Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have long been known for advances in engineering. Automotive, aerospace, and photography are only a few of the research and development topics dominated by German-speaking technologists.
Unexpected benefits sometimes arise from these engineering projects.
In the last decade, several projects were proposed to develop capabilities for moving large and heavy objects by air. Several massive cargo aircraft were designed. One of them would have been the world's largest airplane, of incredible size, with incredible capacities.
However, a competing design, an updated version of the Zeppelin, ultimately proved better. So, nearly seventy years after the Hindenburg disaster which ended the first phase of Zeppelin development, the second phase began. Thankfully, these new Zeppelins are filled with inflammable helium! So the Zeppelins are no longer historical curiosities: they are flying almost every day.
But what about the project that didn't happen - the one that would have been the world's largest and most powerful airplane? It was never built, because the Zeppelin project was calculated to be better. But the company which had designed it had already built the world's largest aircraft hangar - for an airplane which would never be built! What do you do with a 700,000 square-foot building, 32 stories high, made of 14,000 tons of steel?
Easy! German engineers will always come up with something! They built the world's largest indoor water park! Thousands of tourists visit it daily; it's located between Berlin and Dresden!
