Hugo Eckener
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Dr. Hugo Eckener (August 10, 1868–August 14, 1954) was the old man of the Zeppelin airship company.
Eckener was born in Flensburg. He trained as an economist and was a correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung in 1905, 1906 and reported on the first flights of the LZ 1 and LZ 2.
Eckener was responsible for training most of Germany's airship pilots both during and after World War I.
After the War, Eckener succeeded Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who had first pioneered the Zeppelin line of rigid airships and had died on March 8, 1917. He kept the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen on the Lake of Konstanz in Wurttemberg, in southern Germany from being retooled to produce other, and likely more profitable, products. He then persuaded the US and German governments to allow the company to build LZ 126, later recristened the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3), for the US Navy as war reparations. Eckener himself captained the airship on its delivery flight to Lakehurst New Jersey. The Los Angeles went on to be the longest serving rigid airship ever operated by the US Navy.
Eckener then set about raising funds for and supervising construction of Graf Zeppelin, the most successful rigid airship ever built. Eckener captained Graf Zeppelin on most of its record setting flights including the first flight around the world by an airship. Many of the records set by Eckener with Graf Zeppelin stand to the present day.
A master of publicity as well as a master airship captain, Eckener used the Graf Zeppelin to establish the Zeppelin as a symbol of German pride and engineering.
The popularity of the Zeppelin airships led to Eckener's own popularity. During the early 1930s, Eckener was one of the most well-known and respected figures in Weimar Republic Germany. He was encouraged to run for the presidency to oppose the National Socialist German Workers Party. Eckener declined, focusing on what he knew best, airships.
Nonetheless, Eckener and the Nazis had a deep and mutual loathing. Eckener made no secret of his hatred of their leader Adolf Hitler and the disastrous course he saw coming. Eventually the Nazis declared Eckener to be a "non-person" and his name was no longer allowed to appear in print.
During his many years as head of airship operations, Eckener always made safety his absolute priority. His safety orientation had results. Under Eckener's leadership, the Zeppelin company had a perfect safety record with no passenger ever sustaining a serious injury on any of the more than 1 million air miles that the rigid airships flew.
With the rise of Nazi Germany came the nationalization of the Zeppelin operation. The Nazis replaced Eckener with men who were compliant with their wishes. Seeking to please the Nazi regime, these newly promoted airshipmen did not always follow Eckener's well proven safety procedures. Many believe that the reduced focus on safety led to the Hindenburg Disaster of 1937.
After the destruction of the Hindenburg, the rigid airship fell from favor and Eckener receded to the shadows. He survived World War II and died in 1954 at the age of 86.
References
- Arch Witehouse (1966). The Zeppelin Fighters Robert Hale Limited ISBN 709105444
- Douglas Botting (2001). Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine Harper Collins ISBN 0002571919
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