German Airship Aviators - Hugo Eckener (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Dr. Hugo Eckener (Monday, August 10, 1868 Saturday, August 14, 1954. Hugo Eckener's lifetime, in weeks and days was 31,414 days, equalling 4,487 weeks and 5 days.) was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and was commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history. He was also responsible for the construction of the most successful type of airships of all time. An anti-Nazi who was invited to campaign as a moderate in the German presidential elections, he was blacklisted by that regime and eventually sidelined. Eckener was born in Flensburg as the first child of Johann Christoph Eckener from Bremen and Anna Lange, daughter of a shoemaker. As a youth he was judged an "indifferent student," and he spent summers sailing and winters ice skating. Nevertheless, by 1892 under Professor Wilhelm Wundt Eckner had earned a doctorate "magna cum laude" in what today might be deemed experimental psychology. at the University of Leipzig. Eckener then began his military service in the Infantry Regiment 86 in Flensburg. Eckener's early career was as a journalist and editor; by August 1893 he was working for the; in October 1897 he married Johanna, daughter of the publisher-family Maa; later he became a correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung in 1905 and 1906, whilst writing a book on the social effects of capitalism. Asked to cover the first flights of the LZ1 and LZ2, Eckener was critical of both airships' marginal performances, but praised Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's dedication to his cause. Because several scientists and engineers had criticized his airship plans, the Count sought... More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=187933