Hindenburg Reconstruction, Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen, Germany
(click in the image to see a larger version)
Continuing with the Zeppelin theme from the previous two posts, this image is from the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. It shows a reconstruction of a 108 foot section of the legendary LZ 129, better known to the world as the ill-fated "Hindenburg" that erupted in a spectacular fireball as it was approaching the mooring mast at Lakehurst, New Jersey on May 3,1937. The mysterious destruction of the largest airship ever built in less than a minute abruptly ended the commercial development of this technology as trans-Atlantic passenger transport (though they were still used by the U.S for military purposes for another 25 years; the final flight of a U.S. Navy Airship took place at Lakehurst in August of 1962).
The reconstruction at the museum in Friedrichshafen is very well done and includes an interior section that you enter just as you would if you had been a passenger on the "Hindenburg", through a metal staircase leading up into the promenade deck and passenger cabins. The windows seen in the image above are the observation windows that passengers could look out of (in the exhibit, you can look down on video screens that show views of the ground as filmed from the same vantage point of the actual zeppelin). The reconstruction also includes several passenger cabins and the lounge area. In the background you can see several people in the museum and I have included them to show the scale of the exhibit and also to suggest the scale of the original ship. You can also see a photo at this link which shows the Hindenburg emerging from a hangar at Lakehurst, NJ. The observation windows shown in my photo of the reconstruction can be seen diagonally below the name "Hindenburg" towards the lower center of the zeppelin.
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I am finally back in the States after 5 weeks in Germany. Still recovering from jet lag and catching up on the pile of mail that accumulated while I was away. I have nearly 30 rolls of Holga and Holga pinhole film from Santa Fe and Germany to have processed. The Santa Fe images made in late July are so far back that I can only remember a few of the scenes I actually photographed, so it will be an interesting surprise to finally see the negatives. On top of that are 15 rolls of Holga film that I shot in Peru in early July that I have only barely glanced at. So, once I get back into a more regular schedule next week, I will be firing up the scanner and beginning to digitize the prodigious number of Holga negs that await me (and posting those pixels to this space, but of course!).
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