Free Republic

Goodyear has let the helium out of the last of its fabled fleet of blimps, but the company's flight program will continue. About two dozen employees were on hand early Tuesday to witness the deflation of California-based Spirit of Innovation. But shed no tears, blimp fans, you'll still see a familiar blue-and-gold form floating over your favorite sports event or awards show. Although the blimp's replacement, Wingfoot Two, will look about the same when it arrives at Goodyear's airship base in Carson later this year, it will be a semi-rigid dirigible.

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the loss of the U.S. Navy airship USS Macon, NOAA today announced that the wreck site on the seafloor within Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Macon, a 785-foot dirigible was one of the largest airships in the world – comparable in size to the RMS Titanic. It was intended to serve as a scout ship for the Pacific Fleet and had the ability to launch and recover Sparrowhawk biplanes. In service less than two years, the Macon, based at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale, Calif.,...

Clark native Tim Lichardus hasn't had a place to call home for the last 12 years -- no apartment, no house, no timeshare. His job as a blimp crewman requires him to live out of a suitcase 11 months of the year. But the job is not without perks. There's no mortgage, no rent and no lawn. In addition, he's traveled to Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro and China. But he isn't the one waving to worshippers, tourists and sports fans from a thousand feet in the air. He's on terra firma -- come rain, snow or heavy winds -- directing...

The flying hotel Thunderbird 2: The 700ft super-airship that will gently float you around the worldLast updated at 23:32pm on 1st February 2008  With its fins and whale-like shape, it resembles Thunderbird 2. But, unlike the huge International Rescue rocket in the puppet series, this gigantic airship won't be roaring off in a blast of flame and smoke to any international emergencies. Instead, its designers say it will gently lift 40 passengers into the sky for a serene cruise of the world. Scroll down for more...   Uplifting: Manned Cloud's deisgners say it will offer eco-friendly holidays    The...

The dirigible, or airship, may be employed as a tool to detect potential attacks against the United States, DoD officials told House subcommittee members March 4. "We believe the best way to protect Americans is to defeat terrorists as far away from our homeland as we can," Air National Guard Maj. Gen. John A. Love said in his prepared testimony before the House Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee. Love is a senior officer with U.S. Northern Command, the unified command charged with defending the United States from land, air and sea attack. Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for...

BERLIN (AP) _ As the gleaming white-and-blue airship takes off from a freshly mown field at Berlin's Tempelhof airport, the notion of using the 150-year-old technology in defense of the United States seems as impossible as Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin's dream of using his cumbersome creations as fighting machines. But with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. military has been forced to reassess threats, and two major defense contractors are pitching the zeppelin as a potential piece in the homeland security puzzle. Military planners envision unmanned airships as high-altitude radar platforms keeping watch for anything trying to penetrate U.S....