Mr. Wiedmann recalls that the state premier at the time told him, “If you could just do something to revive the zeppelins.” With those words to the wise, Mr. Wiedmann pursued the possibility of reviving production and eventually settled on a plan with the leaders of the foundation businesses. The new zeppelin program wholly insulated Friedrichshafen against suggestions that it had abandoned the foundation’s original purpose. “Since then, it’s been quiet,” he said.

There was still the little matter of what to do with the 250-foot-long airships once they built them.

The reintroduced zeppelins have been used for a variety of purposes, including air-quality testing and crowd surveillance at public events. They have carried roughly 80,000 tourists for gentle rides in the sky in many locales, including in Germany and Japan.

The fourth and latest model is now in London, captivating tourists with a bird’s eye view of the city before the airship begins a slow journey on a cargo ship to its future home in the San Francisco Bay Area. There, its new owners, Airship Ventures, intend for it to ferry tourists and carry scientific equipment aloft for testing and research.

Perhaps the unlikeliest mission for the new generation of zeppelins was treasure hunter. The prototype ended up in Botswana, where the company DeBeers used it in diamond exploration. That was also where the prototype met its demise last year, wrecked by a dust devil that hit the ship while it was on the ground.

In America, the zeppelin is still best known for the stunning 1937 Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, N.J., which claimed the lives of 36 crew members and passengers. But here in Friedrichshafen, the airships stand for the technological advancement on which the city prides itself. Their oblong silhouette is found on everything from beer bottles and business cards to the jungle gym near the waterfront where children play.

The airships are proof that flying can still be a joy and a prod to the imagination. The experience is singular enough that tickets start selling at $300 for half an hour’s flight.