FEELIN' FAT (Part 2)

 Back with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company for a continuation of what I was writing last Friday about blimps and only blimps.  Be aware that nine ships, their pilots and crew were lost developing this lighter-than-air craft for the war effort. 

After the war, television was becoming very popular in the United States.  Goodyear was contacted by major broadcasting networks about the possibilities of using blimps as a platform for their cameras.  NBC had been working on microwave transmissions.  On January 1, 1955, a Goodyear blimp was used to broadcast pictures of the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, CA.  Now, they are used at almost every outdoor sporting event that is broadcast.

The number of blimps in Goodyear's fleet at any one time is three. Their ships are constantly being improved and updated.

As the 1960s began, Goodyear was able to incorporate lighted signage on the sides of it's crafts for increased advertising benefits.  In the 1970s, they built three strategically located bases in the U.S., for relatively quick access to any event.  In 1980, two of Goodyear's fleet covered the Olympics for the first time.

The construction of blimps has changed over the years.  The infamous Hindenburg, built by the Zeppelin Co, had a complete aluminum frame that held it's shape and was filled with hydrogen.  Other early blimps were filled completely with lighter-than-air gasses - no frame.  Goodyear built many of these.  Larger ones, were built with floor and ceiling framing but the shape was held by the gas.  

Goodyear's latest model is called the LZ-N07-101.  It is a semi-rigid lighter-than-air craft built using Zeppelin technology.  It is 246' long and 65' wide.  It can reach a maximum speed of 73 mph.   They have constructed three of these, called Wingfoot I, II, III, and they are placed at their bases in Akron, OH, Pompano Beach, FL and Los Angeles, CA.  

Blimps are big, blimps are fat, blimps are slow . . . but blimps do things no other craft can.