<smug>

http://www.flickr.com/photos/56718564@N00/239351530/

And a jolly good ride it was to. When I've sorted the rest I'll post
them up.

 

Cool. I haven't been in one of those yet.

 

You sure that's not just a screen shot from a SIMS game? ;-)

 

Naah, give me a chance and I'll do a proper writeup.

I must say though, very stately progress for the Gentleman. I cannot
imagine what the long trips down to SA must have been like. Beats the
hell out of fucking about with Airbus and Boeing products. Funny way of
getting on board. More later.

 

The R.100 flew from Montreal to Cardington in 57½ hours on its last flight.
They had breakfast over Bristol and were locked to the mast by 11:00 AM.
The ship never flew high enough to need pressurisation, or so fast that you
couldn't get out on the top and walk around.

 

I am dead jealous. I've flown some pretty interesting things, but not an
airship. Very, very kewl. And they let you in the cockpit, too....

Ali

 

Alison Hopkins says...

Back in the early 80s I went for a job as ground crew with Airship
Industries at RAF Cardington. I did't get the job, but I did get a 15
minute flight in one of the airships.

I was born in Shortstown, where the airship sheds are.

 

Cool, is that out of Friedrichshafen ?
I know they have the zepplin museum there which I've been meaning to visit
for years.
We have a supplier just up the road in Leutkirch who I visit 2 / 3 times a
year.
Can you book trips in advance, or was it a work thing ?

 

OK, you're a jammy sod too. And what a splendid thing to happen at an
interivew.

I have now learned that if one is offered an opportunity, seize the damn
thing, and never mind the pennies. We went to Gillespie airshow a few years
back, and they were doing joy rides in a Mitchell. I got mean, silly cow,
and wouldn't pay the 300 dollars. Given that I am pretty unlikely to visit
the US again, this was a damn foolish economy.

Neat. Well neat.

Ali

 

You wouldn't think so if you had to see them on a regular basis.
They're nothing but an eyesore as is the rest of the old RAF camp.

 

You & me both.

Hugo Eckener is one of my heroes - I've got his biography, Dr Eckener's
Dream Machine, which is also the history of the Zepps.

Amazing story, amazing machines, amazing man. The round-the-world trip
by the Graf Zeppelin is just one of the truly great stories in the book.

I've often wondered if there would be enough fare-paying passengers
these days to make a transatlantic airship viable, but I suppose if one
ever gets built, it'll be for cargo lifting.

It woul be nice to have a modular construction, thobut, so you could
remove the cargo hangar and replace it with cabins, public rooms, etc.

 

Yep. http://www.zeppelinflug.de/pages/E/haupt.htm

It's a bit of a bugger, they only book in advance and there's no
guarantee they will fly. They will refund, or crucially, rebook. The
rebook is a bit of a lottery, I mean, you booked the first one because
it was convenient, right? It was two attempts for me (summer
thermals+mountain breeze wiped out attempt 1).

Having said that, 10 euros stadtmitte to airport.

Tomorrow, when I'm sober, I'll post a writeup and a few piccies.