The Secret of Neuschwabenland – The Rise and Vanishing of the Manfred von Richthofen

Background

When Germany launched its third Antarctic expedition in late 1938 aboard the research vessel Schwabenland, no one suspected that this remote region, soon christened Neuschwabenland, would become the focus of some of the most persistent and bizarre myths of the 20th century.

In the decades after World War II, rumours flourished: tales of underground bases, vanished U-boats, Nazi escape colonies, and even spacecraft bound for the far side of the Moon. Almost all of it was fantasy.

Almost.

What few knew, kept hidden under layers of deliberate wartime misinformation, was that something genuinely extraordinary had been discovered. And the German High Command encouraged the more exotic conspiracy theories as a smokescreen to hide the real secret.

During surveying of a cave in the coastal mountains of Neuschwabenland, expedition scientists stumbled upon a geological anomaly: a gas seeping from deep fissures in the rock. This gas, later named “Odins Atem” (Odin’s Breath), possessed a shocking property. It generated lift - not just more than hydrogen, but over thirty times more. And unlike hydrogen, it was completely non-flammable.

The discovery caused a quiet earthquake within the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). Airships had been politically dead since the Hindenburg disaster of 1937, but Odins Atem changed everything. An airship filled with this gas would need only a fraction of the volume previously required and would be vastly safer.

A plan formed: retrieve the gas, transport it to Germany, and test it in the still-intact Graf Zeppelin II.
By late summer 1939, the tests were conclusive: the airship flew at a fraction of its former gas capacity. A new kind of strategic weapon was suddenly imaginable.

The Airship: Project “Manfred von Richthofen”

From the revived airship program emerged the most ambitious Luftschiff ever conceived—part aircraft carrier, part reconnaissance platform, part long-range raider.

Design & Capabilities

• Role: A flying aircraft carrier capable of launching surprise attacks across oceans.

• Hangar Capacity: ~20 aircraft (typically a mix of Me 109 fighters and Ju 87 dive bombers).

• Launch System: Two narrow flight decks mounted along each side of the hull, enabling simultaneous launch and recovery operations.

• Engines: Eight newly developed jet engines, giving a top speed of 400 km/h.

• Operational Speed: 200–250 km/h during flight operations (personnel prohibited from exterior walkways during these times).

• Command Tower: A naval-style aluminium superstructure fixed atop the hull.

• Officer’s Sun Deck: Located ahead of the command tower; infamous internal reports mention “lively gatherings” involving Luftwaffe auxiliaries.

• Armament:

  • 6 × 8.8 cm AA guns

  • 32 × 3.7 cm AA guns

  • 4 × 15 cm ground-attack cannons

• Sensors: Equipped with the Reich’s newest radar (Funkmeß) systems, continuously upgraded.

After internal rivalry between Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine leadership—Göring furiously invoking “Alles was fliegt gehört uns”—the Kriegsmarine ultimately won control. Their successful argument: its operation resembled that of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin.

The airship was officially commissioned in Autumn 1941 as the Luftschiffträger Manfred von Richthofen.

---

A Warship in the Sky — Operational Chronicle

Operation Westblitz (December 1941)

The Manfred von Richthofen’s first mission became a legend in both Germany and the United States.

On 11 December 1941, only minutes after Germany’s declaration of war, the immense airship rose out of the pre-dawn mist off the US East Coast. Within minutes, its fighters swept into Manhattan airspace. A precision strike smashed into the Empire State Building—more symbol than strategy, meant to shock the American public.

It worked.
US air patrols scrambled far too late. The Richthofen vanished back into the Atlantic fog and returned to Europe without a trace.

Strike on the Panama Canal (April 1942)

In a rare joint mission with Japan, the airship carried out an audacious attack on the Panama Canal. Japanese submarine-launched floatplanes caused chaos on one side of the locks while the Richthofen approached from the Pacific. Despite fierce American resistance, the airship survived, but its bombs only caused superficial damage. The canal reopened in two weeks.

Atlantic Shadow (1942–1943)

For most of the next two years, the Richthofen sailed the winds above the North Atlantic. It acted as a ghostly guardian of U-boat wolfpacks, spotting convoys from high altitude, launching sudden bomber strikes, and then drifting away before carrier-borne aircraft could find it.

But by late 1943, the Allies had more escort carriers, more radar, and more long-range fighters. The airship survived several attacks but suffered increasing damage, requiring long repairs.

The Arctic Missions (1944)

Seeking safer routes, the airship was reassigned to the far north. It stalked the Murmansk convoys, but the violent weather of the Barents Sea proved more dangerous than Allied ships.
Later that year, in its most extraordinary service, the Richthofen began flying secret missions over the North Pole, transporting rare raw materials from Japan and returning with blueprints, technology, and specialists.

Nine such flights were recorded between June and October 1944.

Each one pushed the vessel closer to its limits.

The Vanishing

By April 1945, the Manfred von Richthofen was stationed deep within the forests of Thuringia, hidden in a cavernous hangar near the Jonastal, close to the mysterious “S3” complex.

On 17 April 1945, ground crews worked through the night to load the Zeppelin with an unknown cargo. Witnesses later spoke of sealed containers, unusual metallic crates, and officers with special clearance guarding the loading ramps.

Shortly after midnight, under a moonless sky, the huge airship rose silently from the valley and headed south.

It was never seen again.

Some say it tried to reach Japan.
Others claim it fled to Antarctica, returning to the place of its birth.
Still others insist it crashed in the Alps.

No wreckage was ever found.
No radio message was ever intercepted.

The Manfred von Richthofen simply… disappeared.

The model shows the "Manfred von Richthofen" prior the air strikes at the Panama Canal in April 1942.