Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and also the 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.
Hugo Eckener in 1924
Birth house
Eckener (marked with an x) test flying the LZ 126 in August before delivery to the United States in October 1924
Russian polar researcher Rudolf Lazarevich Samoylovich (left) prior to leading the Graf Zeppelin's scientific polar flight, with Eckener in Friedrichshafen, July 1931
Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH is a German aircraft manufacturing company. It is perhaps best known for its leading role in the design and manufacture of rigid airships, commonly referred to as Zeppelins due to the company's prominence. The name 'Luftschiffbau' is a German word meaning building of airships.
The LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin departing for DELAG, the world's first airline
Graf Zeppelin above St. Paul's Cathedral in London