Zeppelin in Monterey

by James B Toy

Title

Zeppelin in Monterey

Artist

James B Toy

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

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From October 2008 until November 2012 a Mountain View company called Airship Ventures operated this airship out of Moffett Field. Named "Eureka" it was one of three such airships built by the German Zeppelin company, and the only one to fly over the United States. At 246 feet long, it was at the time of this photo the largest airship in the world. It had a capacity of 12 passengers plus crew.

I made this photo on December 11, 2008, when the Eureka made it's first flight to Monterey. It flew semi-regular sightseeing flights along the coastline for a couple years, first from Monterey, then later from the nearby Marina airport. It also provided an aerial platform for scientific studies and cameras for sporting events. It ceased operations in November 2012 due to a slow economy and a helium shortage.

On the afternoon I was photographing the airship, I was approached by airport security saying he'd gotten a report of a "suspicious person" taking pictures. No doubt the report came from two airline employees who passed by me a few minutes earlier. The officer actually asked me "What are you taking pictures of?" I didn't say a word but merely gestured towards the largest thing that had ever flown into Monterey, and he said "Yeah, I guess that is kinda interesting." He decided I wasn't a threat to national security and we each went about our business.

Photo Copyright James B. Toy.

Uploaded

September 9th, 2014

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