The zeppelin arrived in Beaumont, Texas, last week after crossing the Atlantic from Hamburg, Germany--aboard an ocean-going container ship. From Texas, it has been flying steadily westward across southern Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, where it just passed Tucson, en route to
the California coast.
Airship Ventures says that this is one of just three zeppelins in the world, and the only one in the U.S. You already know the name of the last one to fly in these parts: the Hindenburg, whose fiery demise in 1937 is one of the most famous events of the 20th century.
"That airship," the company says, "used hydrogen as its lifting gas, and lacquer materials in the fabric of its hull, which contributed to the explosion. Airships today use non-flammable helium, a gas that is safe enough to be used in party balloons."
Photo by PRNewsFoto/Airship Ventures Zeppelin
Caption by Jonathan Skillings
