There was a time when zeppelins seemed destined to become the preferred means of transport for intercontinental travel.
And from among the devices such that soared into the sky in the first half of the twentieth century's most iconic was the LZ 129 Hindenburg.
Friday met 80 years since the first flight was the most imposing of the Zeppelins before World War II.
The colossal German unit just turned a year old, as it caught fire on May 6, 1937 , while trying to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey, having successfully crossed the Atlantic.
Of the 97 people aboard, 35 died.
The sudden and dramatic end of the Hindenburg was, perhaps, the air equivalent of the Titanic sinking and ended with the expectations of those who expected the zeppelins were an alternative to airplanes.
Surprisingly, passengers continued reserving tickets for transatlantic flights aboard the elder brother of the Hindenburg, the Graf Zeppelin, named for its inventor.
However, the German government rejected the Graf Zeppelin and sent scrap the ambitious Hindenburg II in 1940.
The tragedy of Lakehust had to do with the refusal of the US government to supply foreign countries, including Germany, nonflammable helium.
Instead of this the Hindenburg used hydrogen gas, highly ignitable, which condemned to death several of his unfortunate passengers and crew in 1937.
The images were broadcast on news programs around the world and see them today is as frightening as it was then.
Helium was and still is the ideal gas for airships for both rigid with internal skeleton as the Graf Zeppelin, as for deflatable that were used for anti-aircraft defense during World War II or those used today for advertising.
But the Germans had no choice but to fill with hydrogen cells gelatin coated cotton airships.
If the Hindenburg had flown with helium, perhaps today would travel around the world in serene and elegant devices similar to those zeppelins.
As an air boat
Despite the ill-fated Hindenburg, it is not hard to understand the attraction that generate legendary airships balloons.
These elongated, silvery and shiny machines were a masterpiece of design.
They seemed to cross the air effortlessly.
They could go around the world, as did the Graf Zeppelin that summer of 1929, in 21 days.
Also it offered the passenger a small space left to the more modern aircraft.
At its launch in 1930, the creators of the device boasted luxurious common rooms, comfort of private cabins and interior rides aerodynamic helmet.
The Hindenburg was also 25 cabins with double berth, a restaurant, a lounge, a cocktail bar, and, perhaps most surprisingly, a smoking room.
The latter was sealed and pressurized for safety reasons.
Furniture and fixtures were the lightest possible: dining chairs tubular aluminum, white plastic basins, fabric-covered walls foam.
The overall aesthetic was a fun version of the Bauhaus design school, according to which "form follows function".
It was conceived by the flamboyant architect Fritz August Breuhaus de Groot, known for designing the interior of several trans-Atlantic and the houses of the stars of German cinema.
The walls were covered with painted silk, in which the great voyages of history, the adventures of Graf Zeppelin whimsical or exotic holiday accommodation reproduced.
Not for nothing was called the Hindenburg "hotel heaven".
Cutting edge design
From a technical point of view, the Hindenburg also had an advanced design.
The structure of rings and struts lightweight duralumin was covered with protective paint a bright blue color.
Its area of cotton was impregnated with aluminum powder to repel ultraviolet rays.It was what made the device shine.
In addition, it was equipped with an early version of the autopilot.
And it could carry heavy cargo, mail and baggage from, to passenger vehicles.
Its four-cylinder diesel engines 16 were an adaptation of shortstops last generation.
And four employees were the caretakers, one per engine.
The work of these included walking out of town on small runways alumnio outdoors with a deafening noise, away from the view of those who drank cocktails in the well-stocked bar.
reliable machines
The Hindenburg dirigible balloons as all except the first of all, was designed by Ludwig Durr.
Count Ferdinand Zeppelin he joined in 1900, to assist in the development and construction of the LZ-1, the Luftschiff Zeppelin 1.
The device made its maiden flight in Friedrichshafen, on the shores of Lake Constance in southern Germany, in July of that year.
Despite the initial accident, zeppelins revolutionaries soon became attractive and reliable machines.
In 1909, Zeppelin even founded the first airline in the world.
Later, during World War I, the zeppelin was put at the service of the Imperial German Army and Navy.
Soon it becomes the most feared unit, as it was raining bombs in cities from St. Petersburg to London.
The development of explosive bullets, however, led to the destruction of most of the devices to which Winston Churchill called "huge fuel bladders and explosive gas."
Of the 84 zeppelins built during the war, 60 were lost in accidents or enemy attacks.
Attempt on the islands
In the interwar period, Britain tried to develop their own "zeppelins".
R100 and R101 on: With the sponsorship of the Ministry of Aviation, two huge blimps were built.
The second crashed in France in October 1930, on its maiden flight.
The accident killed 48 of the 50 people on board, including the team that had designed and Lord Thompson, the air minister responsible for the project.
And the R100 broke shortly after.
So Germany reigned in heaven, but now with the support of the government and Nazi swastikas on the tails of their zeppelins.
But after the Hindenburg burned and the end of World War II, in 1945, the company closed its doors Zeppelin.
living legend
And yet the legend and charm zeppelin still alive.
When in 1968 the guitarist Jimmy Page announced the formation of a new band, Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, said he would sink like a "lead zeppelin" (lead zeppelin, in English).
Without the letter "a", so that no one mispronounce the name, Led Zeppelin broke into the rock scene with a successful first album.
Its cover showed the Hindenburg in flames.
Led Zeppelin flew high in the sky.
However, despite a few promises that were not fulfilled, including the Aeroscraft and the reformed company Zeppelin, the blimp has not reappeared on the scene.
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