Luftschiffbau Zeppelin

Luftschiffbau Zeppelin

Company type	Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (GmbH)
Industry	manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery vehicle construction
Founder	Ferdinand von Zeppelin
Key people	Peter Gerstmann Chairman
Number of employees	10,458 (2021)[1]

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 company was founded by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin in 1908 as a formal entity to continue advancing his pioneering research into rigid airships. Luftschiffbau Zeppelin became the leading manufacturer in the field of large lighter-than-air vehicles; its products were used in both military and civilian capacities. The firm founded DELAG, the world's first airline to use an aircraft in revenue service, in 1909 on the back of public interest and using its own airships. During the First World War, Zeppelins were employed as the first long distance strategic bombers, launching numerous raids upon Belgium, France, and the United Kingdom. Following Count von Zeppelin's death in 1917, control of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin fell to Dr. Hugo Eckener, an enthusiastic proponent of the civil value of airships. However, Germany's zeppelins were claimed by the Allies as war reparations.

The company continued to innovate during the interwar period, constructing the largest rigid airship in history, the LZ 129 Hindenburg, lead ship of the Hindenburg class. However, the company's fortunes soured during the Nazi era, particularly following the high-profile Hindenburg disaster. Its airships were grounded and scrapped in 1940 to produce fixed-wing combat aircraft for Nazi Germany's war machine. During the Second World War, the company became involved in the manufacture of the V2 rocket; its facilities were hit by Allied bombing raids and it all but ceased to exist in the final months of the conflict. During the 1980s, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH was revived from its residual assets. It has since become a major shareholder in the company ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, which developed and produces the Zeppelin NT, a next generation airship.