"Led" Zeppelins

Since we seem to be moving into the realm of fantasy and such, a less fantastic what-if might be that Hitler decides to continue to build and use Zeppelins. There were still at least 2 in existance in 1939 (Graf Zeppelin and a sister ship of the Hindenburg). What-if instead of dismantling these Hitler had left them in service and built more.
As a collary, what-if the Germans also had Helium available as a gas for these vessels? What useful missions could these ships carry out and would they have been worthwhile additions to the Luftwaffe?

 

Pump ´em full of poison gas and send over London instead of V1´s...

 

Historically blimps wew used by the USNavy in convoy escort duty, where they excelled due to extended loiter times.

I have no objection to seeing Zeppelins carrying cargo to long distances, say, but their vulnerability would be taken into account, as once detected their slowness would facilitate interception making them easy meat. Therefore their vulnerability would allow them to be used only over protected land space, instead of using them to supply say a beleaguered garrison in an isolated island.

 

As far as I know zeppelins were easy targets. However wiki says "In fleeing enemy fire, Zeppelins rose to altitudes up to 7600 m, and they also proved capable of long-range flights. For example, LZ104 "L 59", based in Yambol, Bulgaria, was sent to reinforce troops in German East Africa (today Tanzania) in November 1917. The ship did not arrive in time and had to return following reports of German defeat by British troops, but it had travelled 6757 km in 95 hours and thus had broken a long-distance flight record."

They could have been useful to overcome logistics problems. Maybe.

 

I think they would've been sitting ducks, especially when taking into consideration the allied air superiority over Europe after 1942. I just can't see how they would've contributed to the German war effort in any considerable way.

 

Same as U-Boats, that area in the middle of all oceans. Where they (Zeps), can reach and linger indefinately. The ancient model of the "Satellite". Observation.
They actually made a com-back as convoy escorts in WW 2.

 

give the Zeps to the Italian Air Force, they'd probably need it in someway.

 

That might be useful for transportation between North Africa and the mainland. However a safe corridor is needed on the Mediterranean. Would that lead to an Italian victory? Just kidding.

 

i would love to see zepplins put back in action today, i know they have blimps, but i miss the old rigid frame zepplins that could hold many people and you were able to walk areound in the structure.....just because people were smoking....ruined the whole thing, by one explosion, dont you think they could build on that, by adding more safety features?

 

I think the Germans could have made use of Zeppelins in several roles.

First, they could have used them to support the U-boat and raider campaign in the Atlantic. Imagine a Zeppelin supporting the Graf Spee or other surface raiders by extending their search range.

They might also have been employed as both early warning airborne radar platforms or as radio relay platforms for the Wehrmacht, particularly in Russia and North Africa.

They could also have been employed as a long range communications and cargo carrier between Japan and Germany by flying a polar route where the chance of interception was nil. They couldn't have carried too much weight-wise but could have allowed plans and technical data to be transfered easily.

They definitely had their uses and could have proved quite valuable retained in service.

 

I read that when the Germans dismantled the Zeppelins they also dismantled the Zeppelin sheds because they made such easy targets. A Zeppelin is a high maintenance machine and landing and taking off in them, with any kind of wind in the area is very dangerous. The US Navy lost several airships due to storms so they were dangerous even when you used Helium.

Currently the Russians are building two large airships for cargo operations that are supposed to be much larger than the Zeppelin's.

 

This is not the airship I had in mind but it does list some jobs the owners had in mind for it to do.

The big airships I read about may have run out of money.

http://rosaerosystems.pbo.ru/english/products/pd_300.html