POLARFLIGHT
RESEARCH GROUP
PO Box 10732 Southport, NC 28461 USA

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THE 1931 POLAR FLIGHT OF THE AIRSHIP GRAF ZEPPELIN
An Historical Perspective

The Graf Zeppelin aloft over the Zeppelin hangar and factory, Friedrichshafen, Germany, ca. 1930s.

The 'Thirties and Beyond. When the Graf Zeppelin was safely moored to the mast at Friedrichshafen in the early morning hours of July 31, 1931, it marked the end of one phase of polar exploration by air and the start of another. The previous year, Eckener had made an excursion to Spitsbergen carrying Swiss tourists who had chartered the flight. The 1931 polar flight would be the last flight of the era into the far north by the Graf Zeppelin, or by any airship for that matter. The Graf Zeppelin and later the Hindenburg went on to pioneer transatlantic flights. Meanwhile, the Russians went on to dominate polar aviation in the 1930s using airplanes rather than airships.

During the 1930s, the Russians claimed several spectacular transpolar flights from Moscow to North America. In 1937, Russian aircraft landed on the ice in the near vicinity of the North Pole to establish the first of many drifting ice stations that since have dotted the Arctic Ocean. And by the end of World War II, airplane technology had advanced to the point that flights over the north polar regions had become almost routine.

Conclusions. The 1931 Graf Zeppelin polar flight is possibly the least well-known of many spectacular flights the giant rigid airship made in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In fact, despite its many impressive scientific achievements, the flight now is of interest primarily to collectors of Zeppelin mail. The Norge and Italia polar airship flights are far better known. It should have been otherwise.

The dispute between Amundsen and Nobile, played out in the world press, drew attention to the 1926 Norge flight despite its lack of any appreciable scientific results. (Actually, the Norge flight is notable now for what it didn’t achieve: the discovery of new land, erroneously believed at the time to lie between the North Pole and the northern coast of Alaska). In terms of polar exploration, the lesser-known 1925 Amundsen-Ellsworth flight to 88ºN and the 1928 Wilkins-Eielson flight from Alaska to Spitsbergen were of far greater importance. In 1928, it was the Italia crash and subsequent international air-sea rescue operations that generated world-wide attention rather than the flight itself.

Had the intended meeting at the North Pole between the Graf Zeppelin and Wilkins's submarine taken place, this might be remembered as one of history's great flights. But Eckener must have known from the beginning that the rendezvous was hardly a realistic possibility. Perhaps a clue lies in the fact that the flight was conducted over one of the most remote and sparsely populated regions of the world. Unlike other Graf Zeppelin flights, there were no crowds cheering, bands playing, and press photographers snapping pictures wherever they went. In fact, there are virtually no memorable photos at all from this flight. Further, Eckener by-passed Leningrad and waiting crowds on the return flight (the reason he gave was deteriorating weather) and the stopover at Berlin's Tempelhof was a brief one. An additional factor was Eckener's consistent refusal to sensationalize for the benefit of the press and eager readers the conditions encountered on his flights.

Hugo Eckener described the return of the Graf Zeppelin to Friedrichshafen in July 1931 in these words: "We arrived there [Friedrichshafen] shortly after 4 a.m., exactly a week after our take-off for the Arctic flight. An ancient dream of Count Zeppelin's had found its fulfillment. Would there be a sequel? Will Nansen's 'Aeroarctic' live again?" (Eckener, p. 139). The polar flight of the Graf Zeppelin was the last of several spectacular forays into the polar regions by airship in the 1920s and early 30s. Since then, airplanes have long dominated the north polar routes. But several new breeds of airship, utilizing new materials and technology and inflated with helium rather than the flammable hydrogen that caused the Hindenburg disaster, seem ideally suited as platforms for scientific observations in the far north. Perhaps now Eckener's questions will be answered.