Apprentice contestant to offer Zeppelin trips above London
Those seeking to relive the experience of World War I zeppelin crews mounting early bombing raids against London will soon be able to do so, according to reports. Tourist airship flights over the capital are scheduled to begin in June, using vessels manufactured by the company which built the original zeppelins. The Times …
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But best remember
to insure the nursing home inhabitants first, imagine some senile old fart in regression start's taking shots at them? thinking they're back in the blitz
Zeppelin trips above London?
You could make it more exciting by aiming massive spotlights at them and buzzing them with Sopwith Camels.
Can't resist... Monty Python reference...
It's not a balloon! D'you hear?... It's not a balloon ... It's an airship ... an airship ... d'you hear?
Weather
I guess that the zepplin will not fly during wet and windy days.
So it looks like it will only fly for about 5 days out of the year :)
Building sites?
Quote "They will be able to take in all the sites as it goes over the River Thames."
I assume these are the building sites for the Olympics - can't wait !!
Already over Tokyo
Zeppelins have been flying over Tokyo since last fall. I am guessing the vulture fact checker for this story went through one of the engines and ended up as my icon.
Does this mean...
...that having been fired, the person will now be highered?
Yes, I know. Coat ---> door...
@Weather
> I guess that the zepplin will not fly during wet and windy days.
I don't see why not? zeppelins can fly a lot faster than most people give them credit for and the zeppelin NT tops out at about 80mph, preferring to cuise at about 45-50 I would think. It would have to be fairly windy in london to make the airship completely unsafe, though they'll have a fair margin of error there. still, in winds up to 20-30mph they'd probably be okay. and 30mph winds are fairly strong...
dave
What would happen if
the Zeppelins get hijacked and flown into the Gherkin?
Not original looking
Having had a look at the company's website, they're essentially just blimps. There are plenty of other companies that fly sight-seeing blimps. They don't look anything like the WWII-era scary things.
Obviously these will do well because they have the Zeppelin brand name, but it would be far cooler if they were modelled after the original Zeppelins.
As a matter of interest - did the original Zeppelins really mount bombing raids? I would have thought they'd just be used on spying trips; think about how heavy bombs would be.
Zeppelin NT
We should be ok, so long as they're not replaced by Zeppelin Vistas, which will be so bloated they won't take off.
Mine's the one with inbuilt parachute.
@Ian Ferguson
The airships of the time were capable of carrying much more weight than any plane ever made to date. The US even experimented with using airships as aircraft carriers.
Zeppelins over London
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Lighter_than_air/zeppelin/LTA8.htm
Yes, they dropped bombs.
Ouch
Zeppelin... Fired... Hindenburg... Lewis’s most cutting joke to date?
Bombing raids
@Ian Ferguson - they definitely were used for bombing raids. Not a massive payload but enough to scare the living daylights out of the poor buggers on the ground. Real blow to morale too.
Presumably you would get a good view of the Dome? Easy target to hit...<evil_laugh> and there's 10 downing street....and no.11....wait...there's all of Whitehall....</evil_laugh>
Paris, cos the Zeppelin has a higher IQ.
Why Zeppelin?
Until about 5 years ago I used to live in Biggleswade and would regularly see 'Zeppelins' flying about. They were made by a company based in the old R101 hanger at Cardington.
Are they still in business? If so, why are Zeppelins being imported?
Aerial death from the EU
"As a matter of interest - did the original Zeppelins really mount bombing raids? "
Oh yes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin#During_World_War_I
my $coat->get('it');
@Ian Ferguson
Ian,
Yes, Zeppelins did mount bombing raids: they made several appearances over London and made some significant raids on maritime centres on the East Coast of England during the First World War.
@Ian Ferguson
Yes the original zeppelins mounted bombing raids - quite successfully too.
As far as weight you've got to remember that the original zeppelins were absolutely super huge - far bigger than the wee blimps of today. With a skeleton crew instead of passengers they could carry an impressive payload of munitions.
Hate to be pedantic....
@ Michael - But best remember
The blitz was world war 2, zeppelins were used during world war 1.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/04/uktv_history/
@Ian Ferguson
Yup, Zeppelins were used to bomb the UK, France and Belgium between 1915 and 1918.
