Airship Number SL20 (F1)

A direct competitor to the Zeppelin design, it carries the names of its designers, Professor Johanne Schütte and Dr. Karl Lanz.

Like the Zeppelin, it is a rigid airship with a skeletal framework, a weight-bearing keel, and enclosed hydrogen bags.  The engineering design of the skeleton is very similar to the Zeppelin, with two major differences.  (1) the Schütte-Lanz skeleton (until late in the war) was constructed of laminated wood; (2) the Schütte-Lanz was more “aerodynamically smooth,” which reduced overall skin friction drag, resulting in a slightly higher airspeed than the Zeppelin with the same number and size of engines. The engines for both firms were manufactured by Maybeck, not by the airship manufacturers.

The exterior shape differs from the Zeppelin's in that it is not cigar-shaped.  The maximum diameter increases from the nose to about one-third of the length, from right to left, then gradually decreases smoothly to the tail.  The tail structure, unlike that of the early Zeppelins, is cuneiform, consisting of horizontal and vertical stabilizers mounted at 90 degrees to each other. Zeppelin later adopted this design improvement.

Overall dimensions of the first Schütte-Lanz ship, SL-2, delivered to the German Army are: Length -  156.0 meters; Diameter – 18.2 meters; cubic meters of hydrogen – 27,000; Payload – 10.4 tonnes.