The damage they were fixing. It was in 1928 I believe though? That’s the Atlantic flight, and indeed they fixed a broken tail fin on that flight. It was thought lost, radio stations played a minute of silence and prayerea and stuff. Once they made it to America, people got mad at them for not responding by radio but it was because they had to slow down so much to repair they lost electricity to the radio (generated by turbines powered by forward motion)
For what it’s worth, the outer skin here is treated canvas, for aerodynamics. It doesn’t function to contain the lifting gas. That’s stored in a series of inner balloons inside the steel superstructure.
Every reserve image source I can find for this image says it’s from 1934.
It’s entirely possible there were multiple repairs done, given that what’s pictured appears to be a somewhat thought out procedure.
That looks absolutely terrifying.
For real. I guess the only thing slightly more terrifying would be not fixing it while in the middle of the Atlantic
All my nope
I’d be the guy on the left, just sitting there staring off the side wondering what I’m doing with my life and if I’ll have an opportunity for a career change.
I bet no one else has been “outdoors” that high up, at that point on the planet.
Likely, the inspiration for this ad:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230331024319/https://adland.tv/adnews/eds-airplane-2000-060-usa
Watch that first step!