They were a huge propaganda success - the thought of Germans attacking the enemy capital was wildly popular in Germany and produced near panic in the UK. But the raids were little more than a nuisance in terms of the damage they did - about 500 people were killed in Britain by Zeppelins throughout the war.
The biggest problem for the Germans was their navigation, they rarely found their intended targets and even when the did, precision bombing was impossible. The Zeppelins were soon outclassed by improved planes with incendiary bullets, forcing them to fly even higher which made them even less useful.
Perhaps surprisingly, by the end of the war bomb loads were in the tonnes - far higher than the aircraft of the time. But the cost of the Zeppelins and their fragility made them obsolete as the Germans, including the Zeppelin company, developed long-range multi-engined bomber planes.
Zeppelins did do a bit of reconnaissance for the German fleet and for the army over the Western front, but incredibly no one seems to have thought of using them in association with U-boats to find Allied convoys and direct attacks.
.... not you too!
@Ian Ferguson
quote - They don't look anything like the WWII-era scary things.
Thats because they were used in World War 1;
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/04/uktv_history/
Not the first attempt...
A few years ago another company was doing this over London (using a British-built blimp, as I recall) but the service only ran for a year or two (sort of fizzled out rather than went with a bang?).
Are they environmentally friendly?
As they are neutral or lighter than air, would modern Zeppelins be suitable for trans-atlantic cruising with a better passenger/fuel ratio than a jet plane or a cruise ship? Could run them on peanut diesel or hydrogen!?
Mine's the one with the 'oh the humanity' slogan on the back
I hope that...
... they're not going to call the company Cybus Industries.
Next thing you know they'll be introducing a metal exo-skeleton "upgrade" for the human body...!
You missed the obvious reference
Paris - because she looks like the dead heat in a Zeppelin race!!
Helium?
Why helium? Surely they just need to save all that hot air from the boardroom....
Or methane
Put sauerkraut on the menu and the passengers can generate enough methane
@ dav
"What would happen if the Zeppelins get hijacked and flown into the Gherkin?"
Lots of city workers with high pitched voices?
@dav
"What would happen if the Zeppelins get hijacked and flown into the Gherkin?"
we get a slightly more tasteful skyline
@alyn
Paris is more like a dead heat in a peanut race. Kelly Brook on the other hand..
@dav
Going that slowly and being only semi-rigid I suspect they might bounce off :)
@Mike Richards
"But... their fragility made them obsolete..."
Quite true, when a grappling hook lowered from a Camel flying along the Zeppelin's spine was enough to bring it down...
Zeppelin raid spoilt my Breakfast
I was having a Breakfast down a side street in Croydon, when a copper (a Policeman) came in & told us an unexploded Zeppelin bomb had been found next door & told us all to get out NOW. I got no re-fund! This was about 1980.
IT angle? I worked (still do!) for BT (OK ,it was Post Office Telecom's then.)
@Ian Ferguson
"did the original Zeppelins really mount bombing raids?"
Yes, my dad recalled seeing one over Portsmouth in WWI, nicely illuminated with searchlights. Being 2 or 3 at the time, he found the unusual nighttime excursion and the sight of the shiny cigar thing in the sky as the family fled in terror great fun.
@Chris Williams
"made some significant raids on maritime centres on the East Coast of England during the First World War."
and also the South Coast.
People worry because of the Hindenberg
but these craft will contain helium, not hydrogen, so when they crash they won't burst into flames. Instead, they'll spill helium, meaning the passengers will be be able to call for help from any passing bats.
Or do a Bee Gees "It's a tragedy" tribute on the way down.
I've used the "Joke" icon because I'm not being totally serious here. I hope you realise theat.
@Johnny Fireblade
Thanks, I just snorted out my cola cos of picturing that...
Also, lets hope these last till Red Alert 3 is released- we might see promotional Kirovs hovering over London!
Eejit or not on The Apprentice, I am so going to go book tickets on this thing!
@dav
That would cause, oh, millions of pounds worth of improvement.
Kirov Airships
If they're doing Zeppelins, I'd expect them to do the other classic: Kirov Airships. I may have not lived the Zeppelin era, but those would bring fear when flying towards my base!
Mine's the one with the Chronoshift Commando badge.
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