The first airship by Schütte-Lanz, the SL 1, made her maiden flight on October 17th, 1911. The 133 m long airship reached 72 kilometres per hour, and engine output was 500 hp. The SL 1 had been constructed by Prof. Johann Schütte, a shipbuilding engineer (photo). With Dr. Carl Lanz and August Röchling he had founded the Schütte-Lanz Airship Building Company at Mannheim in April 1909. At their own yard, the drip-shaped airship was to be built with a reinforced frame of plywood, with a keel on the inside, with a gangway and with the gondola suspended flexibly from the gangway.

In contrast to the Zeppelins with light metal frames, the SL 1 designed by Prof. Schütte was built of multiple-bonded plywood moulded to panels and angles.

Prof. Schütte created the prototype of a technically perfected airship with the next model, the SL 2. The principle of design of the Mannheim airships was later applied in the entire airship building industry. The Zeppelins were subsequently built according to this principle, too.

Between 1911 and 1918 a total of 22 SL airships were built.