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11 - Lighter Than Air(Part 2)
The Goodyear Blimps
Over time, hydrogen-filled balloons were developed into true airships, elongated vehicles which were powered by internal
combustion engines and were flown under complete control of their pilots. The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron,
Ohio was prominent in the construction of such airships, building more than 310 between 1917 and 1992. About 250 of
Goodyear's airships were constructed under contract for the United States Army and Navy, while the others were used by
the company for public relations purposes. Three of these public relations vessels carried the name
Enterprise.
Airships were of one of three types: rigid, semi-rigid, and non-rigid. Rigid airships, also known as "zeppelins," had
a metal framework over which the outer envelope was stretched. Within this structure, separate compartments held the
gas which allowed the airship to float. Semi-rigid airships had a rigid keel, or lower half, with an unsupported
envelope over the top half. Non-rigid airships, also known as "dirigibles" or "blimps," had no rigid structure. Their
shape was maintained solely by the internal pressure of the lifting gas against the envelope.
For many years the origin of the word "blimp," that was used in referring to non-rigid airships, was a mystery. For
some time, Goodyear thought that "blimp" was a contraction of the military designation of a World War I British airship
known as "Balloon, Type B, Limp." However, later research showed that the British never used such a designation.
Another popular story was that the word originated from the British slang term "bloody," as in "that airship is bloody
limp!" However, the research of airship expert Dr. A.D. Topping uncovered the true origin of the word:
On Sunday, December 5, 1915, Lt. [A.D.] Cunningham [commander of the British airship station at Capel, England] was conducting his weekly inspection of the airship station.... During his inspection of the SS-12 [airship], Cunningham broke the solemnity of the occasion by playfully flipping his thumb at the gasbag. He was rewarded with an odd noise that echoed off the taut fabric. Cunningham smiled, then orally imitated the sound that his thumb had drummed out of the airship bag: "Blimp!"74
A young midshipman who accompanied Lt. Cunningham during his inspection later repeated the story to fellow officers at
the airship station, and the word "blimp" eventually became a part of the English dictionary.
Goodyear's first commercial, helium-filled airship was the Pilgrim, which was launched in 1925. At that time,
hydrogen was still the most frequently used lifting gas. But after the disastrous explosion of the German zeppelin
Hindenburg on May 6, 1937, non-flammable helium became the lifting gas of choice.
By 1928, New Englander P.W. Litchfield had become Goodyear's president and, as a yachting enthusiast, thought of the
airships as "air yachts." He soon directed that all future Goodyear blimps be named after winners of the America's Cup
yacht race. This tradition began with the 1928 airship Puritan and continued until the Spirit of Akron
was launched in 1991.
The first Goodyear blimp Enterprise was launched in August 1934. She was 140 feet long, with a 123,000 cubic
foot gas envelope capacity, and was powered by two 145 h.p. engines. She had a top speed of about 60 m.p.h. The
Enterprise was equipped with a series of neon-lighted frames, which allowed for night-time "neon-o-grams," and
she was used to advertise the company's product line from 1934 until 1942, when she was transferred to the United States
Navy as the training airship L-5. Goodyear reacquired the Enterprise's cab from the Navy in 1946 and
placed it in storage until it was rebuilt and reincarnated as the blimp Columbia (registration N-4A) in 1975.
The airships that were used by the Navy compiled an astonishing record during World War II, especially in the role of
escort for merchant ship convoys, protecting them from German U-boats lurking in the waters of the Atlantic. Although
532 vessels were sunk by U-boats during the course of the war, not a single one of the 89,000 ships escorted by an
airship was lost.
The second Goodyear blimp Enterprise was originally built as the navy airship L-16. She was acquired
by the company in 1946 and was rechristened Enterprise in May 1947. Like her predecessor, the Enterprise
had a 123,000 cubic foot gas envelope and a top speed of about 60 m.p.h. She made her last flight on September 25, 1959.
Also like her predecessor, her cab was rebuilt and reincarnated as a blimp named Columbia (registration N-3A),
from 1969 until 1975.
The third Goodyear blimp Enterprise was built at Houston, Texas during 1979 and christened Enterprise at
Pompano Beach, Florida (her home port) on November 8 of that year. The 192-foot Enterprise and her sister ships
Columbia and America were named after winners of the America's Cup yacht race. She was powered by two
210 h.p. engines and had a top speed of 50 m.p.h. Her gas envelope had a capacity of 202,700 cubic feet, just slightly
less than double that of the first Goodyear blimp Enterprise.
The Enterprise carried an average of 8,000 passengers each year, but her most prominent role was as an aerial
ambassador for the company, floating serenely over famous sporting events, such as the Indianapolis 500, the Super Bowl,
the World Series games, and the America's Cup yacht races. She provided an excellent overhead vantage point for
television cameras. The Enterprise made her 11,218th and last scheduled flight on April 19, 1991, and was
decommissioned and dismantled in early May. She was replaced by the new airship Spirit of Akron.
Lighter-than-air craft provided mankind with its first opportunity to reach for the skies, and they catch immediate
attention as they glide gracefully and silently across the skies. However, flight was not available to the masses until
the invention and development of winged, heavier-than-air craft.
It is almost a certainty that among the hundreds of thousands of such winged aircraft that have flown since the Wright
Brothers' first flight in 1903 there must have been some that were christened with the name Enterprise. However,
their identities and their stories remain unknown.
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| Intro
| Dedication
| Foreword
| Preface
| Spanish Armada
| European Fleets
| Independence
| Copyright ©
1996-2008 Arnold E.
van Beverhoudt, Jr.
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