One
of my book clubs – Red Read Robin, just read the fascinating book Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon. It’s a
historical fiction book based on the flight of the Hindenburg and its blowing
up and catching fire in 1937. She did extensive research on this before writing
her novel. Ninety-seven people were on the Hindenburg, a floating luxury hotel as
she referred to in her notes at the end which was owned by Germany. It was what
would have been six stories high. Painted swastikas were on the outside. In
addition to its thirty-six passengers, the Hindenburg carried sixty-one other
persons on its last flight; the regular crew of forty, plus twenty-one
additional individuals who were aboard as observers or in training for upcoming
assignments to Hindenburg’s sister ship, LZ-130, which was nearing completion.
I
had heard of the Hindenburg, but it happened before I was born, so I didn’t
really remember much about what I’d heard later so I found the book absolutely
fascinating because all the characters she used in her book were actual people
on the zeppelin. Some were passengers traveling to the United States. Many were
Germans and some were Americans heading home, and there was also the crew.
For
three days they floated across the Atlantic Ocean before it blew up just before
landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people died, the rest were able to
jump out of windows and survived, although many suffered severe burns and/or
broken bones.
Lawhon
read articles written by several survivors, who said the flight was uneventful,
but she didn’t believe them. “I’ve taken enough transatlantic flights to know
you can’t place that many people in a small space and not have tension
brewing.” The Hindenburg was a huge zeppelin with the passengers on floor A
with separate rooms, a dining room, a lounge, a library, a room to drink and
smoke in, and one shower room. The crew had rooms on floor B with their own rooms
sometimes shared with others, a dining room and restrooms. Below that was where
the large trunks and other things were stored including two dogs in crates and
the post office.
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| People down below were fascinated by it. |
Ariel
Lawton read as much as she could find about those who were on that flight of
the Hindenburg, and that’s where the fiction part of the book comes in. She
picked various people from that flight who she learned a little bit about, and
created her characters. Except for beginning information about this flight, and
short inserts towards the end telling how much longer it would be before it
blew up, each section had one character’s point of view.
Although
there were many characters in the book, she chose five for their own point of
view. Each section didn’t list the name, but the job or in one case someone
suspicious. One was The Navigator, who was Max Zabel. He’d been working
on there for several years. He also had the position of post officer handling
the mail, which was dropped off at several spots. He was in love with the
Stewardess, but because staff fraternizing was prohibited, he didn’t openly do
anything to let others including her know his feelings although his friends
suspected.
The
Stewardess, Emilie Imhof, was the first female hired to fly on a zeppelin. She
was only hired because a lot of wealthy women needed help with their corsets, etc.
and they wouldn’t be comfortable with male stewards. Emilie had been a widow
for ten years and still grieved for her husband. She was very good at taking
care of the passengers. Eventually, she started noticing Max and a beginning
romance started, but ended when something happened long before the explosion.
Another
point of view was The Cabin Boy, Werner Franz, a fourteen year old boy,
who had to clean all the passengers’ shoes that were put outside the door each
night as well as a lot of other duties. He was a sweet boy with problems
reading. Probably dyslectic, we all decided at the book discussion. He really
looked up to Max, who treated him well.
The
Journalist was Gertrude Adele. She was a journalist, who had her press
pass taken away by the Nazis before she left with her husband to go to America
on a book tour. Her husband, Leonhard was twenty years older than her and had
written a book. Because she was a reporter, she was very curious about others,
and at times said too much. Her husband tried to keep her in hand in a gentle
way so she wouldn’t get in trouble with her mouth which she had a way of doing.
They had a good marriage and had left their baby back in Germany with her
mother.
The
last POV was The American, who was suspicious throughout the book. He rarely
gave his name and the few times he did (probably because there really was an
American on the ship by that name) he avoided or made up what he did. He was
always exploring and looking in places he wasn’t supposed to be in. He was a
suspicious character throughout especially since we knew the Hindenburg would
be blown up at the end. Also, there had been bomb threats, too.
Instead
of chapters, it was divided into sections with each POV being presented. Some were anywhere from five to seven pages
long, and some only one page. Even though it was only from five points of
views, the conversations with others as well as the observations made by these
five people gave a reader a pretty good understanding of the different people
on the Hindenburg.
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| It's hard to believe that so many managed to escape. |
The
ending was tragic, and I shed tears, but I still I highly recommend the book as
one that kept me wanting to keep reading throughout. Some of her characters
lived two didn’t. What was amazing is that any one lived at all through that horrible
explosive burning of the Hindenburg. The explosion was caused by a combination
of hydrogen and thermite used to keep the Hindenburg moving. It was a dangerous
combination where the slightest spark could cause it to explode. It would have
been much safer if they’d used Helium, but the United States was the only
country that had it, and they refused to sell any to the Germans because of
what the Nazis were doing.
What
do you know of the Hindenburg?
