Zeppelinheim

Long time no see! Got back from my vacation to find that my FOIA request for the Hindenburg File had been approved. In all, 408 pages were released. I'm not sure how different it is from the redacted report available from the FBI Vault, but I'll be transcribing the entire report as best I can. I need to check Bureau guidelines to be sure, but I think I can provide a copy of the  transcript here when it is finished. In addition, you can contact me at 'Hlostoops@Gmail.com for further information.

HMA R-100 was one half of the Imperial Airship Scheme. The brainchild of Christopher Thomson, the British Minister of Air, the Scheme, was a farsighted plan to connect the far flung colonies of the “empire on which the sun never set”, with regular, reliable, and expedient airship service. The first ship, R-100, the lesser known cousin of the infamous R-101, was chosen to fly a transatlantic route to Canada.                 The ship was the engineering brainchild of Barnes Wallis (later famous for WWII’s ‘bouncing bomb’ and his various designs for a supersonic airliner) and Nevil S. Norway (later acclaimed as the successful author Nevil Shute). The design and construction of R-100 represented a leap in airship design, going so far as to influence both the structure and passenger accommodations of Germany’s A.S. Hindenburg. R-100's superstructure was revolutionary. (Image courtesy 'Airship Heritage Trust')          ...

To facilitate a complete story of any airship that I feature I will no longer be using the label "Airship of the Month". Instead, I'll have a "Featured Airship" which allows me to take as long as I need on a particular airship E.G. with so much information on the Hindenburg It'd take more than one month to complete a full collection on it.) This will go into effect on April 1st with the Shenandoah as was originally planned for March. In the meantime, to make this post presentable, here are two of my all-time favorite airship photographs. The Hindenburg floats towards disaster at Lakehurst. Two hours later the ship would become one of the most famous air disasters of the 20th Century. The R-101 lit up inside her Cardington hangar.

 Major update regarding the envelope and the tail fins.   "In 2 days; North America!" ~ Promotional catchphrase for the A.S. Hindenburg

Watching   "The Hindenburg" . Lehmann just told George C. Scott's character of his plans to live in Zeppelinheim; needless to say it was an "up ship" moment.

"... The new Queen of the Skies, the Hindenburg!" - Robert Wise's "The Hindenburg". More like the first 1/8th of the Hindenburg The preliminary Hindenburg is beginning to take shape! Please tell me what you think below! This sentence is to insert an extra exclamation point! (couldn't pass up the opportunity)