Zeppelinheim

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.

14 DIE IN SHENANDOAH CRASH With this headline, on the morning of September 3rd, 1925, the Baltimore American announced the crash of the first American rigid airship. The ZR-1 Shenandoah (originally designated "Fleet Airship No. 1" represented the start of America's unfortunate association with rigid airships.  Assembled at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station the then FA-1 was copied from a wartime German Zeppelin.  The Shenandoah garnered several firsts during her short career including the first transcontinental airship flight, the first airship to launch aircraft, the first airship to moor to a ship (the U.S.S. Patoka, more about that ship later) and, of course, the first American built airship. The ZR-1 takes shape in the same hangar that would later shelter the Hindenburg. Parts for the airship were fabricated in Philadelphia then shipped to Lakehurst for final assembly.  The Shenandoah is christened after two years of construction The...

Just woke up this morning to the unpleasant surprise that my model of the engine gondolas for the Hindenburg appear to have vanished from my computer... I look forward to being able to post photos as soon as I rebuild the model.

EDIT: I'm posting this a day late due to a couple issues with it. I'm considering an "AirshipModeler Report" to summarize the goings on of AirshipModeler over the past week or month as the amount of activity dictates. The A.M. Report ~ Monday, January 21st. Today I am presenting a special version of the first ever A.M. Report.   January 4th, 2013 On January 4th the first thread since AirshipModeler was attacked by malware was posted by "Dirigible_Nut".  This thread can be found here:http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums/showthread.php?1307-It-s-good-to-have-the-forum-back!! January 7th, 2013 "Hlostoops" (me) posted a thread about the upcoming test flight of "Aeroscraft". An ensuing discussion also provided insight into the technical definition of a rigid airship. http://www.airshipmodeler.com/forums/showthread.php?1309-Aeroscraft-takes-off! January 15th, 2013 Dirigible_Nut" continued work on his model of the R-34: htt...

 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) 

A quick "hold over" piece before I post an update of my Hindenburg model (naturally two days late!) Before... And after... Courtesy of Microsoft Paint (yes I said Paint). In the mean time what could this be? Guesses anyone?

I'll be starting posting for 2013 on the 12th. As I've already alluded to; the Hindenburg will be the featured airship for January.

Before and during the successful Canada trip the R-100's sister ship, the R-101, was undergoing modifications at the insistence of the Scheme's designer Lord Thomson. The technical reason for this overhaul was because, without another gas bay, the planned counterpart to the R-100's flight across the Atlantic, a flight to Karachi, then part of India, could not take place. However, there were darker reasons behind the extension. The R-101 was pushed to service to fulfill the political ambition of Thomson who - as an international politician and a good friend of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain - saw himself as the ideal candidate to be the next Viceroy of India. The flight of the R-101 would have been a spectacular publicity coup not only by bringing technology to what was thought to be a backwards nation, but by also giving Lord Thomson plenty of camera time in the newsreel speeches he was expected to give. The ship departed the mast at Cardington with extra me...

I've been recently notified by Jim the Junkster (of the blog Jims Junk) that Airshipmodeler is-albeit slightly below full operation-online. As many of you know; the [fantastic] forum was attacked by malware sometime back in October of 2012 and has been down up to now. Airshipmodeler can be found at www.Airshipmodeler.com and joining is free (you do have to provide a reason for joining though.)

Great blog with both a review of modeling the Shenandoah, as well as a continuing project on the British H.M.A. R-34. jayveejayaresjunk.blogspot.com Cheers, HENDRICK STOOPS