Like a leaden Zeppelin

Did you know that an engineering product of my hometown Friedrichshafen had a major impact on the history of rock'n'roll? No, probably not. Well, the reason is far from obvious -- no guitars, drums or in fact any other musical instruments are or ever have been manufactured there. But probably the most beautiful (well, I am biased here) way of airtravel was pioneered there: the Zeppelin airship. Like for example this one:

This photo depicts the fiery end of the Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg (named after the former president Paul von Hindenburg) in Lakehurst, NJ. And today happens to be the anniversary this disaster. Well, the rock'n'roll connection is the following: Apparently, or so the legend goes, Keith Moon of The Who commented on Jimmy Page's plans to form a new band that any band with Page on board "would go down like a leaden Zeppelin" -- and hence the name of Page's new band became "Led Zeppelin" (the older ones of you might remember them).

Well, growing up in Friedrichshafen is impossible without learning to love Zeppelin airships. I don't know how often, but probably quite often, my parents took me to the Zeppelin Museum downtown to see the few artifacts that remain of the behmoths of airtravel. And somewhen during primary school, Eugen Bentele, at that time one of the last surviving crewmembers of the Hindenburg visited my class. Must have left quite some impression on me that time, as otherwise I would have -- like almost everything that happened during primary school -- long forgotten it.