What's long and sausage shaped and....

Found this on ebay and couldn't resist it. Dating from 1919, back in the days when toilet paper came in a wrapper. And as you might expect, there are folks who collect these things. I'm still trying to figure out what they were thinking of in terms of the brand match between toilet paper and an airship. Suggestions anyone?

Getting the word out

Scott and Brian became 'booth babes' for the evening at the California Travel and Tourism Commission media event in San Francisco. Here they were promoting our business to members of the travel and tourism press. I think they look rather good!

Zeppelin Pilots Wanted!

I've waited for some time to make a post with that title. It's true. Really. You can go here to find out more. Now we have to think about uniforms etc.

The cool pin picture is from this site.

The First Bay Area Zeppelin

A friend of ours sent us a copy of an artists drawing in a childrens book about bridges. It showed a design for the Golden Gate bridge that had been produced in 1923 but not built. The artist had added a Zeppelin going over the bridge. We of course approve of the sentiment! But it got me wondering about when Zeppelins had entered the consciousness of the American public enough that it would be considered perfectly normal to assume a Zeppelin flying over a landmark bridge.

The first Zeppelin flying in the USA was the US Built Shenandoah. She was commissioned in September 1923, so it was a little prophetic to have one in a 1923 picture! She did actually visit the Bay Area the following year, and this picture is from October 1924 with her flying outside the Golden Gate, sans bridge.

The Navy acquired a German built Zeppelin, renamed the Los Angeles, in 1924 and she occasionally made trips west. But it would be August 25, 1929, when the first commercial passenger airship, Graf Zeppelin entered the Bay through the Golden Gate.

Cute booties

Our Facilities project manager, Dwayne, is in Germany right now absorbing everything he can about Zeppelin operations. Dwayne is responsible for working with NASA and other agencies and entities to set up the leases and agreements for the necessary facilities for us to operate. So he has to be a repository of knowledge about how much space things take up, how often they need to be moved, whether they are hazardous, whether they need special climate conditions, who needs access, how often and so on. This impacts everything from how we manage our operations to minimize risk in a historic massive wooden hangar to the provisioning of portable toilets at remote sites. And all of it involves thick legal documents and lots of red tape!

Dwayne sent us this picture of him inside the hull of #4. Nice booties Dwayne!

Water - then and now

A visible feature on the Moffett Field skyline is the red and white water tower. I've been acquiring old ads and images featuring airships of late, with an eye to decorating our future bar/restaurant space.

One that really caught my eye was an advertisement by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines steel company about their new water tank serving 'Uncle Sams dirigibles'. On May 13, 1932, the Akron, sister ship to the Macon, visited the incomplete Sunnyvale Naval Air Station (to become Moffett Field). The PR folks at Pittsburgh-Des Moines captured an image of the Akron with the water tower for an advertisement.

They explain that a modern airbase demands "trained man power, strong mooring masts, ample stores of gases, oils, food - and water." And that "this well built tank will guarantee a constant and dependable water supply."

I've also found some great adverts for spark plugs, shock absorbers and the like, all using their connection with patriotic airships to sell their wares!

London Calling...

We've known for some time that there would be a period of time between the completion of NT #4 and us being able to bring her to San Francisco. So Zeppelin set out to find her some work for the summer, locate a sponsor etc. Today's Sunday Times carries a brief article about the Civil Aviation Authority approving her visiting London, something which we very much hope will happen. There are a couple of ticket agents accepting inquiries in the UK right now - LondonZeppelin and ZeppelinTours. But visiting London won't take all summer, so we'll keep you posted on where else #4 will be flying.