Look at the grandeur of a dinner aboard the Hindenburg, the tables set as nicely as any restaurant of the era, starched linen shining, elegant china made just for the company set with mathematical precision…

The sense of solidity is so illusory – between fiery crashes and deliberate destruction, it all must be lost. Or is it? I was quite surprised when I found this at an airline memorabilia show in San Francisco:

It turns out that the company recognized that despite the renowned stability of the zeppelin, a higher level of breakage might be expected than at a restaurant on the ground, so they had a lot of extra dinnerware made. Alas, this wasn’t in my budget at the time so I couldn’t take it home, but even getting to see it was awe-inspiring.