Airships in Films/Books/Games

[chrispenycate]

Originally Posted by 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?

Actually, one of the things about the Hindeburg disaster was that there was no explosionn and the vast majority of the heat went straight ut, hydrogen flames being like that. It probably wouldn't have done much damage to the Empire state building, except melting the mooring mast. A few roast pigeons and some blistered paint.
We're accustomed to thinking of hydrogen as explosive, but that's a hydrogen/air mix, not the stuff pouring out into the atmosphere.

[Wyrm Publishing]

I posted a message here but it seems to have not shown up. Anyhow, the winds were an issue for the Empire State Building, that's one of the reasons it was never used that way. Also, had that happened at the ESB, the wreckage would have come down onto the building and to the people below. It was still burning when it hit the ground, so a fire could have spread to the building.

There's a great PBS show on this. Website is here:
PBS - Secrets of the Dead

[Wyrm Publishing]

I posted a message here but it seems to have not shown up. (Happened again, must be the url) Anyhow, the winds were an issue for the Empire State Building, that's one of the reasons it was never used that way. Also, had that happened at the ESB, the wreckage would have come down onto the building and to the people below. It was still burning when it hit the ground, so a fire could have spread to the building.

There's a great PBS show on this. Website is here:
www pbs org/wnet/secrets/html/e3-about html

Just replace the periods with .'s

[JDP]

Another hurrah for the Riverworld books - they're awesome. Lots of dirigibles and even a balloon too - plus dogfights between the greatest pilots who ever lived. Definitely worth a look if you've not read them. In fact, I think I'm gonna borrow them to read again...

[Taltos]

Futuristic airship is in Peter F Hamiltons The Nano Flower
Also IIRC, there is a airship crash at the beginning of the computer game called Arcanum Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also if you like flying ships (and I mean literally ships ) such things exist in Greg Keyes Age of Unreason serie and also you can make such things in Master of Magic computer game (where they were practically unstoppable )

[Thadlerian]

Make sure to watch anime like Hayao Miyazaki's movies. There are airships in at least half his stories.

[ray gower]

Got to throw in a few classics for the use of airships:
HG Wells: The War in the Air and The Shape of Things to Come
Jules Verne: Clipper of the Clouds and it's film version Master of the World
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Barsoom series

[that old guy]

Originally Posted by ray gower

Edgar Rice Burroughs: Barsoom series

Now that I think about it, didn't at least one of the Tarzan books (Tarzan at the Earth's Core, I think) make extensive use of an airship?

[iansales]

Lin Carter's Callisto series features flying ships - not airships, but ships that fly, with wings.

[speedingslug]

The airships in Dr Who the cyberman episode were good.

[rimworlder]

A. Bertram Chandler was a huge fan of and advocate for airships - and most of his 'Grimes' novels feature one even if only as part of the scenery.

A few observations on airship design, engineering and history can be found in some of his non-fiction pieces, viewable at A Bertram Chandler - Science Fiction Author and Master of the Rim Worlds (the official website). Go to the bibliography section and scroll down to below the listings for short stories.

In two stories he presents various methods for providing steerage to a crippled, unpowered dirigible/blimp with methods borrowed from seamanship.

A movie with a nice dirigible scene is The Rocketeer. The climactic battle at the end takes place aboard the control cab and along the top.

[Rodders]

Cloudwalker by Edmund Cooper. A great read.

[Vladd67]

There are a lot of Airships in the Crimson Skies World. This I believe started off as a tabletop game and then moved on as a PC and XBox game. There are also some books set in this alternate history, but I have never read them.

[Team 2012]

Clarke's spaceships that use giant sails to catch the solar wind. Slow acceleration, but it adds up.

[reiver33]

I've always been a fan of 'proper' airships - we're talking Zeppelins here - as I think they were an idea way ahead of the available technology, despite the obvious 'lighter than air' ethos.

Some years ago while attending an abortive barbque (couldn't get it to light) I had the 'great idea' of a floating diner cum nightclub which would take you for a night-time tour over the city (and when the novelty wore off it could simply change cities). Glass dance floor, anyone?

I believe the US (Navy?) were looking at an airship as an indefinate endurance early warning radar station, but I suspect that went the way of all budget cuts...