cross-oceanic travel (Hunsaker 434). Capable of sustained travel for distances of up to 5,000 miles at about a mile a minute(or faster), the airship could “easily make voyages of three or four thousand miles with a good commercial load” according to Dr Edward Warner of MIT (Warner 391). While the airplane was convenient and cheaper for distances below 1000 miles, it was actually less economical for larger distances as the airplane had to transport large quantities of fuel (Hunsaker 434). Consequently, as C.E Rosendahl, Lieutenant Commander for the U. S. Navy said in 1928, it was widely believed that “the field of long range aerial transport belongs to the airship” (Rosendahl 321).<br />
<br />
=== Passenger Dirigibles and the Steamship ===<br />
As the new form of cross-oceanic travel, the passenger dirigible, evident simply in it’s popular name “the air''ship''”, took much of it’s identity from steamships, the main form of long-distance travel up to that time. The design of the airship, which included a promenade and windows for quality viewing, as well as the attention paid to comfort and luxury, were qualities inherited from the steamship in which travel was as much as about the journey as the destination. While dirigibles traveled much faster than a steamship, and Atlantic crossing times typically ranged from only two to three days (depending, of course, on the wind), the trips were still long enough that much care needed to be given to the comfort of the passengers, from the food they would eat, to where they would socialize, the activities planned, and finally, where they would sleep (Vaeth 48).<br />
<br />
=== Comfort and Luxury in the Air: Graf and the Hindenburg ===<br />
<br />
The similarity of dirigibles to steamships aesthetically and ideologically is particularly evident through the two most notable passenger dirigibles: the Graf Zeppelin and the famous Hindenburg, both German airships. <br />
<br />
'''The Graf''', which took its maiden voyage in 1928, introduced the world to the passenger airship with the first cross-Atlantic flight, traveling from Friedrichshafen, Germany to the US Naval Air station in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This maiden voyage was followed with a series of demonstration trips, including one around the world, before eventually beginning regular trips between Friedrichshafen and South America (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
'''The Hindenburg''', which followed the Graf in 1936, was the crowned jewel of the German passenger dirigible industry. The 118th airship built by the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin Company, it provided service between Frankfurt and Lakehurst, and measured in at a staggering 803 feet by 135 feet. At that point, the Hindenburg was the largest man made object to ever fly (Vaeth 48). <br />
<br />
While they lacked some of the amenities available on the luxury steam ships of the time, both the Graf and the Hindenburg offered its passengers the most comfortable and luxurious experience yet offered on an aircraft. As Rosendahl, a airship traveler an enthusiast expressed:<br />
<br />
''“In the matter of comforts in travel, airships can provide the best. In modern airships you ride in a sheltered structure, there is no noise, vibration, dirt, smoke, and the motion, when there is any, is usually only a very mild pitching. I have never seen any seasickness in an airship. There are ample comforts for sitting, sleeping, reading, writing, card playing, walking about and exercising and the new passenger airships contemplate even ball rooms.”'' (Rosendahl 329)<br />
<br />
Overall, as shall later be discussed (See Communicative….) the design and experience of passenger airships reveal a commonly held attitude at the time towards travel: that travel was an experience of indulgence, luxury and pleasure.<br />
<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
The Graf accommodated twenty a passengers in a dirigible sized ninety eighty feel by twenty feet. The airship was accommodated with a room about sixteen square feet, decorated with curtains and red wine colored carpets that rotated as the dining room and lounge. Passengers on the Graf ate off expensive linens, silver and white china which displayed the Lufschiffbau-Zeppelin monogram (Vaeth 38). While quarters were close, with two people to a small sized cabin, each cabin had a window with an outside view, a small closet, table, stool and settee (Vaeth 53). <br />
[[File:Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Dining Room on the Hindenburg, taken from the 1936 brochure]]<br />
While the Graf was quite convenient for a vehicle of its size, it was widely acknowledged that it simply wasn’t large, efficient, or comfortable enough. The airship to fill these qualifications was the infamous Hindenburg. One of the best accounts of the Hindenburg comes from the diary of Louis Lochner, the fifty five year old chief of the Berlin Bureau of the Associated Press (Lochner 102).Lochner describes his perception of the luxury of the Hindenberg in his diary:<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|175px|thumb|left|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
