PART 6—Dirigibles

INTRO Chicago The World’s Flying Capital

Popular Mechanics, August 1907

The opening of the Chicago Aero Club attracted considerable attention, the exhibit including three airships, and one aeroplane. Capt. Mattery had a large ship with an 8-cylinder engine of 30 h. p.; Horace Wild and Chas. K. Hamilton each had an airship. A few flights had been made but the entire week was rainy with high winds, which made long flights impossible and ascension dangerous. The gas bags were kept inflated constantly in hopes of the wind going down.

Mr. Lesh made one ascension in his double deck glider which was 20 ft. long, 6 ft. fore and aft, with 200 sq. ft. of surface. The tail was 11 ft. long; the decks 4 ft. apart. We say “was” because the machine was wrecked by the storm on the last day.

On entering the ground of the Aerodrome the first that attracts the attention of the sightseer is the various tents that cover the huge monsters of the air. The tents all seemed to be securely staked to the ground in order to hold the great gas bags from taking their flight. Near the side of each tent some tanks and barrels could be seen which formed the apparatus for making the hydrogen gas used in the gas bags. A combination of iron filings, sulphuric acid and a secret preparation makes this gas. A tube of cloth and about six inches in diameter conveyed the gas from the tanks to the gas bags. The gas bag is constructed of a very fine grade of silk which is sewed together in squares with strips of heavier material. It is then oiled with a preparation that will not get hard. From these great bags, which are about 55 or 60 feet in length and 20 feet in diameter, is suspended, by a network of fish line, a small three-cornered frame made from spruce sticks and braced with piano wire. On this light frame and near the middle is bolted the motor that drives the 16-foot propeller wheel. On the various types of airships this motor differed in style and construction, ranging from 6 to 40 hp. and 2 to 8 cylinders. A tank for gasoline as well as a small storage battery is attached to the light frame. A large frame made of spruce and covered with muslin and fastened to the rear end of the light frame forms the rudder. The daring aeronaut strides the light frame and when in midair controls the motor by a long rod along the frame and changes the course of the ship by guide ropes to the rudder and changing his position along the frame.

The entire weight of an airship is about 350 pounds, while the motors weigh from 96 to 165 pounds, The light spruce frame will weigh from 65 to 80 pounds. The propeller is placed at the forward end.

Scenes at the Chicago Aero Club.

Views of Aeroplane Built By L. G. Lesh.

Chicago Tribune, June 26, 1910

Chicago may not be surprised if in the near future it finds itself face to face with the foregoing advertisement. The project expressed in such an ad is being worked up to. While the press of the country has been considering the startling proposition of a $25,000 prize race between New York and Chicago, and while the world has been gaping at the idea of Zeppelin’s passenger flight of 300 mlles in nine hours, a few Chicago men have been planning quietly to put in operation a line of passenger airships which make the advertisement above—or something like it—distinctly apropos. They are promoting an airship, invented by a Chicago locksmith, Herman Leinweber, which is expected to prove a serviceable passenger carrier and which, it is claimed, will carry fifty passengers and make the flight of over 900 miles in nine hours.

Compared to the plans of the Chicagoans who have taken up airshipping as a purely business proposition, the sensational fights of exhibitors like the Wrights, Curtiss, and, Paulhan become little more than ordinary. The mere feat of flying is the least of the things that these men consider in their plans. Right now in this day when most of the world still gasps a little at the notion of one single man flying fifty-four miles in an hour, these men calmly are planning and preparing to establish an airship passenger line, composed of ships with cars carrying fifty passengers, which will run regularly between Chicago and New York and make the trip in a little over nine hours—without a stop on the way!

Beside these plans the flight of the Deutschland. Count Zeppelin’s mammoth dirigible, from Friedrichshafen to Dusseldorf becomes ordinary, Indeed. The Deutsch-land’s fight will be remembered as the first serial passenger service in the world, but the distance traveled and the nature of the craft falled to make the feat startling to aerial artists of experience. In the first place the enormous gas bag of the Zeppelin la declared to make It too unwieldy for practical carryIng purposes. The speed it maintained for 300 miles was something over thirty miles an hour. While this is fair accommodation railroad train speed, it is nothing to what has been proven possible in the air.

New Field for Business.
Now that the Wrights, Curtisses, Paulhans, Zeppelins, and Hamiltons have shown what may be done in sensational aerial exhibitions, calculating and level headed business men—and Chicago business men, at that—have invaded the air as a new and fertile field of business The dream of a German inventor has appealed to them as a practical proposition. They have looked it over, have patented it, and are planning to make money through its sensational use.

Instead of considering the airship in the experimental stage this group has decided that the day of mere experiments and exhibitions is over. It is time—they think—to begin to handle the airship in practical fashion. Therefore they propose:

Second, to make a ship capable of carrying fifty passengers, carrying fuel enough to run 3,000 mlles without a stop and to which accidents, such as falling, are all but impossible.

