Airships, Dirigibles, Zeppelins, Blimps, Hot Air Balloons, and other old time aircraft.

[Yvonne Smith]

It is too bad that we had the Hindenburg crash and burn (with all of the pictures of it happening) that scared people from using airships after that. Before the Hindenburg, we actually had a lot of air travel by airships, and not any other major crashes that i remember reading about, anyway.
Probably no worse than now happens with airplanes.

The Hindenburg was using the wrong kind of gas because there was a shortage if helium and they were using the very flammable hydrogen instead. The airship was landing when it caught fire and burned, and there were actually quite a few survivors; but after that the airships fell out of favor.
This picture is over New York, in 1931. You can see 3 airships in the picture, plus the one the photographer was in to take the picture, and this was pretty common in that time period.
At least one of the airships is US Navy.

 

[Don Alaska]

It is too bad that we had the Hindenburg crash and burn (with all of the pictures of it happening) that scared people from using airships after that. Before the Hindenburg, we actually had a lot of air travel by airships, and not any other major crashes that i remember reading about, anyway.
Probably no worse than now happens with airplanes.

The Hindenburg was using the wrong kind of gas because there was a shortage if helium and they were using the very flammable hydrogen instead. The airship was landing when it caught fire and burned, and there were actually quite a few survivors; but after that the airships fell out of favor.
This picture is over New York, in 1931. You can see 3 airships in the picture, plus the one the photographer was in to take the picture, and this was pretty common in that time period.
At least one of the airships is US Navy.


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I was stationed at two of the airship bases--Lakehurst where the Hindenburg died and Moffett Field where U.S. Navy blimps were based on the West Coast. The hangars there are spectacular.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I've seen a few "Goodyear" blimps circling over college games here. A long time before that, I can remember a time or two seeing blimps over the (old) local airport, one end of which was just down the road a couple of blocks from the elementary school I attended before we moved (when I was in the 4th grade).

Of course we all know about the Hindenburg, though whether the fire was accidental doesn't seem to be a 100% known fact. Probably true, but there are some dicey circumstances too.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Apparently, they made a movie about the Hindenburg, back in 1975. I have not seen the movie, but here is the trailer, and it looks like they were questioning what actually happened.
Since it happened shortly before WW2, and it certainly put a fast stop to airship travel (which had been going on for over 30 years), I think that there could have been some kind of sabotage to the airship.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

My money would be on Churchill and his cabal,

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Apparently, they made a movie about the Hindenburg, back in 1975.

Great movie. But it's one with a triple dose of Hollywood. It they had claimed it was based on history, I would call it speculation at best. I'm not sure if they did. Something I find amusing is the film makers chose Christmas, 1975 for the US release. "Merry Christmas, America! Here's a Nazi sabotage disaster film to help you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ."

My money would be on Churchill and his cabal,

I would also. He knew what Hitler was capable of and wanted to "enlist" America's help, without it appearing that he asked for said help. That's what a politically savvy person in his position should do. I don't know if I would call his cabinet a cabal, but a politically savvy person like Churchill probably would be secretive...

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I don't know if I would call his cabinet a cabal

I was thinking of his fleet of domestic and foreign intelligence and covert operations "ministries." Most of those still operate today, some of them still unacknowledged or renamed to other more benign-sounding monikers and buried within the vast civil service and military organizations.

 

[Nancy Hart]

The house I grew up in was 1.7 miles as the crow flies from Goodyear Airdock in Akron. They made dirigibles there up through 1960. Once in a while they would fly right over our house very low. It was a big event as a kid. Very noisy. The older dirigibles were much larger than the ones seen at outdoor sports events now.

We passed by the Airdock almost every day, but you were never allowed to get close. I visited Akron with some friends after moving to Georgia. Took them past the Airdock and the gates were open. I was showing off, so drove in right up to the building. Got stopped and detained by security while they did a background check on us. Not my fault they forgot to close the gates.