''The fifty passengers making the first flight to Lakehurst were surprised at the luxury of their accommodations. Each of the twenty- five cabins had two berths and running water. On one side of the ship were a reading and writing room and a lounge, the latter equipped with a grand piano; on the other side was a dining room which served such fare as fresh brook trout and the finest German wines(…) On both sides ran a fifty-foot promenade fitted with specially slanted windows to facilitate observation. On the deck below was a bar, and nearby a smoking room, which passengers entered and left through a specially controlled door.'' (Lochner 101)<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg's interior architect Professor Frits Brehaus, and Arpke, an artist, worked alongside Dr Ludwig Durr, the company’s main constructor on the overall aesthetics, layout and decorative elements of the Hindenburg. In fact, according to J. Gordon Vaeth, writing in 1990, “they produced an airship with featured for the traveler as amazing today as they were then”. This included a shower-bath, a smoking room (despite millions of cubic feet of hydrogen overhead), and a dining room, like the Graf, equipped with staff “and run like that of a luxury hotel”, adorned with paintings by Arpke of scenes from around the world.<br />
<br />
Both the Graf and the Hindenburg, and the other passenger dirigibles planned by the American Goodyear corporation were vehicles specially marketed as pleasure "ships", offering the lucky few a chance to travel in style and luxury.<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolideshttp://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php?title=Passenger_Dirigible&diff=13237Passenger Dirigible2010-12-09T17:33:23Z<p>Azolides: /* The Urbane */</p>
<hr />
<div>OPENING: What is a dirigible? What is a passenger Dirigible? What is our Time Frame? What are we focusing in on? Major Themes/Conclusions?<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles During the War ==<br />
<br />
The rigid airship, although a product of many strands of research and design, is most directly tied to German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the namesake of the Zeppelin Company that produced German airships. Balloons as travel devices had existed earlier, but Zeppelin, during his time serving in both the German Army as well as the American Union during the American Civil War, wished to make the balloons 'dirigible,' meaning a steerable, powered craft. Although a military man by trade, Zeppelin conceived of the dirigible not as a war machine, but as a device "providing long-range transportation for the peaceful service of mankind" (Rosendahl 47). It was the rise of the first World War that prompted his invention to become linked to war.<br />
<br />
The use of airships, primarily by Germany, during World War I was met with respect and perhaps fear by the Allied forces. This is most evident in the post-war restrictions placed on German production of airships, as well as the growing expansion of airship production in America and Britain. Following WWI, Allies hoped to (and in many ways succeeded in) crippling Germany's power by forbidding the construction of German airships of ocean-going size. Many German airships used during the war were taken and divvied up by the Allied forces, most being destroyed in the process (Rosendahl 50).<br />
<br />
Although Germany eventually was able to return to airship production in a commercial sense, most importantly with the ''Graf Zeppelin'' completed in 1928, the long-range effects of the Allied blockade of German research into airships in immense. In fact, one of the possible reasons for the downfall of airships as a viable and more developed transportation in general is this "retarding influence of the Treaty" (Rosendahl 51).<br />
<br />
== Dirigible Flying Experience ==<br />
Relation to steamships<br />
<br />
=== Luxury ===<br />
General<br />
<br />
The Graf<br />
[[File:Graf_Dining_Room.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Graf Dining Room]]<br />
<br />
The Hindenburg<br />
[[File:Hindenburg Menu.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The Menu aboard the Hindenburg]]<br />
<br />
== Empire State Building: Mooring Mast ==<br />
[[File:NYT pic.png|200px|thumb|left|ESB Under Construction]]<br />
<br />
== Dirigibles as Communicative Force ==<br />
<br />
=== Travel: More than Point A to Point B ===<br />
<br />
=== International Symbol of Peace: Death Machine to Luxury Machine ===<br />
<br />
=== The Urbane: Cities Meet the Sky ===<br />
<br />
== Bibliography ==<br />
<br />
Author. ''Book Title''. Publishing location: Publisher, Date.<br />
<br />
Author. "Article Title". ''Journal'', volume, issue, page.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Fall 2010]]<br />
<br />
Put other relevant categories here.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Urban]]<br />
[[Category:Travel]]<br />
[[Category:Architecture]]</div>Azolides