Third, to start a regular passenger line between Chicago and New York and educate the traveling public up to the notion of traveling by air.

Fourth, to do “real business” with the airship instead of continuing the exhibitions of the present.

The great and important difference between the proposed aeroplane race and the proposed program of the Chicago company is that the former marks the first exhibition fight between the two cities named, while the letter marks an epoch—the consideration of the airship as & practical carrier in America.

Chicago Merely a Spectator.
“Chicago,” says Mr. Craft W. Higgins, editor of The Golfer’s Magazine, and secretary of the Chicago company, “has been the most backward city in the country on the airship proposition. While every other city of importance has been more or less wrought up over the demonstrated possibilitles of mechanical flying, Chicago has been content to sit back and read what others have been doing. We have done little or nothing here up to now. But now there is coming an era of the airship in Chicago, and once Chicago begins it is likely to take the lead in this, as in other things.

“Other localties have been experimenting and exhibiting for a long time. Chicago, when it takes hold, takes hold practically and the result is going to be nothing less then a line of passenger airships capable of flying to New York in a trifle over nine hours, This is no dream. We have the ship. It is something new altogether in flying, a new principle, and yet an old one. The government has allowed us all the patents we have asked for. This is proof that the Chicago ship is something new. While the ship 1e not built, it is all worked out. The drawinge are all made. There is no doubt in the minds of every one who has seen the plane that when our first large ship is completed it will rise in the air over Chicago carrying fifty passengers and safely land them In New York In the time mentioned. It is a business proposition. We are not going into it for fame or prize money. We look upon it just as railroad men look upon the proposition of starting a ground route between two cities.”

The romance and wonder of air travel, the spirit of adventure that attracts the daring and reckless to flying at present, is lacking in this new idea. It may be romantic and inspiring to take a flyer aloft, but Chicago business men think more of the material and pecuniary advantages that such flying passengers over traveling on the earth’s surface. Briefly these advantages are calculated to be:

Advantages of Air Travel.
No need of a right of way. The air is free. There will be no huge sum of money invested in the purchase of track room on the earth.

No expenditure for a track. No cost of track maintenance. No friction to bring about wear and tear on equipment.

No expense in maintalning a corps of employs along the right of way. The station agent, telegrapher, switchman, etc., will be unnecessary on the new air route.

No danger of wrecks or collisions, and, consequently, no damage suits.

Greatly reduced cost of all kinds of all operating expenses.

Opportunity to cut rates so as to compete successfully with the railroads.

The advantages that the passengers will enjoy are, first of all, cheaper fares, greater speed, and less danger. The noise, jar and dust of railroad travel will be done away with. There will be no washouts, broken switches or rails, or freight wrecks to delay traffie. Between the stations on the alr route there is nothing but atmosphere. The ship, arising from one station, will be as free as a bird in its flight to the next stop. And, at the same time, there will be unrolled to the eyes of the traveler a panorama of towns and country, rivers and mountains, lakes and plains, such as only the eagle hitherto has been able to contemplate.

Ship Novelty in Construction.
The ship that is expected to make all this possible is a novelty in airship construction, but, it is declared by its inventors and promoters, its novelty does not partake of the nature of an impractical dream. Mr. Leinweber, the inventor, it is said, has jumped far ahead of Zeppelin. The new principles in flying have been incorporated in its designs, both of which have beep patented. One of them consists of flying planes which will operate in a socket, like the wing of a bird, moving freely in all directions, the other is the principle of automatic balance, by which the ship la expected to sail on 4 steady keel without manipulation on the part of the aviator.

In appearance the ship will be different from anything hitherto seen in airships, aeroplanes, dirigibles, or balloons. Its planes, or wings, will be at the top, spreading over the car, which will hang in the center. Directly under the planes will be a long thin gas bag. This is intended as a precaution, and not as a part of the machine’s flying qualities, Should anything happen to the planes the gasbag will serve as a parachute which will let the ship gently down to earth without danger to it or its passengers.

Beneath this safety balloon will hang the car, the body of the ship. The car will be boat shaped and seventy feet in length. In one end of it will be the motors. For the ship capable of carrying fifty passengers and traveling to New York without a stop twelve motors of 250 horsepower each will be installed. The passenger weight carrying capacity of this machine will be 10,000 pounds, and the fuel capacity will be sufficient for a flight of 3,000 mlles.

Every Precaution for Safety.
The whole construction, power plant, gasbag, fuel capacity, etc., is planned to be made equal to double of what will be demanded in any flight, every precaution being planned for safety an well an for making each journey a success. Nothing short of the destruction of the wings, or the stopping of all twelve motors at one time, it is declared, would make a descent necessary on the way.

