The Good Old Blimp Days

Remember the days when Blimps ruled the skys?

www.rootsweb.com...

www.rootsweb.com...

www.airships.net...

www.flyingcircusairshow.com...

www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com...

www.history.navy.mil...

ails.arc.nasa.gov...

www.assonetart.com...

www.moffettfieldmuseum.org...

www.history.navy.mil...

[edit on 1-5-2006 by Browno]

Browno, if Blimps were so great how come none of your links shows one?

blimp Pronunciation (blmp)
noun
1. A nonrigid, buoyant airship.

www.tfd.com...



I don't think blimps ever ruled the sky, but I think they have a future as luxury liners for the rich, or as a military surveillance platform or cargo transport craft.

I know I'd love to see something the size of the Hindenburg fly over my house, but the Hindenburg was not a blimp. It had a structural frame, where a blimp is just a big gas bag.

EDIT: Adding link............


[edit on 1/5/2006 by anxietydisorder]

Now THAT is a blimp!

Browno, you wanna know how they got that name?

in 1912 the British Admiralty (then responsible for Airship operations in the UK) officially classified the various types of Airship as follows;

Type A , Rigid (or dirigible, the kind in your links)
Type B, Limp (non rigid) colloquially referred to in the RNAS as 'type blimp' and then just 'blimp'
Type C, Semi rigid (a combination of the two)

Hence the word 'Blimp'.

[edit on 1-5-2006 by waynos]

The proper term is "Aerostat." They will make a comeback, mark my words, they will be back! MWAHAAHAHAH! Erm....sorry, got a little carried away.

Here is a hybrid concept using both gas filled bags and rigid vacuum cells.

www.gizmag.com...

Originally posted by sardion2000
The proper term is "Aerostat."

No it isn't, Aerostats are tethered to one place (hence the 'stat' part) Blimps are free to fly around

Aerostat
An aerostat is a tethered or moored balloon often shaped like an airship and usually filled with helium. Aerostats differ from airships and balloon (aircraft) in that airships and balloons are both free flying whereas aerostats are tied to the ground.

The term "aerostat" is sometimes informally used to refer to any lighter than air aircraft. However, in modern technical usage, it refers only to moored balloons

I love airships. I wish there were still zeppelins around (but without the highly flammable doped aluminized fabric skin). That would be more fun than a cruise ship.

I got to fly the Goodyear blimp in 1986. The control cab was built in the 1930s and had a sidewheel controller for pitch. I found the handling qualities a bit awkward. More recent blimps have a standard yoke. Maybe not as romantic, but easier to fly.

Oh, yes! As a child, I loved when a blimp floated overhead, almost silent, the purr of engines. There actually were open spaces to land a blimp nearby, and I remember an older sister taking a ride in one (I wonder where the picture is of her smiling from the gondola.) I rued the day when they turned into flying billboards. I saw one last summer along the West Coast, a mighty giant slowly traversing the coastal ranges, giant trees below, harking back to a time when life moved slower. A child scanning the sky might have said look a ufo, never having seen a graceful airship before. I wonder when I'll get to see one again.

UK members might like to watch episodes 5& 6 of the current Doctor Who series on BBC1, to be broadcast a week on Saturday and the Saturday after that. Having landed back in modern day London the travellers are shocked to look up and see fleets of giant Zeppelins flying overhead, the cgi airships on the clip I've seen look extremely cool!

We have several of them here flying around NYC. The Goodyear , Fujifilm and I think there is one other. Only in summertime tho. One of them has this lighted netting that goes around the sides of the blimp..at night it makes you look twice seeing the lights in the sky. Looks like a UFO. They travel very slowly and when its windy they fly very erratically.


Pie

It would be boss if these big hindenberg sized airships were built again but used the stuff that blimps use. They could be good flying cruise ships/flying aircraft carriers BUT On the other side, they would be a target for hijackers and enemy fighter jets so no is the answer.

www.globalskyships.com...

www.airship.flyer.co.uk...

www.airshipoperations.com...

Waynos, Have you ever seen the film 'Gunbus'? AKA: Sky Bandits

Its a bit of a cheap movie but still quite like it, British made from 1986 about two cowboys who get themselves involved in the First World War, They join the RFC(Now the RAF) and battle against a German blimp which is miles bigger than the Hindenberg.

[edit on 2-5-2006 by Browno]

Never seen that one Browno. Actually I've never heard of it either. I'll keep a look out for it though.

I live next to a large blimp factory, and their main business is for the military.