Peter Von's favourite "machine" is this 8 metre long dirigible, driven by a stuffed monkey in a large cane washing basket gondola at the Northland Shopping Centre. The monkey wears a genuine World War I flying helmet and jacket. There's an 1880s mahogany and brass ship's wheel surrounded by a huge copper coffee pot, a Victorian mangle adapted as a crepe making machine, antique French car headlights, a brass anchor and a vintage gas burner with a motor labelled "Best Boy's Clockwork" which drives the propellers the wrong way. Peter Von supplied the following description for inclusion on this page. "The Monkey Airship at The Pancake Parlour Restaurant in Northland". Lovely!Tone News inert gas photographic airship for the correct and exact recording (by means of the action of light on suitably prepared silver-nitrate film) the annual "Great Colonial Heavier-Than-Air Pancake Tossing Race For Ladies", held in conjunction with Shrove Tuesday, an international Pancake Celebration Day. The clockwork-powered airship is piloted by an elderly, semi-retired Chimpanzee trained in the art of aerial photographic reconnaisance, having spent some fruitful years in the employ of the late colonial balloonist and photographer Townsend Durreaux, celebrated for his panoramic views of the battlefields of The First World War. The airship is the last remaining example of a type once common and has been extensively remodelled from original plans. The jet-assisted take-off device, obvious under the pod of the main basket, is a relatively recent addition made necessary after a near-fatal attack by a rhinocerous whilst the airship (and it's occupant) were on duty in Tanganyika. A point of mild historic interest is the large woven-cane basket which passes for a cockpit... some have speculated that it is no more than a common laundry basket... which in fact it is, except that it was especially woven by a coven of blind nuns involved in the relief of Paris during the Great Seige of 1886. The Red Baron himself... At Northland we have built an entire fleet of airborne craft for our Lovely Ladies to pilot in the very elaborate and complex "The Annual Great Colonial Heavier-than air Pancake Tossing Race for Ladies". To see the original drawings and designs click on the picture of the Lovely pilot in the dirigible. Click on the Lovely Lady to return to the Home Page