Distributor:
Roadshow Home Entertainment Certificate: Exempt |
157 minutes |
Available to buy Producer: Rob
McAuley Extras: No
ANYONE
IN IT WE KNOW?
Count
Ferdinand Von Zeppelin (or Ferdy as his mum liked to call him)
WHAT’S
IT ABOUT THEN?
This
fully Australian 3 part series,
seen on the ABC, takes a
fascinating look at the history
of the Airship, from their often
fraught with danger beginnings
to today’s huge cargo craft.
SO
IS IT ANY GOOD?
Airships
have always been the sleeping giants of the air, amazing machines and
feats of engineering but oh so fragile too, this absolutely enthralling
documentary series in three hour long parts tells the story of these
amazing craft right from the days of German domination and the
Hindenberg disaster through to the rise of the supership in the present
day.
There
is some amazing footage of the earliest airships in action and the work
done by the legendary Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin who flew the worlds
first rigid Airship, the L-Z 1, in 1900 (some pioneering work had been
done prior to this by the Frenchmen Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs
amongst others), in 1910 Zeppelin’s “Deutschland" became the
world's first commercial airship, some of these early ships attained
speeds of up to 100kph!
World
War One changed things as Zeppelin directed his efforts against the
English but with the developments of their new biplanes and with the
terrible tragedy of the Hindenberg disaster in 1937 all but put an end
to the big ships. In recent years the situation has changed with crafts
being built to act as surveillance spies and communication platform as
well as becoming huge cargo transporters.
Narrated
by Robyn Williams the Airships story is a truly fascinating one,
focusing on the ingenuity of man and his bid to conquer the skies anyway
he can.
