November 27, 2012 / Events

Pittsburgh stops to gaze at the Graf Zeppelin

(Pittsburgh Press photo)

Oct. 27, 1933: The Graf Zeppelin passed over Pittsburgh shortly before 10:30 on a Friday morning. “Pedestrian traffic came to a standstill for several minutes while the morning crowd of shoppers and business-bound workers gazed upward,” reported the Pittsburgh Press.

This would be the ship’s last trip to the United States. Afterwards, the Graf was devoted to passenger and mail service between Germany and Brazil. She completed her last passenger flight on May 8, 1937. In March of 1940, Hermann Goering ordered the Graf and its sister ship, Graf Zeppelin II, to be scrapped for salvage. The ship’s aluminum frames were melted down for use in making military aircraft.

Topics related to this:1930s Downtown Pittsburgh oddities street scenes The Pittsburgh Press

Steve, a writer and photographer at the Post-Gazette, has lived and worked in Pittsburgh so long that some of his images appear on "The Digs."