McGinnis Madness No.10, Graf Visits New Haven

Graf Zeppelin was withdrawn from service in 1940 after Hindenburg II was launched.  Graf was museumized and served as a technical museum for airship technology, later being joined by Hindenburg LZ-129 in 1950 and Hindenburg II, LZ-131 in 1959.  The airships had been largely displaced by airplane traffic.  The failed plan to build the autobahn never materialised.  

In 1982, the Graf Zeppelin LZ-127 and the Hindenburg LZ-129 were restored by a large group of enthusiasts working in close cooperation with the Luftschiff Zeppelin Gmbh company, both ships retrofitted to fly with Helium gas with a reduced payload of passengers.  Graf Zeppelin began making world voyages again in 1993.  In 2009, both rigids flew with the new NT ships in a grand lighter-than-air aviation Gala in Friedrichshaffen, along with two of Dumont's preserved semirigid airships.   In 2014, Graf Zeppelin visited New Haven, Connecticut and stayed there for an extended period of time in a temporary hangar.