# How do they move blimps from city to city? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977 "2004-12-09T19:09:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![burmart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/34f0e0/32.png) [@burmart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burmart)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/1 "2004-12-09T19:09:00Z")
So, blimps are pretty slow moving creatures, at least they look it when floating high above my city on football sundays. Now, the question is, how do they get the blimps from city to city. Do they actually have to fly it there, or is there some sort of special de-airing of the blimp, which is then shipped elsewhere to be used again on gameday? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/2 "2004-12-09T19:32:40Z")
Um…they fly them? No, they really do. Most of the blimps you see are part of a fleet, so they are scattered around the country and don’t have to fly NY-SF in three days. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/3 "2004-12-09T19:35:17Z")
The Goodyear fleet, for instance, is 3 blimps. \*In the United States it operates three well-recognized blimps: the Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio; the Spirit of America, based in Carson, California; and the Stars & Stripes, in Pompano Beach, Florida. \* ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/4 "2004-12-09T19:39:06Z")
From Goodyear’s [faq](http://www.goodyearblimp.com/q_construct.html#speed): > [@](#): > > The usual cruising speed is thirty-five miles per hour in a zero wind condition; all-out top speed is fifty-three miles per hour on the GZ20. As to cruising range: the ship can carry enough fuel to fly for twenty- four hours, although it rarely does so. When traveling cross-country the blimps fly wherever they go, and the crews try for an eight-hour day, or about 300 air miles. Those blimps aren’t glorified hot-air balloons. They are descendents of the WWII US Navy blimps which were used for coastal patrol and ship escort. Some had top speeds of 90 mph. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/5 "2004-12-09T19:48:31Z")
[American Blimp Corporation](http://www.americanblimp.com/), which makes a lot of them, lists their Spector airships as having a maximum airspeed of about 50 mph, and capable of carrying 15 hours worth of fuel at 45 mph: [http://www.americanblimp.com/abc.htm](http://www.americanblimp.com/abc.htm) That seems feasible to simply fly them between cities in a fairly large region, if needed. As noted, they are generally leased out by companies which have fleets of them, and they probably stay in the same city or metro area, for the most part. The [Lightship Group](http://www.lightships.com/html/) is an American Blimp affiliate that leases a lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/6 "2004-12-09T19:51:14Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > From Goodyear’s [faq](http://www.goodyearblimp.com/q_construct.html#speed): > When traveling cross-country the blimps fly wherever they go, and the crews try for an eight-hour day, or about 300 air miles. When it’s lunchtime on a cross country jaunt, I wonder how they maneuver through the drive-thru? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/7 "2004-12-09T19:52:19Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > the Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio \* What is the signifigance of Akron to airships? One of the Navy’s aircraft carrying airships was named Akron. [http://content.scu.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/svhocdm&CISOPTR=234](http://content.scu.edu/cgi-bin/viewer.exe?CISOROOT=/svhocdm&CISOPTR=234) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/8 "2004-12-09T19:59:42Z")
Probably just that that happens to be where Goodyear has their headquarters. And when did we have carrier airships? That’s cool. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/9 "2004-12-09T20:02:51Z")
[Akron, Ohio](http://ci.akron.oh.us/fastfacts.html) “Rubber capital of the world” (or at least it used to be). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/10 "2004-12-09T20:06:56Z")
And if you buy one from ABC (a couple million), they don’t fly it to you, or have you come and pick it up in Oregon. Final assembly and test flight takes place at the customer’s site. (ABC has been a success because they realized there was a market for blimps if they could make them cheap enough - an ABC blimp costs less to operate than the Goodyear blimps, and requires a smaller ground crew.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/11 "2004-12-09T20:20:16Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And when did we have carrier airships? The Akron was launched in 1931. Pictures in this link don’t work with Opera, I used IE. [http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/american/Akron\_Macon.html](http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/american/Akron_Macon.html) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/12 "2004-12-09T20:23:04Z")
