Akron Windtunnel Experiments 1935

© NASA

I just browsed a bit through YouTube and found a very interesting video of Windtunnel Experiments done in NASA Langley Research Center 1935. Worth a look for anyone interested in aerodynamics and historic airship footage. The models they used was a 1/14 scale model of the Akron and a model of the Lakehurst Hangar of equal scale.

Links:

• Tests of the US Akron and Lakehurst Hangar

Goodyear meets Zeppelin

Today I would like to talk about Jens Schenkenberger a Zeppelin and Airship enthusiast from Germany. He has a nice website called Zeppelinfan.de that is worth a visit, he has a wealth of information about Airships available for the interested. His website is also available in English, even though the most content is available in German. Click here for the english version of his Website. He also has put together an Exhibition about the Goodyear Blimp operations out of Akron Ohio. The exhibit can bee seen in the "Grenz-Raum" of the Zeppelin-Museum Friedrichshafen (Lake Constance in Germany) from November 16th, 2007 to January 6th, 2008. The exhibit features models, authentic airship parts, photos, magazines, merchandise, and more. Unlike many other Companies in the Airship Business Goodyear has the longest running tradition with their blimp business. Check out the articles in German and English on his Website for more information about the exhibit. So if you happen to be in Germany make a trip to Lake Constance and visit the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Go to their Website for more details on how to get there and when they are open.
If you want to read more about the Goodyear Blimps check out these related stories:

• The Goodyear Blimp makes the news.
• YouTube Airship stuff - part 2 (featuring a Video of the Goodyear Blimp)
• Want to pilot the goodyear blimp ?
• Airship pictures roundup
• About "Airship Advertising"

Job offering at Lockheed Martin in the lighter-than-air business

Lockheed Martin, developing the High Altitude Airship approached us asking for our help. They currently are looking to fill a position at their Akron Site. Here is the job posting that Pete Bugnatto asked us to share:

Lockheed Martin is currently seeking a business development lead that investigates, identifies, leads the creation of proposals, and captures new Lighter Than Air Systems business – primarily from military and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) customers.

This person would Bring intimate knowledge of key technical disciplines including: system engineering, material science knowledge, laser & sensor performance and trade offs, and airframe operations.

The successful candidate understands Department of Defense (DoD) requirements from to execution to delivery, works well with tri-service customers, is familiar with the DoD procurement process, and has demonstrated the ability to win key new business initiatives.

This person will be located in Akron, OH

About Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin in 1996 bought Loral Corp, formerly Goodyear Aerospace, and got the Akron Airdock and related buildings. The airdock was later acquired by the Summit County Port Authority and leased back to Lockheed Martin.

• Akron operations are part of Lockheed Martin's MS2 Defense and Surveillance Systems, which is in its Electronic Systems division.
• Akron work includes the High Altitude Airship program; an un-tethered, pilot-less airship that will fly at 65,000 feet and be capable of performing reconnaissance surveillance and communication missions; as well as aerostats; jet fighter simulations; weapons development; laser-based communications and sensor systems.
• About 500 people work at the local facilities.

If interested, please go to www.lockheedjobs.com and apply for position 19872BR

Eventhough this is in the military and defence sector, it's a very interesting job offering, where you will be able to work on something that has never been done before in the lighter than air business. Since the jobs in the lighter-than-air industry are still quite sparse we will continue to point out any job posting we can find. If you have a job posting for your company in the airship or lighter-than-air industry please don't hesitate to send it to us.

YouTube Airship stuff - part 1

Paul Boldt who contributes to the Blog regular with his great Future Flight story just posted a few links to YouTube Videos on the Yahoo Airshiplist and I thought, that I share some of them with you, it's gonna be a multi part post since there quite a few Videos. Also if you have not yet checked out Paul's story, read the already published parts, and keep an eye out for part 4 coming soon:
=FUTURE>FLIGHT - an airship story - Part 1
=FUTURE>FLIGHT - an airship story - Part 2
=FUTURE>FLIGHT - an airship story - Part 3

Now on to the Videos, the first one is a Video of a test Flight of the USS Macon.

New Dirigible on Trial Flights 1933/04/24 (1933)

Video number two is a CG animated flyby of the USS Akron.

Akron: Out of the clouds

Video three shows the Zeppelin NT starting, notice the zero ground crew during the start and compare that to a start of the Goodyear blimp. This video really showcases the Zeppelins manoeuvrability.

bye bye ! (The last Start of the year)

The fourth Video is a collection of clips of the Zeppelin Hindenburg flying over Manhattan, let's all hope we will see this happen soon with a new cross Atlantic passenger Airship line.

Hindenburg Zeppelin Circles Manhattan Island

The fifth and last video for this post is a clip of what I think is a Skyship 600 on it's mast.

Airship 600 Blimp - Docked & Swaying In The Wind

So stay tuned for even more videos later tonight, and tomorrow, there is some interesting stuff coming up, a new remote controlled blimp, a unmanned airship built for the US Army and even a blimp from Columbia. Thanks again to Paul Boldt for starting this.

Ohio Akron and it's airships

When you write about airships you have to come accross Akron Ohio sooner or later. To me this happened this week, somehow this city and it's airshipindustry chased after me. First I found this picture on a website called Plan59 they are calling themselfes "the museum (and gift shop) of midcentury illustration. I don't know if they have more pictures and images of airships one might have to look through the archives. They also offer high resolution TIFF versions and a high resolution JPG, too.

But this was not by far every thing about Akron, next there was some buzz about the Dynalifter Project that drew my attention to them, right now I am trying to get an interview from Robert Rist one of the founders and Co-President of Ohio Airships, Inc. the Company behind the Dynalifter Aircraft. The Dynalifter, is not a classic airship because it needs dynamic-lift to fly and and is not able to do VTOL (vertical take off and landing) like most modern airships can. But the project aims to combine the best of both worlds, fuel efficiency of airships and speed and handling of planes. So stay tuned for more on that too.
Our last Akron encounter is with the current owner of the big hangar that is pictured above in the illustration. If you kept track Lockheed Martin is currently the owner and they are/were developing a High Altitude Airship that can stay deployed for a very long time in a high, almost geo-stational, location in the athmosphere. I will try to find out more about the project and the progress they have made if I can. If not all we have is the marketing illustrations that some of you have already read/heard about but out main goal is to satisfy the customer.

Regards,
Andreas