Today on this day in 1937 The Hindenburg was lost.

Interesting thread, thanks humbug. There's something wonderfully decadent about a luxurious airship, I quite fancy a nice cruise about the skies in one. Port out, starboard home and all that... ;) But helium gassed and no magnesium structure, carbon fibre would be today's material of choice I suppose. Which reminds me, I must look for a source of weather balloons, I want to hoist a wire antenna aloft.
 
Chris Wilson said:
Interesting thread, thanks humbug. There's something wonderfully decadent about a luxurious airship, I quite fancy a nice cruise about the skies in one. Port out, starboard home and all that... ;) But helium gassed and no magnesium structure, carbon fibre would be today's material of choice I suppose. Which reminds me, I must look for a source of weather balloons, I want to hoist a wire antenna aloft.
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Oh yeah, they could probably do much more now with modern materials.
 
Scania said:
It was a flying propaganda instrument for the Nazis.

In other slightly more momentous on this day news, May 7, 1915, today is 104 years since the Sinking of "Lusitania" resulted in the death of 1,198 passengers. 764 people survived.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

This sinking of a civilian passenger ship with many Americans on board started events that lead to America joining World War 1 (2 years later after Germany restarted unrestricted submarine warfare) and turning the course of the War against Germany and altering the course of history.
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Ironically, Hitler didn't think much of airships.

Militarily they were outdated by the 1930's, but the Zepplin company did have plans for a global civilian transport network based on Airships.

Hindenburg was deigned to use Helium but the US had the sole supply at that time and refused to sell any to the Germans.

In a way, the accident and the deaths were the Americans fault.

And another thing, as air crashes go. The Hindenburg was actually surprisingly survivable. 2/3 of the people on board at the time survived.
 
aardvark said:
oh the humanity!
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WdDMtgW.jpg
 
humbug said:
lol :D ^^




That's the thing about ridged Airship's, they are like flying cruse liners, at least the Hindenburg which was 3 times as long as the flying arse.

They waft through the air in the clouds perfectly still and almost silently, what a way to travel....
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This. For me a big part of the tragedy of the Hindenburg is that it killed a very promising industry. Sort of the Chernobyl of air travel. Airships have the potential to radically alter international air cargo - they are massively more efficient than jets, just slower. And now that you can get WiFi on air vehicles I quite like the idea of my next business trip to the States being on an airship where I can actually have a bed and a decent sized table to work at.

This is the dining section of the Hindenburg, as was:
hindenburg-dining017web.jpg


This is concept art of a modern airship interior:
zet-gondola.jpg


And this is a projection for an actual airship:
airlander-interior-9.jpg


Cruise ships in the air. Beautiful, environmentally friendly(/-ier). More comfortable. Sad that it's taken us so long to start exploring this path.
 
h4rm0ny said:
What a negative take on something so beautiful. I pity you for the way you see the world.
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My “negative take” is nothing more than historically accurate and factual, I’m surprised you pity me for seeing the world through reality.... :rolleyes:


The Hindenburg as Nazi Symbol

Nazi officials were very much aware of the symbolic value of the huge and impressive airship, and frequently called on Hindenburg for propaganda flights, often in company with the Graf Zeppelin.

Hindenburg made appearances at public events such as the 1936 Berlin Games and the Nuremberg Party rally, and Hindenburg’s first major flight, after test flights were completed, was a 74-hour propaganda flight in support of Hitler’s remilitarization of the Rhineland.

When boxer Max Schmeling defeated black American boxer Joe Louis, the Nazi government arranged for Schmeling to return to Germany on Hindenburg.

Schmeling’s victory in the boxing ring had made him a national hero, and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels wanted to maximize publicity for Schmeling’s homecoming; to associate the victorious boxer with this symbol of technological achievement, and demonstrate German supremacy in all fields from sport to aviation, the government had Schmeling cancel his reservation on an ocean liner and return to Germany aboard Hindenburg instead.
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https://www.airships.net/hindenburg/lz129-hindenburg-detailed-history/
 
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Scania said:
My “negative take” is nothing more than historically accurate and factual, I’m surprised you pity me for seeing the world through reality.... :rolleyes:
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Nevertheless, you give the impression of being the sort of person who would deride (Or even burn) a great piece of art or literature simply because the Author/Artist wasn't a very nice person! :/

And that is sad...
 
Orionaut said:
Nevertheless, you give the impression of being the sort of person who would deride (Or even burn) a great piece of art or literature simply because the Author/Artist wasn't a very nice person! :/

And that is sad...
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Your interpretation of my post is wrong, where have I derided the Hindenburg Airship as a craft?

I haven’t although I know a lot about it and that era of aviation and am a fan of the airship era.

What you can’t dispute is the Hindenburg was financed (not designed nor built though) by the Nazis and used to forward their warped ideologies.

It’s demise whilst tragic for those involved was a huge blow to Nazi propagandists and something widely celebrated in that light.
 
Scania said:
My “negative take” is nothing more than historically accurate and factual, I’m surprised you pity me for seeing the world through reality.... :rolleyes:
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A room full of beautiful things can still have a crap in the corner. And I can still pity the person who immediately is drawn to the crap no matter how much they defend that by exclaiming it's factual.

So yes, I feel sorry that your take away upon looking at the Hindenburg is to try and find ways to detract from that. Those of us who think it wonderful are not glorifying Nazism you know? Though I suspect you think on some level we are.
 
h4rm0ny said:
Cruise ships in the air. Beautiful, environmentally friendly(/-ier). More comfortable. Sad that it's taken us so long to start exploring this path.
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You see, I love airships and dirigibles but that's where I have a problem. If I'm on a cruise ship and it sinks I can swim or get to a lifeboat. One of these goes **** up (or is that down?) I can't flap my arms and fly to safety.
 
Malevolence said:
You see, I love airships and dirigibles but that's where I have a problem. If I'm on a cruise ship and it sinks I can swim or get to a lifeboat. One of these goes **** up (or is that down?) I can't flap my arms and fly to safety.
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Arguably they were no more dangerous than period heaver than air aircraft. In some instances you had a better chance than surviving a crash than dying, see USS Shenandoah, USS Macon and the Hindenburg. They tended to hit the ground relatively slowly and their light structure absorbs some of the impact mean that people were able to jump free and run with minor injury.
 
Malevolence said:
You see, I love airships and dirigibles but that's where I have a problem. If I'm on a cruise ship and it sinks I can swim or get to a lifeboat. One of these goes **** up (or is that down?) I can't flap my arms and fly to safety.
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Well you can probably cross "swim" off you list of options. Unless you are an exceptionally strong swimmer you'll likely drown in the middle of a sea or ocean if the temperature doesn't put you into near instant shock. A lifeboat is an option I'll grant you. But I don't think the risk of an airship crashing is that high. I imagine the interior is compartmentalised to prevent any single catastrophic leak bringing it down. And whilst the lift isn't fully generated by the balloon in all designs, I think it would still come down better than you might think.

And if not, who hasn't wanted to do a parachute jump at some point? At least with an airship it should sink slower and with more warning to allow such an option.
 
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