Assuming that the ship will be constructed se its promoters plan, that it will work as they predict, and that the air route will be established, a journey from Chicano to New York will be an experience to marvel over.

Take fine, clear summer morning. The ship resting at its moorings, probably on the lake front, is filled with passengers. The time tor departure arrives, and the ushers sound the cry of “all aboard.” The conductor looks at his watch, sees that all is in shape and steps into his place in the car and presses a button. Instantly the sliding doors of the car slip shut, leaving the passengers inclosed in a room, with walls mostly of glass. A second later a signal sounds, the motors start, and the ship slips off into the air at a slow rate of speed.

Hastily mounting to a height of 200 or 800 feet it poises for a moment, then it starts straight and true on the airline route for the eastern metropolis. Guided by the compass the aviator holds his course straight over Lake Michigan for a point half way between Michigan City and St. Joseph. The lower end of the lake is crossed in a few minutes, and the ship is over the state of Michigan. The motors and machinery are warmed up by this time. The passengers feel a slight shock; the speed is shoved up to a notch of a little more then 100 mlles an hour.

Skimming the boundary line of Michigan and Indians the courage lies until it strikes the northwestern corner of Ohio. Here it cuts over a small corner of Lake Erie, where a storm is raging. There is a slight tremor as the first storm waves strike the craft, then as the planes, under a pressure of compressed air, automatically adjust themselves, the ship rights to an even keel and goes on undisturbed.

Ohio gives way to Pennsylvania, and coon the Allegheny mountain loom up in the east. The height of the flight steadily is increased, the Susquehanna River, and the towns of Sunbury, Lockhaven and Mauch Chunk are crossed at a distance that makes them seem small to the passengers, who, through the windows of the car are comfortably studying the scenery.

“New York-All Out.”
Down over the eastern slope of the mountains the flight leads into New Jersey, and its end soon is in sight. Newark appeare on the left, Eilzabeth on the right. The passengers are gathering their baggage. The smoke of New York is before them.

Soon its buildings are visible to the far sighted. The Hudson river is approached and crossed without ceremony. Over the metropolis the ship sails, its speed reduced, until it reaches the terminus of its journey. Slowly and, gently it descends, landing without jar or danger; the motors are stopped; the ship is at rest.

Then the conductor presses his button, the doors slide open and the passengers step out in the heart of New York City, It is approximately 7 o’clock in the evening, eastern time and there is no hurry in getting tickets for a broadway theater, from a speculator, at least.

Chicago Tribune February 3, 1912

By Cable to the Chicago Tribune
Berlin, Feb. 2.—It is announced here that the Aero Club of Illinois has purchased one of the famous German Parseval nonrigid dirigible airships. The craft is capable of carrying twenty passengers. Regular trips will be made in Illinois next summer.

Capt. Horace B. Wild, who was field marshal of the aeroplane meet held in Grant park last summer, arrived in the city yesterday with the announcement, confirmatory of the above dispatch, that he had bought in Germany a dirigible airship he will fly to this state next summer. According to Capt. Wild, the dirigible is now in New York and will be brought to Chicago in plenty of time for summer flights.

At the headquarters of the Aero club of Illinois at the Auditorium hotel it was stated that the club itself had not bought the airship, but that if the purchase been made it was done by individual members for their own private amusement.

Craft Now in New York.
This statement was corroborated by James S. Stephens, second vice president of the club. He said he had talked with Capt. Wild and the captain had told him he had brought a dirigible back from Europe with him, that the craft was now in New York, and that it was intended to fly here.

Sidney James, engineer of the club, said he knew positively the club itself had bought no airships.

Capt. Wild was sent to Europe by the government to ascertain what other governments sere doing about the building and maintaining of military airships. He could not be located in Chicago last night.

In New York he told of a spectacular flight he had made in a Perseval, and asserted he had bought a ship of that type for flying in this country.

Tells of Flights Abroad.
“We took two German officers, hauled on board a moving picture machine, a roll of advertisements, and a shrieking siren horn,” he said, “and rose up and started for the clouds in a snow storm above Berlin. We went back and forth, throwing ou the ‘ads,’ while the siren howled and to the accompaniment of others from the crowds gathered below.”

In Berlin, Capt. Wild asserted, any one can go to a balloon station on the outskirts of the city, pay a licensed air pilot $50, climb into his dirigible along with ten or fifteen other passengers, and sail for three hours over the country to Johanestown.

agatite

Dry Goods Reporter, July 13, 1912

PASSENGER DIRIGIBLE SERVICE FOR CHICAGO

A dirigible balloon of European make has been imported by a syndicate of men and brough t to Chicago, where it will be operated by Captain Horace B. Wild, one of America’s leading licensed dirigible pilots. This ship will be in service with headquarters at White City, Chicago’s great amusement resort, and will be operated during the Summer, beginning July 20, in and about the city of Chicago, and cross-country passenger trips will be made daily, weather permitting, from White City to Milwaukee and return between the hours of 10 a. m. and 9 p. m. Special inter-city trips will be contracted for upon application.

