 The idea of an airplane being carried by an airship was actually  taken from the U.S. Navy airships U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Macon.  Each airship, slightly smaller than the Zeppelin shown in the movie,  actually had a trapeze (also known as a "sky hook") under the belly  of the airship, and hangar space inside for up to four small planes.  The planes were intended to act as scouts that used the airship as a  flying aircraft carrier. The builders of the Hindenburg also  attempted, with help from the Navy, to install a similar trapeze on  the Hindenburg shortly before her disastrous last flight in 1937.  The idea was for the small plane to act as a mail courier. However,  the pilot was unable to "hook on" to the trapeze consistently, the  experiment was abandoned, and the trapeze was removed from the  Hindenburg before she departed for her final flight. In  _Great Waldo Pepper, The (1975)_ (qv), the character of Kessler was  based on that pilot, WW1 German ace Gen. Ernst Udet.