On this day in 1852, Jules Henri Giffard made the first powered and controlled flight in a steam powered airship. His 27km journey from Paris to Trappes predated the Wright Brothers' 12-second flight by over 50 years. [more inside]
posted by RokkitNite on Sep 24, 2008 - 11 comments

The Goodyear Blimp: Building, filling, painting, testing. Structure. People. Signage. Flying.
posted by Blazecock Pileon on May 27, 2007 - 18 comments

You can keep your Skycar , your jet pack, your helium guzzler. Give me a Personal Blimp, floating on hot air and pushed by electricity.
posted by plinth on Nov 7, 2006 - 32 comments

Larry's U.S. Navy Airship Picture Book. No longer available in paper, but still with us in bits. Lawrence F. Rodrigues served in the Navy, in Airship Squadron 3, out of Lakehurst NAS, beginning in 1953. This website presents photos and memories of his service days. It's fascinating.

As a bonus, you may wish to read up on the Details of Modern Airship Construction, ca. 1927, or to return to Dannysoar's site to observe the plans for a twelve-foot model helium-lofted rubber-band powered flying stick-and-tissue dirigible (scroll down a bit).

Up Ship!

didn't someone end a post with those words this year? Google didn't raise hide nor hair of it for me...
posted by mwhybark on Jul 4, 2004 - 3 comments

The Death of a Dirigible - "The airship Shenandoah, nose to her high mooring mast, was floating gracefully with the variable breezes. Her twenty gas bags were about 91% full; her tanks loaded with 9,075 pounds of water and 16, 620 pounds of gasoline..." I was fascinated by this account of the disaster that befell the Navy airship 'Shenandoah', marking the beginning of the end of the era of rigid bodied airships. [ Via a comment on /. ]
posted by GriffX on Aug 6, 2002 - 14 comments