Twenty-five acres have been secured by theWhite City Construction Company adjoining their amusement resort on the south, and has been leveled off for an aviation field. A large steel and concrete hanger is now being con structed in this field for the purpose of housing the large dirigible.

The minimum fare charged will be $25 for each person, and reservations are now being made for passenger trips. Captain Wild was field captain of the Chicago aviation meet at Grant Park last Summer and is considered one of the most capable pilots. He expects to make the first trip in Chicago Saturday, July 20, which will establish the first aerial passenger service in America.

Chicago Tribune, September 10, 1912

Mrs. Walter R. Smith, wife of a jeweler at 3920 South State street, was crooning her baby to sleep late yesterday afternoon on her roof garden—the top of a rear shed—when she heard a series of yells from the street. High overhead she saw a 125 foot dirigible balloon, in which were two men yelling a little louder than the 200 in the street.

Mrs. Smith saw by the frantic gestures of the balloonists that the performance was not being staged for her benefit. A moment later she saw a heavy cable, hanging from the dirigible, come dragging over the fence directly toward her roof garden. The balloonists redoubled their yells.

Mrs. Smith promptly laid the baby on the floor, rubbed her hands briskly, and when the cable reached her roof garden made a jump for it. The 2,700 pound balloon dragged her kicking and scrambling, across the shed until she landed with a thud against the picket fence at the side. That would have been about enough for most people, but it only made Mrs. Smith mad.

She Drags Balloon Down.
She caught a fresh grip, braced both feet against the fence, and yanked the rope with all her 185 pounds. Something gave, and she fell to the floor with another thud. She caught another grip, gave another yank, and the balloon dropped easily down into a nest of telephone wires.

About then the 200 shouting spectators decided it was safe to offer their assistance, and came running into the yard to hold the balloon down. The woman was before them, and helped the badly scared men, Horace B. Wild, and his engineer, John De Courcey, to extricate themselves. They had lost control of the big ship and were in danger of colliding with a building, with unpleasant consequences.

Mrs. Smith looked them over casually, saw they were not hurt, and returned to her baby, picked it up, and walked into the house as if pulling down a seven passenger dirigible, with 37,000 cubic feet of gas, was one of her every day diversions. The men she rescued hurried after her and overwhelmed her with thanks.

Woman Saves Unmanageable Craft.
The balloon, believed to be an advertising stunt for a south side amusement park, left its hangar at Sixty-third street and South Park avenue at 5:55 o’clock and met what probably would have been its finish if the brave woman hadn’t come to the rescue. It was bound for the loop, where the crowd was thickest. At Forty-fufth street and Indiana avenue a water manifold on the radiator blew out and about fifty of the seventy-eight pounds of water needed as ballast was spilled. Immediately the craft shot upward from an altitude of 800 feet to 1,240 feet (these figures the authentic marks on the gaugeboard), and Wild let out about 5,000 feet of gas to bring it down to safety, and about 800 feet above the street.

Wild and De Courcey began picking a soft place to land. They headed for the roof of the traction barn at South State and Thirty-ninth streets, but their aim was bad. They had taken precautionary measure to throw out their 375 feet of trail rope, but observers, evidently fearing to be carried off their feet, preferred to let it trail.

The rope dangled through back yards and pulled off loose chimney bricks here and there until Mrs. Smith stopped its mad flight. A broken rudder was the extent of the damage, and this will be repaired at the break of the day.

Craft’s Rudder Only Smashed.
“It’s the first flight we have attempted since we brought the craft from Europe and I blame a rotten rubber connection for the accident,” explained Wild after thanking Mrs. Smith profusely for the rescue. “My engineer, De Courcey, a Frenchman from Cork, behaved admirably. It simply got a little beyond us and it became essential to select a nice soft place to land. How we missed the roof of the traction barn I don’t know, but it was fortunate, too, because there was no Mrs. Smith on that roof.

“We were at Indiana and Forty-fifth when the manifold blew off and the loss of our water ballast sent us upward like a shot. Well, common sense taught me that the higher up we got the harder we bounced and I immediately proceeded to counter balance the loss of the ballast with the release of the gas.’

Miss Landing on Roof.
“The board showed that we had come down the extra 400 feet and were traveling in our course of 800 up when we sighted the roof of the traction barn. But we missed it.

“The engine had been idle for three or four months, and the rubber connection rotted. It is something we must have overlooked when we examined it on starting. It’s funny, isn’t it, that some of the thousands of men who watched us galloping and darting through space didn’t grab our rope. Then some fellows try to tell us that women haven’t any nerve. I’ll bet Mrs. Smith keeps things steadied up around her home. I expect to steer the craft on the traction roof in the morning and replace the torn rudder. The damage isn’t worth mentioning. There was an awful heavy overcurrent of air.

