I'm not sure what it is about them, but when they weren't exploding violently Zeppelins were seriously bad-ass. I wish there were a way to see what the world would be like if they had evolved to become a mature, more luxurious (if slower) alternative to jets, docking at the empire state building and all that. I don't care what you thought about that Skycaptain movie, that opening scene was amazing. I would honestly pay more for a slower-but-way-more-awesome luxury zeppelin ride across the atlantic if I could. Our friend Dante is an even bigger Zeppelin fan and today he showed us his private Zeppelin museum which was incredible. It's full of scale models and blueprints and all kinds of zeppelin artifacts, and he even has some pieces from the Hindenburg.
One thing I learned today was that some of the bigger zeppelins were like flying aircraft carriers. Well I guess they literally were in that they flew and carried aircraft. They had an internal hangar that contained biplanes (sometimes even without landing gear) which could be launched and return to the ship. How cool is that?
Zeppelins are sorely missed but I seen more than one Nova/PBS/Discovery show that claims they are going to make a comeback. Oh and don't forget Indiana Jones' Zeppelin trip with his father over Germany in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
I believe they've discovered that it was the substance used to seal the skin of the Hindenburg, similar in nature to solid rocket fuel, that actually ignited and caused it to explode so dramatically. The hydrogen certainly added to the effect but wasn't the cause. I'm still not sure I'd feel safe with hydrogen though. Helium is an alternative, it is expensive but entirely inert and there has to be some kind of economy in being able to stay aloft without any power. We can send a man to the moon and all....
Posted by: ctmurphy | October 30, 2008 at 09:58 PM