Released by William H. Ganz Company of New York, this silent newsreel is from Volume 1, Issue 21 of a series. The film begins with the voyage of the Graf Zeppelin flight around the world, which is referred to as the Hearst Zeppelin flight because it was financed by William Randolph Hearst. The American newspaper publisher paid half the cost of the project to fly Graf Zeppelin around the world, with four staff on the flight; Drummond-Hay, Karl von Wiegand, the Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins, and the cameraman Robert Hartmann. Drummond-Hay became the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air. Flying time for the four Lakehurst to Lakehurst legs was 12 days, 12 hours, and 13 minutes; the entire circumnavigation (including stops) took 21 days, 5 hours, and 31 minutes to cover 33,234 km (20,651 mi; 17,945 nmi). It was the fastest circumnavigation of the globe at the time.
Hearst stipulated that the flight in August 1929 officially start and finish at Lakehurst. Round-the-world tickets were sold for almost $3000 (equivalent to $45,000 in 2019), but most participants had their costs paid for them. The flight’s expenses were offset by the carriage of souvenir mail between Lakehurst, Friedrichshafen, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. A US franked letter flown on the whole trip from Lakehurst to Lakehurst required $3.55 (equivalent to $53 in 2019) in postage.
Highlights of the film include departure from Lakehurst (:50), crossing the Atlantic (1:30), view over Freidrichshafen (2:58), view from Berlin (3:18), traveling over Siberia (4:00), Lady Grace Drummond Hay (5:00), Tokyo (5:45), across the Pacific to California (8:10), Los Angeles (8:52), captain of the craft Dr. Hugo Eckener is seen (9:44), Graf Zeppelin over Manhattan (11:30), return to Lakehurst (13:01).
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
