Graf Zeppelin or Hindenburg ? over a 30s garage
As well as motoring photographs, Alan also sent me some superb pictures that were taken by his father in the 1930s, showing various airships over the skies of Britain in the late 1930s, prior to the outbreak of WW2. This one is particularly interesting, as it not only shows a Zeppelin slowly rumbling over the Kent population, which could be the Hindenburg, but also a garage full of old petrol pumps, and related signs and pump globes.
Back to Car Photographs Page 3.
More info on this airship photograph.
Alan says that the photograph was taken above Godwin Road, in the Cliftonville area of Margate in Kent. Airships, whether British R100s or German Graf Zeppelins, were not uncommon sights in the late 1930s, and I'm really grateful to Alan for emailing this picture over. The garage looks interesting too - note the petrol pump globes advertising motor spirit brands such as National Benzole, ACME, and Dominion (a 1920s brochure featuring petrol pumps made by the Bowser Company can be seen here). It must have looked great when the pumps were illuminated at night, although a few years later, during the blackout, there would be no illuminated pump globes in use!
Whether the airship shown above is the Hindenburg, I don't know as I cannot make out the serial number on the side. Also, photos I've seen of that airship didn't have a cabin at the front, low down, which this one looks like it might have. The Hindenburg would meet a fiery end while approaching its docking mast at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in the USA.
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