Russia's Romance with the Airship

For most of the 1920s and 1930s, the airship, or dirigible, seemed the transport of the future. The ships operated smoothly and quietly, covered huge distances with few stops and had not a single fatality in passenger service until the disastrous explosion of the Hindenburg in 1937 brought their era to an end.

After the Graf Zeppelin entered service in 1928, airships generated enormous enthusiasm. Everywhere the Zeppelin went, crowds flocked to see it and governments welcomed it. Not least enthusiastic was the Soviet Union, then under the firm guidance of Stalin, who was determined to make his country first in everything and to show what Communism could accomplish.

The Russians threw themselves into the airship craze, embarking on a vast programme of construction which reflected Soviet ambition as well as the propaganda of the Stalin era. Despite extravagant claims, few ships were ever built and the image of contemporary propaganda is highly misleading. It trumpeted real or projected Soviet achievements behind a shroud of secrecy which made it virtually impossible for outsiders to know what was really happening.