Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible, book 33 in the original series, was first published in 1930, or seven years before the famous Hindenburg disaster, but our intrepid inventor makes use of a fictionsl less explosive gas Tom invented (safer than nitrogen, but not as safe as helium, we're told), and a fictional metal called 'oralum' to build his huge dirigible. It was commissioned by Mr. Martin Jardine of the Jardine Company. Martin Jardine is not the easiest customer to work with. There's a chapter in which he brings in several impractical ideas and doesn't want to listen to Tom.

The airship in the third book in the orginal series, Tom Swift and His Airship, was named the Red Cloud. The dirigible is named the Silver Cloud.

Tom's father becomes ill early in the book. Mr. Swift, Tom's wife, Mary, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nestor, are spending some time at a lovely hotel on Mount Camon. The fact that the surrounding forest is very dry is mentioned several times.

There are misadventures in the book. Tom takes his family and in-laws to the hotel in the house on wheels from book 32. On the way, they help a couple with a traveling marionette show whose van has overturned. The Notines go on to provide entertainment at the hotel on Mt. Carmon. Not long after that rescue, the house on wheels is caught in a disaster of its own.

The Silver Cloud runs into an interesting problem during one of its test flights, but the climax of the book involves a forest fire. (This is no spoiler. The original title of the book was Tom Swift and His Big Dirigible; or Adventures Over the Forest of Fire.) Tom and his employees have their work cut out for them to save some people who are trapped in that fire.

The only downside to this book is the way some characters are portrayed. Pietro and Maria Notine, the Italian (or Italian-American) marionettists, are merely passionate about their work. The Italian (or Italian-American) hotel gardener, Cosso Tobini, is described as 'evil-faced' as well as being less than sane when it comes to guests picking the roses. (Decades ago I knew a Red Cross volunteer who was retired military and Civil Service. He had been called 'Italian' when he was young, although I think he was born in Connecticut. He used to tell me that when he was young he was Italian, but now he's considered a WASP.) The Swifts' faithful African-American employee, Eradicate, speaks in stereotypical dialect for the era. So does the giant employee Koku. There's a dwarf named James Chock who is treated as a suspicious character. If you can hold your nose for those portrayals, this is an enjoyable read. ( )