Airships in Films/Books/Games

[Somni]

I seem to remember a scifi/action novel based in the antarctic, where there is a "secret" permanent population of eco- and wilderness lovers. They used airships to travel around I think so that they would leave no tracks. Was an interesting book anyway, if only I could remember it.

1. The Soviet Airships in C&C Red Alert 2. I just love the cutscene where the ships are attacking America in the beginning

Hooray for Kirovs! Virtually unstoppable when promoted.

[iansales]

Airships are used throughout Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) for transport about the Red Planet. I seem to recall they also make an appearance in his Antarctica.

One of the (many) narrative threads in Hal Duncan's Vellum is set in an alternate pulp sf/action adventure world with huge airships.

[Somni]

Thanks, iansales. Kim Stanley Robinson's "Antarctica" was the one I was thinking of.

[that old guy]

Been a looongg time since I've read any of the books in the series, but at least one book Farmer's Riverworld series makes heavy use of dirigibles.

[that old guy]

Originally Posted by Anthony G Williams

I managed to fnd a good excuse to include airships in Scales. A parallel Earth, with an advanced, high-tech civilisation but a small and dispersed population, making other forms of long-distance transportation uneconomic. So the airships lower lifts to drop off and collect passengers anywhere on the planet, and only need a few bases for maintenance/refuelling.

Sounds vaguely like Wild Jack by John Christopher, which had a similar setup, down to the dirigibles. Though that was set in the ever popular in the 1970s post nuclear war world, not a parallel Earth. It was also aimed at a YA audience, IIRC.

Edit: Hmm, maybe it wasn't exactly a "post-nuclear" world, but it was definitely post-something. Since I last read this going on 25 years ago I'm surprised I remember it at all.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Originally Posted by Kostmayer

Aye, not sure they'll ever be as popular again for passenger transport. Although I have seen new ones that have been designed for Cargo transports.

Oh, I hope they do. Conventional air travel is arguably more dangerous and you're certainly less likely to walk away from a plane crash. Are airship fuel sources (did they use Hydrogen in the past?) any less dangerous than aviation fuel?
The speed thing is the main reason for their demise I think rather than safety considerations. I personally would love to travel by airship somewhere - the views would be incredible.

As to airships in fiction, I can't really add much to those books already suggested

[that old guy]

Originally Posted by Winters_Sorrow

Are airship fuel sources (did they use Hydrogen in the past?) any less dangerous than aviation fuel?

The Hindenburg used hydrogen. At the time most of the known sources for helium were in the USA and Roosevelt wouldn't sell them any.

The speed thing is the main reason for their demise I think rather than safety

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the top of the Empire State Building is as it is due to plans to use it for the "docking" of airships. Not sure if any actually did dock there, but that doesn't seem all that safe to me.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well there's two major airports in New York so that's not much safer!
The Empire State Building was built with that in mind but I think most 'docking stations' were away from major urban centres. I don't rightly remember but I think the Hindenberg crashes at a small airstrip converted for the purpose. If that had happened at the Empire State Building....well, doesn't bear thinking about does it?

[iansales]

Originally Posted by that old guy

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the top of the Empire State Building is as it is due to plans to use it for the "docking" of airships. Not sure if any actually did dock there, but that doesn't seem all that safe to me.

They do this in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, IIRC.

[j. d. worthington]

Yes, the ESB was built with a dirigible mooring tower above the observation deck, but it was never used. It's interesting, in that it has some elaborate anchoring that eventually is embedded in the bedrock below the building, from what I understand.....

And yes, I'd forgotten all about Farmer's books there... sheesh! How could I forget that -- let alone the Robinson books. I really am losing brain cells.....

[that old guy]

Originally Posted by j. d. worthington

And yes, I'd forgotten all about Farmer's books there... sheesh!

Since it seems like Farmer himself is kind of forgotten these days that's understandable. Weird that he was huge during the 1970s, but seems kind of lost in the shuffle over the last decade. Those lame Dayworld books probably didn't help things, either.

[scribbler]

You are not alone Kostmayer! Anime definitely has a strong airship tradition. One of my favorites is Steamboy.

Airships figure prominently in Philip Reeve's YA series The Hungry City Chronicles.

Wasn't there also an airship in one of the Brandon Fraser Mummy movies?

I know there are more, but that is all I can dredge up at the moment.

[Wyrm Publishing]

Tobias Buckell has airships in Crystal Rain. It's an excellent first novel that should be out in paperback about now.

An anthology you might like is All-Star Zeppelin Stories edited by Jay Lake and David Moles.

-Neil

[gully_foyle]

Originally Posted by that old guy

The Hindenburg used hydrogen. At the time most of the known sources for helium were in the USA and Roosevelt wouldn't sell them any.

The Hindenburg was hydrogen filled, to be sure, but it was the coating they used on the skin that really combusted. Or so the theory goes, (see LZ 129 Hindenburg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Originally Posted by that old guy

I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the top of the Empire State Building is as it is due to plans to use it for the "docking" of airships. Not sure if any actually did dock there, but that doesn't seem all that safe to me.

Docking with the Empire State Building was probably safer than docking with the ground. Which turned out to be not very safe. The speculation goes that one cause of the ignition was a bolt of static when the Hindenburg got close to the ground.

[Wyrm Publishing]

Docking with the Empire State Building was probably safer than docking with the ground. Which turned out to be not very safe. The speculation goes that one cause of the ignition was a bolt of static when the Hindenburg got close to the ground.

Actually, they never used the Empire State Building because of the winds. It just turned out to be impractical. They did try to use it for mail delivery, but even that proved unreliable.

The static that caused the fire (supposedly) was only a problem because the dissipation system in place failed. Some of the panels maintained their charge and sparks were jumping the gap. Those sparks set the highly combustible aluminum power in the panel's coating on fire. The current theory holds that if they had not been delayed en-route, the conditions that caused the accident would not have been present that day.

A good program on this was aired on PBS here. Some of the details are on this website: PBS - Secrets of the Dead

-Neil