Ship of Dreams :

What would you think if you looked up in the sky and saw a ship, 804 feet long, gliding silently overhead? Leonardo Da Vinci may have captured the thought when he said, “When once you have tasted flight you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward”…

The time is 1936. The Berlin Olympics have just been completed. Global politics are changing and technological transitions are beginning to emerge that would bring one of the most dynamic forms of transportation to an end – the airship…

However, on this day in 1936, a moving shadow crossing the streets of Manhattan causes you to look up and see the largest man made object ever to fly, The Hindenburg, cruises gracefully over the skyline on its way to the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey – another Atlantic crossing successfully completed. An American Airline Ford Tri motor can be seen trailing behind in the distance while a young Navy pilot guides his Stearman trainer in for a closer look; like a dolphin trying to find the bow wave of this gentle leviathan.

Even without the infamous incident on May 6, 1937, airship travel would not have grown in popularity as the ability of airplanes to economically carry large numbers of passengers, vast distances, in a timely fashion, would become the dominant craft of choice for the next read entire article