Three days to South America
Airships were the first regular transatlantic air service, with liner-like comfort.
ZMF — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Housen — CC BY-SA 4.0
A museum of rigid airships in a 1930s harbour building on the shore of Lake Constance, in the town where these craft were built. Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin launched the first rigid airship from above the lake in 1900. Over the following decades Friedrichshafen became the centre of the industry, and airships became the first regular means of transatlantic air travel — passengers crossed to South America in about three days at a level of comfort resembling a liner. The museum's centrepiece is a full-size reconstruction of a section of the Hindenburg some thirty-three metres long: visitors walk in and see the dining room, the passenger cabins and the observation lounge with its slanted windows. The Hindenburg's story is the end of the industry: it burned on landing in New Jersey in 1937 in front of the cameras, and thirty-six people died. Public confidence in airships ended in minutes. The museum presents all of this frankly, alongside an art collection on the upper floor.
Airships were the first regular transatlantic air service, with liner-like comfort.
The Hindenburg's 1937 fire on camera ended public confidence in the industry.
The dining room, cabins and observation lounge rebuilt at full size.
The harbour, Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance
For accumulated reasons rather than one accident. They were filled with highly flammable hydrogen because helium was an American monopoly barred from export to Germany. They were also slow, weather-sensitive and expensive. The Hindenburg disaster of 1937 was the final blow to public confidence, and within a few years aeroplanes had overtaken them in speed, safety and cost.
Yes, a company in Friedrichshafen operates smaller modern airships for sightseeing flights over Lake Constance and the Alps, semi-rigid rather than rigid like the old ones and filled with helium. The flights are seasonal, expensive and booked ahead — ask about them if the idea appeals, as it is a rare experience worldwide.
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