Some of these blimps can really book! I always assumed, from watching them on the ground, that they must plod along at 20 knots or so, max. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/13 "2004-12-09T20:23:50Z")
Akron was the manufacturing site for airships of all sorts, owing to Goodyear being headquartered there. (Rubberized fabric is necessary to contain helium.) The _Akron_ was named after the city. The rest of the U.S. Navy rigid-airship fleet comprised the _Shenandoah_, the ZR-2 (which didn’t survive long enough to be delivered and named), the _Los Angeles_,\*\* and the _Macon_ – three named for cities, one named for a river and valley, and one never named. A blimp is short for a Type-B\* “limp” (nonrigid) dirigible airship – it flies. Blimps can and do hover, just like helicopters, but with the added advantage that the motors need only hold it motionless in a 2-D framework; the helium holds it up. But they’re quite capable of making headway in a controlled flight from anywhere to anywhere, presuming they’re not bucking headwinds higher than their maximum steady flight speed in doing so. - I have no clue what a Type-A limp dirigible airship may have been; the term dates from the early 20th century British development of airships. \*\* The _Los Angeles_ was a remarkably long-lived ship; it was built in the early 1920s by Luftshiffbau Zeppelin, the German manufacturers of LTA craft which later built the _Graf Zeppelin_ and _Hindenburg_, and survived well into WWII, when it was finally scrapped, flying nearly 20 years without serious incident (save for one occasion when a strong lifting wind stood it on end at its mooring mast, with no structural damage and very little internal problems). ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/14 "2004-12-09T20:30:46Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > When it’s lunchtime on a cross country jaunt, I wonder how they maneuver through the drive-thru? > > 😃 What I want to know is: if they run out of fuel, how to we get them out? I mean, it’s linda like being stuck on an escalator, you know? 😉 But like without the steps, and stuff. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/15 "2004-12-09T21:16:18Z")
There are more photos of the USS Akron here: [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs4.htm](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs4.htm) Including photos of the [Akron Air Group](http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs4-m.htm) (airplanes carried aboard the Akron). By the way, I thought the “Blimp = Type B Limp” etymology was apocryphal? There are other stories floating around, e.g. “blimp” is the sound it makes when you tap on the envelope. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/16 "2004-12-09T21:23:38Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The Akron was launched in 1931. > > Pictures in this link don’t work with Opera, I used IE. > > [http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/american/Akron\_Macon.html](http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/american/Akron_Macon.html) Dang, I was hoping for a “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”-type thing. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/17 "2004-12-09T21:38:20Z")
I once landed a plane at Boston are Hansom AFB and there was a blimp coming in at the same time. Good Lord! They had at least fifty people on land to tie down and secure that thing. Yes, they fly them wherever they need to go. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/18 "2004-12-09T21:48:52Z")
When you grow up in Akron you see the blimp a lot. I’ve flown in two of the Goodyear blimps (stragely enough, not the one based in my hometown) and piloted one of them. Once in Akron a friend’s daughter summoned her to the front yard because the blimp was flying very low over their house and the girl’s two brothers were trying to grab the ropes. Fortunately they didn’t succeed. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/19 "2004-12-09T21:53:12Z")
Previously, Goodyear had a blimp in Akron named [_Spirit of Akron_](http://www.goodyearblimp.com/archive/c_spirit2.html), which was retired in 1999. Note the different tail configuration. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977/20 "2004-12-09T22:42:23Z")
It’s rarely necessary to dismantle an airship for long-distance travel, since they generally have a pretty respectable range. As early as 1919, the British rigid airship _R-34_ made the transatlantic flight (in both directions) between the U.K. and U.S., thought it did almost run out of fuel on the westbound leg, flying against the prevailing winds. But it’s not unheard of to dismantle an airship for transport. In 1921, The Italian-made semi-rigid airship _Roma_ was bought by the U.S. Army, disassembled, transported across the Atlantic by surface ship, and reassembled. The next year, it flew into electric lines and exploded in Virginia, killing all but 11 of the 44 or 45 men aboard. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-move-blimps-from-city-to-city/278977.md?page=2)