Hugo Eckener

Hugo Eckener was the manager of the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin during the inter-war years, and also the commander of the famous Graf Zeppelin for most of its record-setting flights, including the first airship flight around the world, making him the most successful airship commander in history. He was also responsible for the construction of the most successful type of airships of all time. An anti-Nazi who was invited to campaign as a moderate in the German presidential elections, he was blacklisted by that regime and eventually sidelined.

10 August 1868

Born on the same birth day (10 August): Albert II of Germany • Alexander Goehr • Angie Harmon • Anne, Duchess of Exeter • Bill Doolittle • Danny Griffin (footballer) • Florent Vollant • Francesco Zabarella • Gilles de Roberval • Greg Hawgood • Guy Mairesse • Henrik Fisker • Jack Haley • Jüri Vips • Kyle Brown (soccer) • Lawrence Dallaglio • Mark Price (musician) • Ritomo Miyata • Ryan Eggold • Samuel Arnold (composer) • Shaun Murphy • William Harnett

Born in the same month (August 1868): Bernarr Macfadden • Constantine I of Greece • Edgar Lee Masters • Ellen Roosevelt • Hong Beom-do • Huntley Wright • Ladislaus Bortkiewicz • Master C. V. V. • Oskar Merikanto • Paul Claudel • Willis R. Whitney