Hans Flemming

Vocation

German airship pilot, one of the captains of the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin, a German-built and -operated, passenger-carrying, hydrogen-filled, rigid airship which operated commercially from 1928 to 1937. In March 1917 he received the certificate as Luftschiffkommandant and was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in July. In World War I he was a naval pilot airship commander. In September 1919, he was appointed the commander of the airship "Lake Constance" in Friedrichshafen. He delivered this airship on 3 July 1921 as a reparation airship to Italy. In October 1924, he delivered the "ZR III" as a reparation to America. On 44 December 1919, he married Lisa Meister from Międzyzdroje. On 21 August 1920, their son Jürgen Flemming was born. Through him he was the grandfather of microbiologist Hans-Curt Flemming, although he died before he was born. In October 1928, he joined the long journey to America on the Grafen Zeppelin, under the command of his friend Hugo Eckener, covering 9926 km in 112 hours. In August-December 1929 he made a flight around the world, in May-June 1930 the first South America cruise, and in July 1931 the Arctic trip. With the LZ Graf Zeppelin he performed 55 trips. He died in the Weingarten hospital on 15 February 1935 at the age of 48. Link to Wikipedia biography (German)