WWII US Lighter Then Air aircraft

B

bobhegf

Charter Member
Fellows we had lighter than air aircraft here at SOH at one time. Does anyone know what happened to them or if they have been reuploaded?
 
I think they were TR's ( Tango Romeo's ) creations . You might try contacting him over at simviation. Wahoo
 
Yep, TR's

There are two of them on page 5 of SimV's New CFS2 files. There's the K-class AI blimp with weps, and the Goodyear Defender pilotable ship, also armed and in US Navy mufti. Both are pretty cool.
 
Dirigibles

simonu said:
remember those airships from the twenties, the Macon and Akron theres an old old pack on Simviation second from the bottom page 46
Click to expand...

Yes, those two were the large pre-war dirigibles with the rigid frames, as opposed to the smaller blimps without the rigid airframe. The blimps came in various sizes and were most famously used for anti-sub patrols on the coast of the US, escorting convoys and were even stationed in the Med during WWII.
 
One time, when I was a little guy, my dad was on some sort of special assignment down in Glynco, NAS, Brunswick, GA. While he was there my mom took us by train down to Brunswick to visit for a weekend. While there we got a full tilt tour of the blimp hangar and got to go on board one of the blimps and look around. It was very cool. I am guessing this was 1957-58 or so.

I will never forget that trip- first train ride and first and only up close look at a blimp! What I especially remember was the huge hangar with the blimps inside. Anyway this thread got me thinkin' about that trip.

Here are a couple of links: one is the page about Little Known and Abandoned Georgia Airfields (you have to go down the page a way) and the other is a link to a government website of Historical Photos of Glynco NAS with some wonderful photos of Glynco and blimps.

Cheers,
MR
 
Good Year Blimp

Some years ago while living in Miami, I was able to codge a ride in the Good Year blimp one evening. (This was back when she was quartered there every winter down on one of the piers at Port of Miami.) There was a long waiting list because they could only carry four passengers, but when my turn came, it was worth the wait. It's one of the reasons that I enjoy flying TR's Good Year Defender, and dropping depth charges on Uboats as well as strafing thiem is tons of fun as well. The little K-class AI blimps do a hell of a job protecting convoys from marauding subs as well. You can do a grand little mission using TR's Type VII and Type VII Submerged.
 
Hey MR,

I spent some time at Glynco too; although when I was there the big hangers were gone.

Lucky you Nole. I saw the Goodyear blimp flying over South Florida last year. Wish I would have had my good camera with me as it was in the evening and the sun glinting off of it would have made a great photo.

If any of you get to Tillamook, Oregon, you can tour one of the big blimp hangers at the aviation museum at the Tillamook airport.
 
I saw a goodyear blimp this month flying south toward ft. lewis along Interstate 5. The strange thing I noticed was it was no longer said goodyear, but the name of a insurance company.
 
In case anyone is interested: architecturally/design speaking, Blimp Hangars are considered to be Quonset Huts- just really big. At least that is what Huell Howser reported on one his better "California's Gold" shows where the subject was Quonset huts and abandoned military bases and airfields in CA. Makes sense.
 
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