Ep 99: Rises and Falls

'We can never have luck without a cat on board' he said. If this were true, the crew would have been better off with a different cat. "

The story, about what goes up, must eventually come down, perfectly weaves the tale of the rise and fall of nearly every subject in the story.

I got today's information from:
https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/kiddo-the-cat.htm

https://www.airships.net/first-attempt-fly-atlantic-wellman-vaniman-airship-america/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawley_Harvey_Crippen

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/paul-von-hindenburg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_(airship)

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hindenburg-adorned-swastika/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Vaniman

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/paul-von-hindenburg

Look up Melvin Vaniman - his artwork and what he did before getting on these ships is a whole other story that someone else can tell. He climbed skyscraper poles to take photos, he was like, a stunt cameraman before getting into dirigible business! And there is a famous photo of him with Kiddo the “lucky” cat - he didn’t look unhappy given how upset he was with the cat at the beginning of their journey. I’d like to think they made up before parting ways.