Everything old is new again..Boop-a doop.

Seattle Post Intelligencer (Online) ^ | 5/17/02 | Mike Barber

[scouse]

Dirigibles get the call: Uncle Sam wants you

Friday, May 17, 2002

By MIKE BARBER:::::: SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Shades of Graf Zeppelin, USS Shenandoah and, oh the humanity, the Hindenberg.

Dirigibles -- massive flying machines that went the way of the mammoth a half-century ago -- are being resurrected as high-tech weapons in the war on terror.

Twice as big as a jumbo jet and soaring twice as high, they may soon be deployed to guard Canada and the United States, scanning for intruders on the Pacific Northwest's long coastline and international border.

The U.S. North American Air Defense Command -- NORAD -- in Colorado Springs, Colo., is considering a 21st-century generation of airships to watch for attacks, just as the military blimps from Tillamook, Ore., guarded the coastline and shipping lanes during World War II.

These airships, however, would be based on "lighter-than-air principles (but) would be more analogous to low-altitude satellites," said Maj. Ed Thomas, U.S. Aerospace Command spokesman in Colorado Springs.

The 700- to 800-foot-long dirigibles of the 1930s could soar up to 15,000 feet at nearly 80 mph. Specifications for the new generation of airships remain classified, but modern military planners envision a fleet of 10 remote-control craft. The airships, packed with radar and modern communication gear, could remain aloft for months, patrolling 13 miles above the Earth's surface in the calmest part of the atmosphere.

Satellites, by contrast, are much more expensive and can orbit or be parked thousands of miles above the surface. And unlike satellites, which generally cannot be retrieved except for a special space shuttle mission, airships can land for repairs or to take on new equipment.

"We are looking, from NORAD's perspective, at being able to provide enhanced radar coverage" of the perimeter of the continent, Thomas said. Ground-based radar is limited by the Earth's curvature.

Just a smidgen of a longer article which can be accessed at address shown

[scouse]

This time I hope they are a real success.

[ElkGroveDan]

just as the military blimps from Tillamook, Ore., guarded the coastline and shipping lanes during World War II.

Well now I'm in the mood for cheese, darn it, and I was planning to work for a few more hours.

[Dakmar]

I've always thought dirigibles have much more potential than is currently being used. It's obvious they will never be top choice as mass transport, but I bet I could make some money running a service between NYC and Miami that took a day or so and offered a super-cushy ride.

[scouse]

Maybe they are there simply to guard the cheese.....See! Our Gov is lying to us again.

[Bush2000]

Well now I'm in the mood for cheese, darn it, and I was planning to work for a few more hours.

Ah, somebody who's been to the Tillamook Cheese Factory or tasted some of their fine work... ;-)

[scouse]

I agree with you. With today's high tech' materials and high tech instrumentation it should be a lot safer than the old type of dirigible.

[CJinVA]

We use them now.

Here

[Tony in Hawaii]

Seems like they'd be just the ticket for sightseeing tours, like a cruise ship that can travel over land as well as sea.

[scouse]

Thanks for the link. I was thinking along the lines of a vessel like the Hindenburg.

[Willie Green]

but I bet I could make some money running a service between NYC and Miami that took a day or so and offered a super-cushy ride.

There may be opportunities for specialty tourist travel service.
I was under the impression that transport of large equipment too big to ship by highway or even rail was another possibility: (CargoLifter)
Either one could generate additional revenue with flashy advertising on the sides.
This military application is an interesting twist for the technology as well!!!

[Dakmar]

Even the old dirigibles would have been safer filled with helium instead of hydrogen, but that would have required selling Helium to the nazis. People still are horrified by the footage on the Hindenburg disaster, too, which would not have happened if the US had sold Nazi Germany enough helium to build a safe zeppelin. Again, politics thwarts true egalitarian science. BTW, I hate nazis, but see lighter-than-air transport as a viable alternative to crappy airline service, for those who have the time and money to enjoy it.

[scouse]

We still have to come up with a name for the flight attendants. Blimp Babes is too prosaic. :^))

[Dakmar]

Seems like they'd be just the ticket for sightseeing tours, like a cruise ship that can travel over land as well as sea.

I was thinking more like a combination hot-air-balloon/five-star-hotel, but your analogy is good, too, LOL.

[Dakmar]

How about "Grafzeppelin Girls"? What, no good? Hell, I've already printed up a few thousand service-station calendars. Crimony, man, I've spent almost a buck-and-a-half on ink alone. That Grafzeppelin I poster is costing me and my family so much to print that we have taken to eating from the dumpster behind TaCObELL just so we can have fresh kitsch-art structures to move into every day.

[Arthur McGowan]

In my research (watching the History Channel), I have discovered that it was not the hydrogen that exploded, but the flammable dope used to PAINT the Hindenburg, that caused the fire. In fact, the hydrogen is not that dangerous, because as long as it is contained, it cannot mix with oxygen. It burned only after the hull began to burn, and thus released the hydrogen into the surrounding air.

[scouse]

Okay, okay...you get a free ride....Feel better now?

[scouse]

but the flammable dope used to PAINT the Hindenburg,

That was my great uncle Mick, and he wasn't a dope, just a bit slow. Also he wasn't flammable he never drank more than a couple of fifths a day.

[ElkGroveDan]

Ah, somebody who's been to the Tillamook Cheese Factory or tasted some of their fine work... ;-)

Yep. It was the highlight of that 1991 vacation. My traveling companion thought I was crazy, she wanted to get back to the beautiful drive. I wanted to spend the day in the cheese factory. It was the last vacation we ever took together. I ended up marrying one of her best friends -- one who loves cheese as much as I do. (The drive really is gorgeous thought, probably the best-kept travel secret in the country -- shhhh)