What if the Luftwaffe used airships

that was kind of my point, although better if the Soviets still in collaboration an Arctic route could have been used?

from Graf Zeppelin around the world flight

"Friedrichshafen – Tokyo
August 15, 1929 – August 19, 1929
11,247 km / 101 hrs 49 mins"

(that flight was over Soviet territory, not Northeast Passage, which from Norway would be shorter trip)

Germany made a few test flights between Europe & Manchuria. How many depends on who you believe. Perhaps as many as a dozen were planned and six attempted. maybe fewer. Refueling was accomplished at varying points, mostly in Afganistan. The Soviets claimed they destroyed one refueling site in a commando raid, causing the flight to be aborted.

Similar cargo flights to South America were planned, but I cant recall if any were attempted. By the end of 1942 ther ewere few desitnations and fewer refuel points.

It is claimed Japan attempted one carg/recon flight to Germany. It was to have been launched from Singapore, & failed to show at its refuel point in Afganistan.
 
By the 1940's airships, helium or hydrogen filled, could only operate effectively where enemy air activity would be negligible. As I've proposed in other posts, large rigid airships could have been effective ASW tools for the USN in the Atlantic. But where could the Germans hope to operate airships where effective enemy aircraft were almost completely absent, the Balkans? In anti-partisan actions? The Arctic Ocean? As heavy lift transports behind the lines? Basically, Germany was in a very poor geopolitical situation to use zeppelins for any military purpose, which is probably a reason both Graf Zeppelins were scrapped in 1940.
 
This airship has some very interesting technical innovations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Aeros_Corp - you can watch a video here: http://www.history.com/shows/rise-of-the-machines/season-1/episode-1#
So for the Luftwaffe it would be useful as a cargo carrier within relatively safe flying space or for long trips to distant allies or for long-range maritime reconnaissance (not u-boat support since the Luftwaffe refused to do that) in the early part of the war. Battle of the River Plate + airship recce?
 
The immediate role I see for zeppelins in WW2 is assisting the u-boat war in the Mid Atlantic air coverage gap. Zeppelins could deliver offensive strikes like Condor bombers did. Zeppelins can also use their tremendous endurance to shadow convoys and direct u-boat wolf packs or surface raiders to their target.
Even floatplane fighters would have been able to destroy airships.
 
I wonder if there is any chance Helium production can be had at large enough scale?
Even the USA could barely produce enough to simultaneously inflate all the USN airships. You'd need Germany to acquire a major new source, such as really deep mines or the Algerian fields.
 
In WWI here was a experimental cargo delivery from Germany to West Africa. Only read half the magazine article describing it, so I'm unsure if the airship made the return trip.
LZ 104 to East Africa to resupply von Lettow-Vorbeck. It flew over 6,800km (to Africa and back to Bulgaria) after the mission was aborted. It wasn't intended to return to Europe; the airship's structure was to have bee cannibalised. The cloth shell would have been used to produce tents, muslin for clothing and bandages, the aluminium for radio masts. It also carried about sixteen tonnes of general supplies (weapons, ammunition, food et cetera).
 
Germany made a few test flights between Europe & Manchuria. How many depends on who you believe. Perhaps as many as a dozen were planned and six attempted. maybe fewer. Refueling was accomplished at varying points, mostly in Afganistan. The Soviets claimed they destroyed one refueling site in a commando raid, causing the flight to be aborted.

Similar cargo flights to South America were planned, but I cant recall if any were attempted. By the end of 1942 ther ewere few desitnations and fewer refuel points.

It is claimed Japan attempted one carg/recon flight to Germany. It was to have been launched from Singapore, & failed to show at its refuel point in Afganistan.
In the '30s the Graf Zeppelin operated from Germany to Brazil on passenger flights. It ran intermittently from 1932 to 37, carrying mail, high value freight and passengers. It also overflew the Amazon and filmed the river from the air.
The trip cost 1,500RM (~US$490), one way, in 1934 (when the flights were regular). It departed every other Saturday, April to December only. The trip takes a little over three days and there’s almost always a reporter on board.
The last remaining zeppelin mast (Torre do Zeppelin) is still at Recife in Brazil.
 
Once Germany has conquered France you can have rigid airships assisting naval/U-boat operations for a while. As long as they convoys don't have air cover of any sort, they can be useful - unfortunately for the Germans in 1940-42 they don't have a useful radar to fit in a Zeppelin for surface search. Having Zepps scouting will accelerate the development of CAM ships, and also trying to get warships with catapult launched float planes attached to large/important convoys. One problem is getting the planes back after they chase away or shoot down the Zepp - the North Atlantic is not a good place to try and land float planes all too often. I can see "merchant" Zepps flying over Spain to the Canaries and onward to South America for a little longer, but once the South Atlantic gets air coverage that ends as well. There is a small window early on in the Battle of the Atlantic where they could operate but the window will close after a brief time. The question is will any extra damage done during this window due to Zeppelin assistance be worth the eventual price in resources and personnel?
 
I know the Germans used condors to south america for a while. What if the Graf Zepplin 2 is used. I would imagine that there would be bad press shooting it down. Like sinking a liner. While I agree it would be a legitimate target, a bunch of neutral citizens being killed.
 
I know the Germans used condors to south america for a while. What if the Graf Zepplin 2 is used. I would imagine that there would be bad press shooting it down. Like sinking a liner. While I agree it would be a legitimate target, a bunch of neutral citizens being killed.
They'd probably only get it over Europe.
 
Top