LZ 120 Bodensee

LZ 120 Bodensee was a passenger-carrying rigid airship built by Zeppelin Luftschiffbau in 1919 to run a service between Berlin and Friedrichshafen. Designed by Paul Jaray, it had a hull of relatively low fineness ratio, chosen after wind-tunnel tests at the University of Gottingen showed it would reduce drag, and its control car was built into the hull structure together with the passenger accommodation. Four 190 kW Maybach engines drove it. It first flew on 20 August 1919, carried passengers from 24 August, and made over 100 flights with 2,322 passengers over 50,000 kilometres, including a 17-hour voyage between Berlin and Stockholm. In July 1921 it was handed to Italy as war reparations, renamed Esperia, and broken up for scrap in July 1928. Its sister ship LZ 121 Nordstern went to France.