“Weren’t you afraid of the thing?” a reporter asked Mrs. Smith.

“Just a bit shaky for an instant when it lifted me off my feet, but when I got a strangle hold by winding my feet around that fence post I felt safe,” replied the heroine.

“It dragged you a bit, then?”

“Sure, it pulled me all the way across the porch, but I knew the picket fence would stop me. I simply held on. I guess I supplied the ballast lost through spilling the water. Noting extraordinary about it, was there?”

Chicago Tribune July 2, 1914

WOMEN TAKE DIRIGIBLE CRUISE
Mrs. H. Spearman Lewis and Mrs. Knabenshue First to Fly Over Chicago in Balloon.
Mrs. H. Spearman Lewis of 4601 Malden street and Mrs. A. Roy Knabenshue went aloft last night in the airship “White City” as the first women to fly over Chicago in a dirigible balloon. The flight was made from the hangar in the south side amusement park out over the city to Sixty-third and Halsted streets and return. A stiff wind gave the zest of excitement to the experience. Mr. Knabenshue drove the balloon and Mr. Lewis also was a passenger.

Chicago Tribune July 14, 1914
For the first time in the history of aviation in America a dirigible balloon and a hydroplane maneuvered together over the lake yesterday. Roy Knabenshue with four passengers in his airship flew north to Clarendon beach. The dirigible was sighted by the hydroplane flyers at the hangars of Harold F. McCormick and “Jack” Vilas in his hydro set off to greet the visiting craft. The hydro with two men aboard was guided under and over the dirigible and circles it several times . The maneuvers were similar to those conducted recently in Vienna when an army dirigible was rammed by an aeroplane undertaking to pass over it.

The original eight-minute film showing Chicago in 1914, recorded from a dirigible piloted by Roy Knabenshue.

Wingfoot Express Disaster, July 21, 1919.

Chicago Tribune, August 29, 1929

Chicago Streets Are Jammed for Sight of the Graf.
A full page of pictures of the Graf Zeppelin on its flight over Chicago will be found on the back page of this paper Another view of the great air liner on Page 3.
By Orville Dwyer.
The great Graf Zeppelin cruised over Chicago yesterday to the accompaniment of the most tremendous roar of welcome that ever went up to the skies from this mid-continent metropolis.

It was estimated that millions of persons took part in the demonstration. It seemed certain that most of the men, women and children in the far-flung metropolitan area saw and shouted a welcome to the silver ship. Many persons came from cities and towns within a radius of 100 miles or more to join in the welcome to the air liner.

Here for 18 Minutes.
The Zeppelin was first sighted by the throng in the loop about 5:20 p.m. It flew over the downtown district for approximately eighteen minutes and disappeared in the hazy eastern sky
within three minutes after leaving the lake shore.

In the height of the clamor of welcome, all the loop buildings, as well as the streets, were jammed to the last window and, as on other festive occasions, spectators tossed clouds of
out of windows. The paper shower came in thousands of pieces, big and small, from high in the air looked like a summer snow storm.

Flies Away Into East.
The sky giant came into Chicago from the west via Wheaton and Glen Ellyn, and when it had paid its respects to the city it flew away again, into the east.

Weather bureau officials here had warned radio stations to send word to Dr. Hugo Eckener, master of the air giant, that there was squally weather and blinding rain over lower Michigan and that the storm was moving south. ward rapidly toward his course over Indiana.

The officials advised the ship to take a deep curve around the center of Indiana. Commander Eckener got their messages, he must have believed bis gallant craft could ride out the weather, for he sailed it over the lower edge of Michigan, direct to Detroit.

ZEPPELIN SOARS OVER CHICAGO FOR 18 MINUTES.
Left:

Medinah Athletic Club brochure photo.

Right: The taller buildings on the near north side, shown in the picture, left to right, are: Palmolive, Allerton club, Wrigley, Medinah Athletic club, and the Tribune Tower. Thousands waved welcomes to the Zeppelin from their windows. Chicago Tribune, August 29, 1929 photo.

Clouds Lift as Zep Appears.
The weather was kind to the vast throng that gathered to see the air liner pass over the city.
Rain clouds, which had hung low and threatening all during the late afternoon suddenly lifted after a few drops almost as the Zeppelin hove in sight.

As the big ship soared majestically across the loop, circled Tribune Tower, swung south to Soldiers’ field and then north again to Lincoln park and away across the lake, the clouds opened and for a brief time the sky cleared.

When the silver dirigible headed out over the lake and drove onward in a burst of speed rays of sunshine shot through the gray clouds, throwing on the air liner’s silver sheen a golden light. To the millions watching; the Zeppelin seemed to be disappearing in a halo.

