The Zeppelin Airship Company, Friedrichshafen held a 66% stake in this company at the time. Here Klemperer was involved in the designs for the US Navy requisition for two large Zeppelins, the and . It can be seen from the production photographs that the same rigid frame technology was employed in the construction of these airships as in the German built Zeppelins, which represented the state of the art for these huge airships at the time. In 1928 the US Navy orders the airships with a contract value of US$8 Million from Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation. Since 1917 Goodyear Zeppelin was also a manufacturer of balloons and so Klemperer became involved with the US Army's Stratospheric Research Project, which, undertaken in 1934–1935, launched high altitudes balloons to research the atmosphere in the upper atmosphere. From 1936 onwards Klemperer worked for Douglas Aircraft Company, Santa Monica, California, to develop a pressure cabin for civil aircraft (first application in the DC6). Klemperer was initially loaned to Douglas from the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation for this project which lasted until 1939. During the years of World War 2 he was engaged in the development of optical and other instrumentation as the head of an instrumentation research group. His special talent for instrument design resulted in the development of a high-speed wide-angle cine-camera, analogue computers, equipment for data processing and flight simulators. In time his department at Douglas Aircraft Corp. grew into the guided missile division and he became one of the preeminent missile scientists in the US. Some of the projects he oversaw resulted in the Nike, Sparrow, Honest John and Thor missile programs. In 1958 he became director of the guided missile research section, staff assistant to the vice-president, and director of product development. His gift for theoretical analysis led him in later years into the realm of space navigation, where he and his colleagues made valuable contributions. His work on orbital navigation caused him to look at the properties of orbital bodies and ultimately to his insights into the Klemperer rosettes. Dr. W. B. Klemperer stayed at Douglas Aircraft Corporation until the end of his life in 1965. A pioneer of flight In 1912, while he was still at school, aged only 19, he started to develop and build his first motor plane, a tail-first aircraft powered by a radial engine. This aeroplane came into service in 1914 in the town of Altchemnitz and was,