On 5 August 1909, all Cologne could talk about was their special visitor: the Count and his floating cigar. When the LZ 5-Z II Zeppelin - the largest at the time at 136 metres - appeared over the horizon, the city watched with bated breath. People were packed as tight as sardines on the bridges, streets, and rooftops of the city, all staring up at the sky where the airship circled over the cathedral and city hall to the sound of the imperial bell. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin himself was at the wheel. After its landing at the airship hangar Bickendorf was celebrated by well over 100,000 onlookers, a celebratory motorcade made its way into the city. The place where the Count was received in the officers' mess, and where the barracks at Neumarkt were located, is now Zeppelinstraße. The excitement seemed like it would last forever, and that same year the company Franz Clouth, Rheinische Gummiwarenfabrik Cöln-Nippes presented a flight-tested design at the International Air Travel Fair in Frankfurt. The dream of noiseless flight stokes the fires of the imagination, and this postcard from the Dombauarchiv's collection shows one spectacular vision: The cathedral towers, surrounded by a steel arrival and departure station for Zeppelins for the Berlin-Cologne-Basel route. The world suddenly felt so small. You can learn more about air travel in Cologne online at: www.luftfahrtarchiv-koeln.de
Rüdiger Müller