I double checked the book and that’s how it was written. You would think an author writing about the Hindenburg would know that isn’t the correct word. :dubious:
I’m a reasonably decent speller and had I been writing it myself rather than copying it I would have at least double-checked how to properly say it. I guess non-flamable would be correct.
Look, we all know that the Nazis had LTA in the run up to the war for passenger service, and probably had a secret research program to develop a LTA aircraft carrier. Cite.
Yep, Indiana and his father escape from the German zeppelin via a deployable airplane. In the real world none of the German airships had this ability (I don’t know if they ever even seriously considered the idea. The US rigid airships Akron and Macon actually did carry several biplane fighters and got very good at deploying and retrieving them in flight.
I think you’ll find that Navy blimps served along the Pacific coast as well. At least one Naval Air Station, at Tillamook, OR, was devoted entirely to LTA.
I forget where I read this (somewhere online), but a Navy “Z-ship” came to rest one day on Main Street in Fremont, CA, with no sign of her crew of 2 ever found. It was suspected one man fell overboard, the other went in after him, and both drowned.
AIUI, the role of rigid ships in the 1930s Navy was chiefly scouting. On fleet maneuvers the Akron and Macon would hover out of range of “enemy” ships and send their F9C fighters out to report the fleet’s position. The idea seems to have depended on the enemy not having aircraft carriers. (Japan already had a few in the early 30s.)
