Deutschland was an experimental, hydrogen-filled,[1] non-rigid[1] airship built in Germany in the late 19th Century by Dr Friedrich Wölfert.[2] During a test flight in Berlin in 1897, Deutschland caught fire and crashed.[3] Wölfert and his mechanic, Robert Knabe, were killed,[3] thus becoming the first two airship fatalities. It was the second of Wölfert's airships to be named Deutschland.
Deutschland had an elliptical envelope that contained the hydrogen lift gas within itself, without the use of a ballonet.[1] Ropes passing over the top of the envelope suspended an open-framed gondola beneath. An engine drove two aluminium propellers, one at the front of the gondola for thrust,[1] and one underneath it for altitude control.[1] A large rudder was fitted to the rear of the gondola.
Power was originally supplied by a 2-kW (3-hp) Siemens electric motor.[1] When this proved inadequate,[1] Wölfert replaced it with a two-cylinder Daimler petrol engine of 6 kW (8 hp).[4] [1]
Wölfert displayed Deutschland at the 1896 Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin, where it attracted the personal attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II.[3] The Kaiser was sufficiently impressed as to arrange for Wölfert to continue his work at the Prussian Balloon Corps in Tempelhof, Berlin.[3]
Throughout 1896 and 1897, Wölfert tested the airship. He conducted the eighth flight[1] on 12 June 1897[3] at Templehof,[3] with himself and his mechanic Robert Knabe aboard. Deutschland quickly climbed hundreds of metres, then eyewitnesses on the ground saw the airship suddenly engulfed by flame.[3] The wreckage crashed nearby, and Wölfert's and Knabe's charred bodies were found among it.[3]
The fire is attributed to the open flame of the engine's Hot-tube ignition system igniting the envelope and fuel tank.[3]