AKRON -- German-made parts that will be used to build new, larger and faster Goodyear blimps are arriving at the company's airship hangar in northeast Ohio.
The Akron Beacon Journal (You need to be a member to view our links.) reports that parts delivered last week at the Wingfoot Lake hangar base near Akron are the first of many to come.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is preparing to begin construction in January of its new state-of-the-art airship. The new aircraft will replace the Spirit of Goodyear blimp.
The new airship will be part of a $63 million overhaul of Goodyear's blimp fleet announced last year.
Goodyear is teaming up with a German manufacturer to replace its three U.S. airships. The first new blimp will go into operation in 2014.
The Associated Press
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I cannot wait to see them fly over Akron on test runs!
Pretty amazing schedule. If the government were doing it, it would take $3 billion and six years for the prototype to fly.
Their website doesn't include any design info; but the Canton paper says:
"The new airships will be about 50 feet longer than the current 192-foot blimps and fly at a speed of 73 mph, compared with the current speed of 54 mph.
Each new airship is expected to cost about $21 million, including technical support. They also will have state-of-the-art avionics and flight-control systems.
An internal frame is one of the features that will separate the new aircraft from the current blimps. The new semi-rigid airships will still be called Goodyear blimps even though Ogden says purists would point out that blimps do not have internal frames. They basically are large, helium-filled bags with gondolas, or cabins, fastened underneath for the pilot and passengers.
The new blimps also will have three prop-engines instead of two, with two engines on the side of the airship and one at the rear."
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