The great airship disasters

Press, 6 December 1979, Page 19

The great airship disasters

The “When Havoc Struck’’ series returns to TVI tonight — the series that is made from news that made headlines throughout the world. The programmes are not re-enactments of the events. They consist, in the main, of newsreels and pictures taken at the time, brought up to date by interviews with survivors and eye witnesses. The narrator. Glenn Ford, visits the places where the disasters occurred. Tonight’s episode, “Great Airship Disasters,” looks at the hopes and tragedies of the ill-fated airship age, which lasted 36 years. Research and filming took place in America, Britain and Germany for the production in which survivors recall their ter-

rifying experiences and look back on what was a great dream of air travel with all the comforts of an ocean liner, including superb haute cuisine and music salons. It all began with Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, a Prussian cavalry officer whose dream was to fly the Atlantic; and it ended at Lakehurst, New Jersey, when the German airship Hindenberg blew up after making the Atlantic crossing. Von Zeppelin died before his dream was realised, but America, Britain and Germany entered the transatlantic race in earnest. The great plan was beset with disaster.