A Rare Flight Picture.
It was a rare picture, exclaimed the thousands upon thousands who caught it from just the right angles, behind and somewhat to the left or right. One woman with a gift for imagery said it was as though the angels had turned their spot light on early so as to give the Zeppelin good start on its long cruise through the night to the end of its round the world flight at Lakehurst, N. J.

The millions who turned out and made a holiday of the occasion, start. gathering in the downtown district early in the morning. By noon thousands were out most of them gathered in Grant park from Randolph to Fourteenth streets. By early afternoon the streets in the loop were jammed and available parking space for automobiles was taken.

The vast throng in the downtown district got its first glimpse of th great ship as it came nosing out through a rift in the clouds. Like a big blunt bullet the Graf’s nose poked slowly out of the gray at the southwest corner of the loop.

For a moment the Zeppelin’s nose looked like a phantom pushing through s gray veil of silk. The thousand thronging the south end of Grant pari saw the silver shape come pushin; through the mist-then there was yell and a mighty roar.

Automobile horns took up the chorus, adding their din to the human lung power. Then engines on the Illinois Central joined the medley an‹ factory whistles all over the central section of the city and engines or other railroads added to the din. Tugs and larger boats swelled the volume of sound as the Zep swung north alone the river channel.

For a matter of minutes it was medley of such diversified sounds to make itself into one din such seldom before has been heard in Chicago. The continuing roar reminded the listener of that memorable day Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice day.

It is a question whether in point of volume the noise that for a time swept Chicago late yesterday did not eclipse that of almost eleven years ago. The roar of welcome that went up to the Zep and its master, crew and passengers included every noise making device known to modern man.

Gives Invalids a Thrill.
At St Luke’s hospital the hundreds of invalids who crowded the roof, the windows and fire escapes had an excellent view of the liner’s majestic lines. Many of those in the hospital sat in wheel chairs and they appeared to be yelling along with everybody else.

The ship swept north and northeast along the river, passed over the Michigan boulevard bridge and turned north as it neared the lake. It swung in a majestic half circle around Tribune Tower and moved south again, sailing west of the Wrigley building.

Heading across the river, the great dirigible passed south over the loop. About Jackson boulevard it nosed eastward again and in a sidewise glide went over to Soldiers’ field. The thousands gathered in the stadium gave a mighty cheer as the Zeppelin passed above them and hovered there a moment.

Then the sky liner turned north again, completing the figure eight ot its tour over the central district. Again it went humming past Tribune Tower and struck north along the lake shore to Lincoln pier, and headed east, picking up speed with a roar of its motor.

After the first outburst of welcome the throng stood at intervals of minutes just gazing at the majestic ship and forgetting to make any outery. Then, with the whistles and bells and sirens still going full blast, sections of the crowd seemed to come back to themselves and began their shouting all over again.

Crowds Fil Loop Streets.
The traffic jam in the loop, on every street, in Michigan avenue, on the driveways into Grant Park, and on the outer drives, was an unprecedented one from the time the Graf Zeppelin was sighted until several hours after it had disappeared in the eastern sky.

As soon as the ship was sighted and the roaring started, all drivers of auto-mobiles, no matter what their direc-tion, simply stopped their cars. They stopped them wherever they were, in the middle of streets, straight in traftic lanes or sidewise, on crossings and at curbs.

At the same time the pedestrians rushed into the streets and it became almost at once a jam of humans and ears that was immovable.

Traffic Police Helpless.
The autoists threw all rules to the winds, put the brakes on and climbed on their running boards and hoods and tops and stood thus clinging and craning their necks and shouting.

Policemen milled about in the streets in vain. They threatened and they bullied and blew their whistles, but nu one paid them the slightest attention, and soon they threw up their hands. shrugged their shoulders and turned their own eyes skyward.

Many of the policemen joined in the ovation. When it was all over they became policemen again and then for two hours they helped to untie one of the greatest tratic knots the city has ever known.

From airplanes it was possible to catch a glimpse of the big ship long before it nosed its way through the murky atmosphere of the loop. Reporters flying in planes at a height of 5,000 feet saw the Zeppelin hanging like a drop of quicksilver away at the west end the city fully twenty minutes before those on the lake front saw it.

The air liner rapidly grew larger as the planes sped towards it, and soon the two types of flying machine came close together at about Crawford avenue. The planes had to drop rapidly to descend to the Zeppelin’s approximate height of 1,200 feet, and from then on as the great dirigible moved eastward to the loop 28 planes buzzed about it like flies.

Speeds at 90 Miles an Hour.
Coming toward Chicago and once free from the high head winds which had checked its progress through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, the Graf earlier yesterday had picked up remarkable speed and sometimes was reported sailing eastward at 90 miles an hour.

