Airships
Eight Gun Fighter
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Airships
Anyone on here old enough to have flown on these in scheduled passenger service? I only go back as far as the Stratocruiser which on reflection was rather luxurious compared to today's cram them in and shut them up.
I still would go for an airship today with a two day crossing of the Atlantic being pampered all the way.
I still would go for an airship today with a two day crossing of the Atlantic being pampered all the way.
Cunning Artificer
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When I was with Big Airways at LHR we had a chap in American Aircraft Overhaul who, at the age of 63, was sent on a Concorde course and transferred to Concorde maintenance. We asked him what was the first aircraft he ever worked on - expecting something like Elizabethans or Lancastrians.
His first acquaintance with a flying machine was "The Hindenburg"!
As a Boy Scout he had been on the mooring ropes when the ill-fated airship visited Croydon. That's quite a span of transatlantic experience - Hindenburg to Concorde.
His first acquaintance with a flying machine was "The Hindenburg"!
As a Boy Scout he had been on the mooring ropes when the ill-fated airship visited Croydon. That's quite a span of transatlantic experience - Hindenburg to Concorde.
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My mother recalled seeing the R-101 go down Channel (presumably off Torquay) which would be just hours before it crashed in France. Family legend is that my father was borne in Woolwich during a Zeppelin raid (1917).
Last Summer, I was in Fort Lauderdale and one of the Goodyear blimps was churning up & down the coast doing advertising runs. It was pretty impressive but only a toy compared to the big dirigibles.
Last Summer, I was in Fort Lauderdale and one of the Goodyear blimps was churning up & down the coast doing advertising runs. It was pretty impressive but only a toy compared to the big dirigibles.
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Airships
Never got near one myself, but my mother saw the R101, R100 & Hindenburg when living near Chester, and father saw the Hindenburg - from a distance - and R101 while living near Pulborough, West Sussex.
I quite fancied the 'Skyhook' flying saucer type job mooted as an industrial lifter in the '80s - not to be confused with the Harrier Skyhook project.
Much more to the point, have you read 'Slide rule', the autobiography of Nevil Shute ?
Fascinating, and essential reading for anyone interested in airship history, as Nevil shute Norway was on the design team of the R100 working against / alongside the R101.
He of course later formed Airspeed.
If interested in the paranormal in any way ( open mind here ) there is a very readable book about the R101 crash and aftermath, " The airmen who would not die".
The author, whose name I forget, was so amazed by what he found that he went on to investigate the Tristar crash in the Everglades, " The ghost of flight 401".
By pure coincidence last week I met an ex- stewardess who was involved in all that - must say she seemed a perfectly straight, intelligent person ( no jokes about hosties at least this time please ! ) and was utterly convinced, also had been threatened at the time not to talk to the media.
Anyway I strongly recommend 'Slide Rule'.
DZ
I quite fancied the 'Skyhook' flying saucer type job mooted as an industrial lifter in the '80s - not to be confused with the Harrier Skyhook project.
Much more to the point, have you read 'Slide rule', the autobiography of Nevil Shute ?
Fascinating, and essential reading for anyone interested in airship history, as Nevil shute Norway was on the design team of the R100 working against / alongside the R101.
He of course later formed Airspeed.
If interested in the paranormal in any way ( open mind here ) there is a very readable book about the R101 crash and aftermath, " The airmen who would not die".
The author, whose name I forget, was so amazed by what he found that he went on to investigate the Tristar crash in the Everglades, " The ghost of flight 401".
By pure coincidence last week I met an ex- stewardess who was involved in all that - must say she seemed a perfectly straight, intelligent person ( no jokes about hosties at least this time please ! ) and was utterly convinced, also had been threatened at the time not to talk to the media.
Anyway I strongly recommend 'Slide Rule'.
DZ
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Unashamed threadcreep, but...
There's a lot of discussion of how almost no-0ne involved in the First World War is still alive, although when I was a kid any old boy you met on the street had been on the Somme, etc. The man who ran our local model shop (naturally enough someone I met quite frequently) had flown in the RFC. And in only a decade or so that entire time will no longer be in living memory.
But this 'airship' question raises a further point. There can't be a huge number of people still alive who flew before the SECOND War. It seems that perhaps there is no-one still alive who could tell us what it was like to fly, or fly in, one of the great rigid airships.
The Imperial War Museum does a great job of recording 'aural history' from veterans, but who is doing this for 'old pilots'?
There's a lot of discussion of how almost no-0ne involved in the First World War is still alive, although when I was a kid any old boy you met on the street had been on the Somme, etc. The man who ran our local model shop (naturally enough someone I met quite frequently) had flown in the RFC. And in only a decade or so that entire time will no longer be in living memory.
But this 'airship' question raises a further point. There can't be a huge number of people still alive who flew before the SECOND War. It seems that perhaps there is no-one still alive who could tell us what it was like to fly, or fly in, one of the great rigid airships.
The Imperial War Museum does a great job of recording 'aural history' from veterans, but who is doing this for 'old pilots'?
Very good Foxxter. Thank you. I know that Dowding was affected badly by the whole R-101 affair.
Double Zero
John Fuller is the author you were looking for . I have also read both of these . In addition I do recommend "The Millionth Chance" on the R101 by James Leasor. He also adds a chapter on the Lady Medium's account .
John Fuller is the author you were looking for . I have also read both of these . In addition I do recommend "The Millionth Chance" on the R101 by James Leasor. He also adds a chapter on the Lady Medium's account .
Even these days there are scheduled Zeppelin flights available.
https://zeppelin-nt.de/en/homepage.html
https://zeppelin-nt.de/en/homepage.html
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/h...gbr/index.html
If you believe the hype, you can cruise on this in four years time.
If you believe the hype, you can cruise on this in four years time.
The air lander? I thought it crash landed?
The prototype got damaged in moderate winds when it broke from its mooring. Apparently they are pressing ahead with a slightly bigger production model.
Avoid imitations
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They'll need a bigger hedge fund.....
Paxing All Over The World
A distant cousin of mine was killed on the R.101 some years before I was born!
Any reports of this kind of craft that I have seen over the past decades, leads me to see this as niche markets only.
Any reports of this kind of craft that I have seen over the past decades, leads me to see this as niche markets only.
I ca remember my father telling me that one of his relations had a house hit by a Zeppelin when them bombed Great Yarmouth early in WW1.
Apparently it did several thousand pounds worth of improvements.....
Apparently it did several thousand pounds worth of improvements.....
My Dad saw the R101 go over - he kept the newspaper cuttings of the accident.