$40.00 CAD
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Nice photo postcard of the LZ 4 Zeppelin flying low over lake, two men in small boat watching. Inset photo of Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. This model of the Zeppelin was only active for a few months in summer of 1908 before crashing.
Labeled 'Graf Zeppelin mit seinem lenkbaren Luftschiff' ‘Graf Zeppelin with his steerable airship’
Bottom right numbered “2019 / 3’
German text on back ‘Oetzsch (Saxony Germany) 25.10.08….’ mailed to St Louis MO.
Some text on right, photo side. Light smudging/toning
,,,its successor LZ 3 became the first truly successful Zeppelin. This renewed the interest of the German military, but a condition of purchase of an airship was a 24-hour endurance trial. This was beyond the capabilities of LZ 3, leading Zeppelin to construct his fourth design, the LZ 4, first flown on 20 June 1908. On 1 July it was flown over Switzerland to Zürich and then back to Lake Constance, covering 386 km (240 mi) and reaching an altitude of 795 m (2,600 ft). An attempt to complete the 24-hour trial flight ended when LZ 4 had to make a landing at Echterdingen near Stuttgart because of mechanical problems. During the stop, a storm tore the airship away from its moorings on the afternoon of 5 August 1908. It crashed into a tree, caught fire, and quickly burnt out. No one was seriously injured.
This accident would have finished Zeppelin's experiments, but his flights had generated huge public interest and a sense of national pride regarding his work, and spontaneous donations from the public began pouring in, eventually totalling over six million marks. This enabled the Count to found the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH (Airship Construction Zeppelin Ltd.) and the Zeppelin Foundation.
WIKIPEDIA