The Zeppelin left Texas shortly after 3 a. m., Chicago daylight time, and it was first sighted over Oklahoma at Arapaho. It was then sailing at a good speed and started to cut across the oil fields, passing over Perry, Ponca City and Fairfax.

At the latter city Dr. Eckener altered his course to a more easterly one. He passed over Iola and on over Olathe to Kansas City, where a great throng turned out, waving and cheering the passengers and crew of the liner.

Sails Over Missouri and Iowa.
On leaving Kansas City, Commander Eckener sailed his silver craft through Missouri, passing successively over Excelsior Springs, Chillicothe and Milan. He crossed the Iowa border
near Milton, and from there the ship was turned due eastward, passing over Farmington, Ia.

From Farmington, in the southeast corner of Iowa, the Graf was headed north, following the Mississippi past Muscatine. The ship crossed the Mississippi a few miles below Davenport at a Spot where the river’s width almost matched the dirigible’s length. A few minutes later it circled over Davenport, Moline, and Rock Island, and then headed toward Chicago.

Reports of the ship’s progress over Illinois were received every few minutes in Chicago. It was sighted in turn at Amboy, De Kalb, Geneva, Wheaton and Villa Park and other western suburbs.

DIRIGIBLE OVER THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN DISTRICT WHILE HEADED FOR THE NEAR NORTH SIDE.

ARRIVAL OF THE ZEPPELIN HALTS TRAFFIC ON INNER DRIVE IN GRANT PARK FOR HALF AN HOUR.
Scene on the inner drive at Jackson boulevard showing the boulevard blocked with autos whose drivers were more intent on getting a glimpse of the big gas bag than they were to continue on their journey. The police were kept busy trying te straighten out the traffic tangle.

Chicago Tribune, October 27, 1933

GERMAN ENVOY EXPOUNDS NAZI AIMS IN CHICAGO
Feted with Graf’s Commander.
At a Chicago banquet table draped with the swastika banner and the Stars and Stripes, Dr. Hans Luther, once chancellor of Germany, later president of the Reichsbank, and now German ambassador to Washington, set forth the creed of his present political chief, Adolph Hitler, in blunt words last night. An audience of 600, including bankers, industrialists and prominent German-Americans, attended the function given by the Union League club in its building.

The occasion marked the formal visit to A Century of Progress of Dr. Luther and another renowned German, Dr. Hugo Eekener, who had brought his dirigible Graf Zeppelin to Chicago to salute the Fair. Due to inclement weather, the Graf’s arrival was timed for an early hour yesterday before most Chicagoans had arisen. The ship stayed aground only twenty minutes at Curtiss-Wright air-port near Glenview because of the inclement weather, and the proposed flight to Milwaukee was canceled. Then the Zeppelin sailed over the Fair grounds and sped east to Akron, O., where it docked at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon.

Talks in Forthright Fashion.
In his one hour talk last evening, Dr. Luther treated of the Nazi position on disarmament, the league of nations, Germany’s alleged Imperialism. Jewish-American boycotts of German goods, and Chancellor Hitler’s social ideals. Delicate as some of these subjects might appear to be, Dr. Luther seemed to be following the Nazi formula of leaving no doubt as to where Herr Hitler stood.

Before entering the banquet room, Ambassador Luther and Dr. Eckener met some of the guests in a lounge upstairs. Among them were Rufus C. Dawes, president of A Century of Progress; Rear Admiral Wat T. Cluverius, commander of the Great Lakes Naval Training station; Carl Latham, president of the Chicago Bar association; Giuseppe Castruccio, Italian consul general for Chicago; and Fire Marshal Arthur Seyferlich, representing Mayor Kelly.

Sing Anthems of Two Lands.
A band struck up the German an-them, “Deutschland Ueber Alles,” as the party reached the banquet table, but few among the guests, aside from Dr. Luther and Dr. Eckener, seemed to know the words. “The Star Spangled Banner” was then played and the guests appeared to sound an especially fervent note on the phrases extolling “the land of the free.” After a speech by Mr. Dawes praising the inventive and scientific achievements of the German people, Dr. Luther opened his address.

On disarmament, he spoke in part as follows:

Demands Action, Not Words.
Henceforth we want action, not empty words. Clearly, we see our goal, which is complete disarmament. I wish to emphasize that our withdrawal from the league of nations does not mean that we refuse to cooperate with other nations. On the contrary, it goes without saying that we shall gladly accept the hand stretched out to us by any other nation.

Dr. Luther then took up the charges of German imperialism, charges that Herr Hitler would like to Nazify the world. He denied them in toto. He said such charges had hitherto been leveled against Russia, Great Britain, Japan and “even the United States.” He asked how Germany, a state no larger than Texas, with a few insig nificant colonies in East Africa and the South Seas, could have been accused of imperialism, even before the war. He averred that Chancellor Hitler had recently forbidden even private discussion of such aims in an order to the whole people.

