for delag the world s first airline graf zeppelin above st. paul s cathedral in london luftschiffbau zeppelin gmbh is a german company which during the early 20th century was a leader in the design and manufacture of rigid airships specifically of the zeppelin type . the company was founded by count ferdinand von zeppelin . luftschiffbau is a german word meaning building of airships . contents 1 history 1.1 v 2 rocket production 2 fixed wing aircraft 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit main article zeppelin count von zeppelin had been working on various guidable rigid airship prototypes from as early as 1885 and his first airship was flown in 1900 . initially finance for the research was supplied by the count himself by private donations and even a lottery . with the growing success of each flight public interest also grew . in 1908 the zeppelin lz 4 was destroyed during a high profile test flight . this proved fortunate since it caused a flood of public support . the ensuing donation campaign collected over 6 million german marks which was used to set up both luftschiffbau zeppelin gmbh and the zeppelin foundation . 1 luftschiffbau zeppelin manufactured many zeppelin airships for both civilian and military use over the next few decades . however with the rise of the nazis in 1933 focus shifted to heavier than air aircraft due to their military superiority though zeppelins were used in a number of major propaganda campaigns to great effect . by the onset of world war ii demand for the zeppelins had waned . the last active vessel lz 130 was decommissioned early in the war and salvaged for its precious aluminium . in the late 1920 s to 1940 the company worked with goodyear tire and rubber company to build two zeppelins in the united states and the goodyear zeppelin corporation was created to facilitate the relationship . the partnership ended after world war ii began 2 but the american company continued to build blimps under the goodyear name . as a consequence of accepting 11 million marks from goebbels ministry of propaganda and goering s air ministry the company was effectively divided with luftschiffbau zeppelin making the airships and the deutsche zeppelin reederei company affiliated with lufthansa operating them . officially hugo eckener was the head of both but in practice ernst lehmann who was less opposed to the nazi regime ran the latter . v 2 rocket production edit luftschiffbau zeppelin stopped manufacturing in 1938 and operations by 1940 . in the autumn of 1941 the company had accepted contracts to produce v 2 rocket propellant tanks and fuselage sections . 3 by 17 august 1942 the allies had suspected that the zeppelin works in friedrichshafen as well as the henschel raxwerke were involved with the v 2 rocket 4 and on 25 july 1943 duncan sandys reported to whom that friedrichshafen photos depicted rocket firing sites like test stand vii at peenem nde . citation needed previously in june 1943 allied bombing during operation bellicose had hit the zeppelin v 2 facility and production was subsequently moved to the mittelwerk . the company continued during the war and disappeared sometime around 1945 . 5 almost 50 years later the company re emerged in germany . the parent group company of the current zeppelin maker was re established in 1993 and the operating company producing the current zeppelins was created in 2001 . 6 luftschiffbau zeppelin gmbh still exists as of 2010 and is a major shareholder in the company zlt zeppelin luftschifftechnik gmbh which is developing and producing the zeppelin nt . fixed wing aircraft edit zeppelin staaken riesenflugzeuge world war i for the imperial german luftstreitkr fte fliegende panzerfaust zeppelin rammer see also edit list of zeppelins references edit archbold rick 1994 . hindenburg an illustrated history . warner madison press . p. 32 . isbn 978 044651784 3 . http www.ohiohistorycentral.org entry.php rec 899 & nm goodyear zeppelin company neufeld michael j. 1995 . the rocket and the reich peenem nde and the coming of the ballistic missile era . new york the free press . p. 143 . ordway frederick i iii ; sharpe mitchell r 1979 . the rocket team . apogee books space series 36 . new york thomas y. crowell . p. 74 . isbn 1 894959 00 0 . http www.europeanairlines.no the zeppelin companies in germany http www.zeppelinflug.de seiten e untern gesch dzr.htm external links edit operation bellicose map from newsweek 1943 the zeppelin museum in friedrichshafen zeppelin luftschifftechnik gmbh the original company now developing the zeppelin nt us centennial of flight commission the zeppelin v t e zeppelin aircraft lighter than air lz1 lz2 lz3 lz4 lz5 lz6 lz7 lz8 lz9 lz10 lz11 lz12 lz13 lz14 lz15 lz16 lz17 lz18 lz19 lz20 lz21 lz22 lz23 lz24 lz25 lz26 lz27 lz28 lz29 lz30 lz31 lz32 lz33 lz34 lz35 lz36 lz37 lz38 lz39 lz40 lz41 lz42 lz43 lz44 lz45 lz46 lz47 lz48 lz49 lz50 lz51 lz52 lz53 lz54 lz55 lz56 lz57 lz58 lz59 lz60 lz61 lz62 lz63 lz64 lz65 lz66 lz67 lz68 lz69 lz70 not built lz71 lz72 lz73 lz74 lz75 lz76 lz77 lz78 lz79 lz80 lz81 lz82 lz83 lz84 lz85 lz86 lz87 lz88 lz89 lz90 lz91 lz92 lz93 lz94 lz95 lz96 lz97 lz98 lz99 lz100 lz101 lz102 lz103 lz104 lz105 lz106 lz107 lz108 lz109 lz110 lz111 lz112 lz113 lz114 lz115 lz119 not built lz120 lz121 lz122 lz125 not built lz126 lz 127 graf zeppelin lz128 not built lz 129 hindenburg lz130 lz131 lz132 not built heavier than air zeppelin staaken 8301 vgo.i vgo.ii vgo.iii r.iv r.v r.vi r.vii r.xiv r.xv r.xvi e. 4 20 zeppelin lindau cl.i cl.ii cs.i d.i rs.i rs.ii rs.iii rs.iv v1 zeppelin flugzeugebau c.i c.ii c.iv other l 1 rammer fliegende panzerfaust zso 523 list of zeppelins coordinates 47 40 27 n 9 30 26 e 47.67417 n 9.50722 e 47.67417 ; 9.50722 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title luftschiffbau zeppelin & oldid 724757544 categories aircraft manufacturers of germanycompanies based in friedrichshafenzeppelinshidden categories all articles with specifically marked weasel worded phrasesarticles with specifically marked weasel worded phrases from august 2011all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2013coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages danskdeutschfran aishrvatskiitaliano latinaportugu ssvenska edit links this page was last modified on 11 june 2016 at 08 20 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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