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transport an early form of microfilm back into the city. Inserted into a goose quill, which was attached to a bird%u2019s tailfeathers, a tiny roll of the microfilm could contain over a thousand two-page letters. The balloonist and photographer Nadar was heavily involved with the scheme, and helped convert two Paris railroad stations to the mass production of balloons. Over a 4-month period, between September 20, 1870 and January 28, 1871, there were 66 successful flights that left Paris and overflew the Prussian lines. Only 5 were captured. It%u2019s been estimated that the daring balloonists, and their pigeons, carried 2.5 million pieces of mail.Besides balloons, many dirigibles also carried mail, including most Zeppelins, and there are collectors who specialize in covers flown on them. While scarce covers from some of the routes can be expensive, others are more available. For example, on the first transatlantic crossing of the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin which left Fredrichshafen, Germany on October 11, 1928, there were 55,714 pieces of mail aboard. Mailbags were dropped at various points along its route. (Unfortunately, the mail dropped at St. George, Bermuda fell into the ocean.)Dr. Hugo Eckener, the Zeppelin company%u2019s chairman, was in command on the trip, and when he reached the United States mainland, he flew over Cape Charles, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City before landing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. Eckener experienced a stormy flight across the Atlantic Ocean, and his airship sustained considerable damage. After all the repairs were completed at Lakehurst, the ship headed back to Germany on October 29 and arrived at Fredrichshafen on November 1. Overseas mail was accepted from all parts of the United States, with 96,887 pieces dispatched from New York and 4,796 from Lakehurst. At 776-feet long, the Graf Zeppelin was the longest rigid airship until it was surpassed by the ZRS-4 USS Akron in 1931. The LZ-127 was scrapped for WWII fighter-plane parts in 1940.