“My government aspires to something entirely different,” the ambassador explained, wherewith he launched into a discussion of what he interpreted as Hitler’s real aims.

“The ideals of National Socialism should be easily understood here in Chicago,” he averred. “Its conception is that nations should live their own cultural and political life, and that only those persons should belong to them who are really of the same inner kind. The Hitler government has no desire to annex foreign territories Hitler said literally that all this talk of a so-called Germanizing has to be stopped once and for all and that the German officials as well as citizens to private conversation should avoid giving nourishment to such talk.”

The ambassador minced no words In his discussion of anti-German boycotts, such as numerous Jewish organizations and the American Federation of Labor have recently, voted. Such boycotters he averred, were working against the interests of their own land.

Predicts Failure of Boycotts.
“I am of the opinion that the healthy common sense of the American people and their idealism doom to failure will these blows to the economic recovery of the world on the part of certain circles in the form of boycott activities,” he said. “I am convinced that the American people know how dangerous it is to misuse the fundamental principles of economy for political purposes. I may say with satisfaction that this political attempt to upset economic life is being discussed with increasing anxiety not only in private circles, but also in circles expressive of American public opinion.

“Germany is one of America’s best customers and has heretofore purchased twice the amount of goods she has sold to this country.

“Inasmuch as she is buying approximately $2 worth of goods from this country for every dollar’s worth she sells here, those propagating the anti-German boycott are calling for a policy directly opposed to important interests of their awn country.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the German people resent all pressure from the outside. On the other hand, national socialism does not intend to reach beyond the boundaries of its origin. It is not for export.”

The Nazi-fication of the Graf Zeppelin.

Discusses Unstable Money.
Dr. Luther said he would refrain from retrospective criticism of the departure of England and the United States from the gold standard. Nevertheless, he implied that the continued lack of stable currencies was a factor impeding international economic recovery.

“It is not my problem to ask why the international exchange of goods and services has shrunk,” he said. “We all know the facts. We know of the striving of all nations to make themselves economically self-sufficient. This process has gone so far that at present we possess no universally accepted standard of value for exchanged goods and services. The standard was always gold and was based on the gold we had in the dollar and pound.”

Dr. Luther made to direct reference to Nazi treatment of the Jews. He refrained also from alluding to the current German drive to Nazify Austria.

He concluded his address in a conciliatory tone.

“The rough road to progress leads through a conflict of ideas which does not mean a clash of arms but a conflict of the spirit,” he said. “The German people live in the hope of co-operating efficiently in finally achieving the ideals of peace and understanding among nations. They are struggling toward no other goal than a better world of tomorrow.”

Uniformed and plain clothes police were on duty at the affair.

Dr. Eckener was a center of attraction at the banquet. The weather beaten commander of the Graf smiled quizzically when Mr. Dawes paid tribute to his inventive genius and his courage and thanked the audience haltingly when all arose in tribute to his character. He made to reference to political questions of the glories of Nazi-ism in his brief remarks.

GERMAN DIRIGIBLE PAYS CHICAGO AND THE WORLD FAIR A VISIT; RETURNS TO AKRON HANGAR.

Eckener Sees Graf Depart.
Dr. Eckener spent a busy day in Chicago. After watching the departure of the Graf from Curtiss-Reynolds airport under command of Capt. E. A. Lehmann. Dr. Eckener proceeded to the Bismarck hotel. After a press conference there he went to the city hall and was received by Mayor Kelly.

At noon Dr. Eckener attended a luncheon given by the North German Lloyd at the Midday club. His official visit to A Century of Progress Exposition was paid at 3 p. m. With Dr. Luther be arrived at the 14th street entrance and reviewed the military escort sent to welcome him. Later there was a reception by President Dawes of the Fair in the trustees’ room of the Administration building. The air hero them snatched a brief bit of test before going to dinner at the Medinah temple.

Sees Zeppelin Terminal in East.
During the day Dr. Eckener discussed briefly his plans for a trans Atlantic mail service on lighter than air craft. He aid not believe, he said, that Chicago would be the western terminal of the service, as it wold be more practicable for the big ships to land near Richmond, Va.; Baltimore, Md.; of Washington, D. C., and then transfer mail to fast airplanes for transport overland.

He hazarded the rather rueful opinion that such a service would have to wait until bankers could be persuaded to finance it, “probably not until conditions have improved.”

Dr. Eckener will leave Chicago by United Air Lines plane this morning to rejoin the Graf Zeppelin at Akron. The take-off for the dirigible’s home port of Friedrichshafen, Germany, is tentatively scheduled for 8:30 a. m. tomorrow. The route to be followed is a southernly one that passes over Seville, Spain.

PASSENGER DIRIGIBLE SERVICE FOR CHICAGO

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