Yes, I agree it’s very good and feel Shire is an underrated composer. Unfortunately, he composed this score the same year as John Williams wrote the famous music to Jaws.

My wife booked a flight on board the Friedrichshafen ship as my first anniversary present. I asked her how much it cost 9in Euros, which were then about $1.25 to American) and she said i didn’t want to know!

Amazing flight, though.

Hi Philip,

The rigger named Neuhaus in the movie was a fictional character, invented for the film. The fact that he was called away from watching Cell 4 to “come bear a hand” with a jammed cable does draw a slight parallel between him and Hans Freund, who was a rigger on the Hindenburg’s actual last flight.

During the Hindenburg’s final landing approach, Freund was standing at the aft end of the keel walkway, hauling a steel mooring cable up from its storage place in the lower fin so that he could lower it to the landing crew. The manila “hauling-up” line he was using to hoist the cable jammed between a pair of bracing wires and Freund called to one of the crewmen in the lower fin to help him pull the rope clear. This was perhaps a minute or two before the fire broke out.

More on Freund can be found here:

http://facesofthehindenburg.blogspot.com/2008/12/hans-freund.html

Rigger Neuhaus = Hans Freund ? who is real please

Unfortunately the zeppelin operation in California is now defunct.

At present there is one (airworthy) airship near to me, near Mountain View, CA, from Zeppelin. This is relatively new airship out of three (other being in Friedrichshafen proper and somewhere based in Japan).

I haven’t looked into one in Japan yet but ship at Moffett Field is TOO EXPENSIVE! $500 for half hour flight! I would LOVE to fly aboard her and book flight in ten billionth of atta-second (atta-second already being ten billionth of normal second — even that is way too slow for me), but I am considered ‘low income’ and simply cannot afford that sum of money!

A friend of mine is boycotting flying in this ship (as much ass he too would like to fly) out of protest of people spending that sort of money in these bad economic times to where these funds can go towards helping others in need. (If I were lucky enough to win Lotto, then one of first things I would do is book flight at Moffett Field (or in Germany or Japan — probably Germany as that is first new ship since Hindenburg disaster and home of DZR). These new ships of course use state-of-the-art digital technology and are far safer than LZ-129 or earlier — and most important these three new ships utilise HELIUM! YES!

About the “Führerstand”: As a native german speaker I can assure you that it simply means “cab” or “control cabin”. It has nothing to do whatsoever with “Führer” Adolf Hitler. About the missing swastika emblems on the fins: That is one of those cases where historical accuracy is sacrificed for political correctness. In Germany it is against the law to display it in public, that is why it is retouched from picture sometimes. E.G. I have a book about Hindenburg with an illustration by Ken Marshall on the cover, the red square is there, the white roundel is there, the swastika is missing- It is the same with modelling kits marketed around here…
About the new German made Hindenburg film of 2011. It is absolute shit IMHO. Not only is it laboriously written and acted, the sets sacrificed historical facts for dramatic purposes or even just better lighting. The small cabins were transformed into huge staterooms with huge windows, WTH? The worst thing is the soundtrack, who,for the love of god, would include modern pop songs in a movie that takes place in 1937? To sum it up, for me there is just one movie, the 1975 one, the new one doesn’t deserve to be watched