Video Clips
|
 |
AVI -- 1.5 MB
The Pilgrim was the first commercial airship to use helium and was Goodyear's first promotional blimp. It was commissioned by the wife of former Goodyear Chairman P.W. Litchfield. |
 |
AVI -- 1.2 MB
The Pilgrim, a non-rigid airship built by Goodyear, caught the attention of many when it dropped in on a department store or dropped packages via parachute to recipients below. |
 |
AVI -- 1.4 MB
The Army and the Navy commissioned Goodyear to build a variety of free balloons to test materials used in lighter-than-air flight. |
 |
AVI -- 1.3 MB
It took more than a year to construct the Goodyear Air Dock in Akron. The massive structure was large enough to accommodate seven football fields. |
 |
AVI -- 1.4 MB
Jeannette McDonald was among the Hollywood stars who "hammed" it up with the blimps, setting the stage for a number of key roles for Goodyear's lighter-than-air celebrities. |
 |
AVI -- 1.5 MB
Aviators had a lot of fun with the Goodyear blimps, including in-flight launches tethered from the bottom of the helium giants. |
 |
AVI -- 3 MB
In 1929 American Aviator Amelia Earhart launched Defender, the first Goodyear airship to carry a night sign. |
 |
AVI -- 2.1 MB
Between 1925 to 1941, Goodyear's blimps made more than 150 flights and traveled more than 4 million miles -- just for fun. |
 |
AVI -- 2.3 MB
Building the rigid airship U.S.S. Akron took two years and more than 100 men. It required seven acres of cotton fabric and more than 6.5 million rivets to cover its 758-foot-long metal skeleton. |
 |
AVI -- 2.8 MB
The First Lady of the United States Christened the U.S.S. Akron on August 8, 1931. A crowd of thousands was on hand for the spectacular event. |
 |
AVI -- 2.4 MB
The U.S.S. Akron, built by Goodyear for the U.S. Navy could carry 91 passengers and had a mess hall, galley and restrooms supported by 6.5 million cubic feet of helium. |
 |
AVI -- 2.1 MB
The U.S.S. Akron was the first rigid airship designed by Goodyear for the U.S. Navy. It featured an "air hook" used as a platform for aircraft that it carried. The Akron crashed in 1933 during a severe storm. |
 |
AVI -- 2.5 MB
The U.S.S. Macon was the last of the rigid airships built for the U.S. Navy by Goodyear. The Macon captivated the interest of the world, until it was forced to land in the sea in a severe storm, February 1935. |
 |
AVI -- 2.6 MB
The loss of the Macon marked the end for rigid airships, but Goodyear's public relations blimps continued to be popular, and were later used as trainers to prepare blimp pilots for use during WWII |
 |
AVI -- 2.2 MB
During WWII Goodyear provided nearly 150 blimps to the Navy, serving the armed forces as submarine spotters and "early warning" observers. |
 |
AVI -- 1.4 MB
After WWII, Goodyear bought 7 blimps back from the War Products Administration and began using them for advertising purposes and later introduced a lighted 3-panel advertising sign. |
 |
AVI -- 3.8 MB
In 1963, Goodyear televised with CBS the first live event from a blimp, beginning a tradition in global television coverage of major events. |
 |
AVI -- 3.2 MB
The pilot on board follows radio instructions from the director in the control truck to direct this camera to give television viewers the spectacular aerial pictures they've come to expect from the Goodyear Blimps. |
 |
AVI -- 2.6 MB
Flying at 35 mph, the Blimps movements are ponderous. Nevertheless, the 3 U.S. blimps -- The Stars and Stripes, Spirit of Akron and Eagle -- cover more than 120 events annually. |
 |
AVI -- 2.6 MB
Goodyear's blimps are flown using a variety of technologies, from fly-by-wire navigation systems like fighter aircraft to older cable-and-pully systems. |
 |
AVI -- 2 MB
Each blimp in Goodyear's fleet requires a small army of people: four pilots, riggers, engine mechanics, electronics technicians, ground handlers and a public relations person. |
 |
AVI -- 3.3 MB
Controlling the blimp on the ground and in the air is a balancing act: of people, sand, air and helium. |
 |
AVI -- 1.3 MB
Upon landing, two members of the crew grab the lines, leading it in where the rest of the ground handlers connect it to the mooring mast. |
 |
AVI -- 2.4 MB
More than 60 percent of the time the blimps are in the air is spent supporting television events, 10 percent is for travel, and the rest of the time is for special requests. |
 |
AVI -- 2.7 MB
The Skytacular night sign was first installed on the Goodyear Blimp Mayflower in 1966. The Super Skytacular was a later improvement on the night messaging system. |
 |
AVI -- 5.2 MB
Following the devastion brought to South Florida by Hurricane Andrew, Goodyear's Star and Stripes Blimp used its Super Skytacular messaging system to give residents relief and survival messages in English, Spanish and Creole. |
 |
AVI -- 4.6 MB
Nightsign technology has come along way from incandescent lamps with colored lenses to new fibre optic systems that display brighter, more vivid moving images much like a computer screen. |
 |
AVI -- 7.7 MB
Over the years, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has operated more than 40 blimps for public relations and advertising purposes. The Goodyear blimps are among the most popular and highly recognized corporate icons in history. |
QTVR Files
|
 |
QTVR -- 495K
The hangar at Wingfoot Lake Airship Base near Akron is large enough to hold two Blimps and a host of support equipment and trucks. |
