I have never given much thought to zeppelins before, so one statistic in a programme on channel Five tonight stopped me in my tracks. It was one of those popular technology-type programmes. The sort which usually features massive buildings or bridges. The one tonight was about airships.
The amazing statistic was the speed of the Hindenberg and Graf Zeppelin – about 83mph! If I had been forced to guess I would have said something like 20 to 30mph. These things were 245 metres long. I still can’t get over the idea of something longer than two football pitches doing that sort of speed.
A friend of mine is fascinated by Zeppelins. I took him to a few of the crash sites. THe first to be brought down in WWI crashed in Cuffley, shot down by an airfcraft from Hornchurch. Two Zeppelins came down in Essex. Once came down near Great Burstead, the other at Little Wigborough. The church in Little Wigborough still has some pieces of the Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin 1’s album cover had a picture of a Zeppelin, didn’t it ?
Yes. It was a picture of the Hindenberg disaster.
When they did a remastered box set a few years back the cover featured the shadow of a zeppelin over a field of crop circles.
Very topical question, what with Led Zep reforming for a one-off charity concert in London, announced yesterday.
Led Zeppelin – now that’s what I call a real rock band.
I wonder who will play on drums ?
Jason Bonham
The son of the late father, John :
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/arts/music/13zepp.html?hp
Now I can see why they have re-formed for this one-off – maybe.
Have you ever been to Hammerwood House – it’s worth a visit :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammerwood_Park
And didn’t I read in the Argus some years ago that the Bonham family live/lived in Sussex somewhere ?
Never heard of Hammerwood House before. Sounds interesting – first building of the bloke who did the American Capitol. Sounds like he was a sort of American James “Athenian” Stuart.
Yes, it’s worth a visit.
As I understand it, when Zeppelin bought it they had great plans for it – but their extensive touring meant they were hardly there.
Poor security meant that the place started to fall to pieces – lead taken off the roof etc.
Rumour has it that some of the ‘locals’ were hoping to buy the place ‘for a song’ because of its dilapidated state.
Twas not to be – this inventor guy, David Pinnegar, came along who knew something of the architect (and the rarity of the building), and promptly bought it…much to the annoyance of these locals.
Things might have changed now, but when I last visited a few years ago, there was still an on-going dispute with the ‘locals’ regarding access etc.
Hi Skuds, I have uploaded an Airships video on you tube ;-D