“Ulm a. D. – Einst und Jetzt” (then and now): Berblinger’s flight attempt of 1811 and Zeppelins over the Minster, sent as field post in 1918

1st South America flight 1930: cover only “bis Santa Cruz de Tenerife” – with red flight cachet and on-board postmark

Polar flight 1931: card with Polar flight stamp and flight cachet, forwarded to the USA

What is Zeppelin mail?

Collectors use the term Zeppelin mail for covers and cards carried by an airship – above all by LZ 127 “Graf Zeppelin” (from 1928), LZ 129 “Hindenburg” (1936–1937) and LZ 130 “Graf Zeppelin II” (1938–1939). The mail received special postmarks on board or at the place of departure and was forwarded at the destination or en route.

In addition there are the early Zeppelin picture postcards from about 1908: they show the airships over towns and landscapes and were usually sent by ordinary mail. They belong to topical collecting rather than to airship mail in the narrower sense.

The best-known flights

• America flight 1928 – the first Atlantic crossing of LZ 127 to Lakehurst.
• World flight 1929 – around the world with stops in Tokyo and Los Angeles, among others.
• South America flights from 1930 – first as a special flight, from 1931 as a regular service to Brazil.
• Polar flight 1931 – flight to the Arctic with a mail exchange with the Soviet icebreaker “Malygin”.
• Chicago flight 1933 – flight to the World’s Fair in Chicago.
• LZ 129 “Hindenburg” 1936–1937 – flights to North and South America until the disaster at Lakehurst on 6 May 1937.

What collectors look for

Zeppelin mail from 1933

Many covers from 1933 onwards bear postmarks or labels with historical symbols of that period. In our shop these symbols are made unrecognisable in the images; in terms of postal history the covers remain just as interesting.