Who doesn’t love the Goodyear Blimp?

The Goodyear Blimp may be the best known and most loved airship in history. As I said in an interview with CNN, “You can imagine football without the Goodyear Blimp, but it would be kind of sad. It has become part of our national consciousness.”

Goodyear has been using blimps for advertising since 1925, when it launched the first Goodyear Blimp, Pilgrim, and over the past 90 years dozens of blimps of various types have served as “Goodyear Blimps.”

This is a comprehensive guide to Goodyear’s advertising blimps from 1925 to the present.

Goodyear Blimps Today

The New Goodyear Airship: It’s Not a Blimp At All!

In 2011 Goodyear announced that it would replace its fleet of blimps with semi-rigid Zeppelin NT airships. For the first time in its long history, the “Goodyear Blimp” will not technically be a blimp at all.

Introduced in 2014, the Zeppelin NT is larger, faster, and more maneuverable than the venerable GZ-20A it will replace.

Goodyear’s airship fleet now consists of three Zeppelin NT airships:

N1A – Wingfoot One

N2A – Wingfoot Two

N3A – Wingfoot Three

The first new Goodyear airship, Wingfoot One, was assembled at Goodyear’s Wingfoot Lake Airship Base and made its first flight on March 17, 2014. The newest airship first flew in June 2018 and will be christened Wingfoot Three on August 30, 2018 at Goodyear’s Wingfoot Lake Hangar.

How is Goodyear’s new airship different from a blimp?

Unlike a blimp, which has no internal structure and maintains its shape from the pressure of the gas inside its envelope, the Zeppelin NT is built around a framework of high-strength, lightweight carbon-fiber and aluminum, and all the ship’s major components — cabin, engines, and tail assembly — are mounted on the rigid structure.

The new Goodyear zeppelin is considerably larger than the blimps it replaced in both length and volume.

The new zeppelin is also significantly faster than the blimps; the new Goodyear airship has a maximum operating speed of 73 mph, compared with the 50 mph for the blimps, allowing the zeppelin to cover more ground and participate in more events.

Zeppelin NT GZ-20A Blimp Length 246.4′ 192′ Maximum Width 64.79 50′ Envelope Volume 297,527 cubic feet 202,700 cubic feet Maximum Speed 73 miles per hour 50 miles per hour

Zeppelin NT Dimensions and Performance

Crew: 1-2 pilots (certified for single pilot operation)

Passengers: 15

Envelope volume: 297,527 cubic feet

Length: 246.4′

Maximum Width: 64.79′

Maximum Envelope Width: 46.45′

Overall Height: 57.57′

Maximum weight: 19,780 lb

Engines: 3 Textron-Lycoming IO-360-C1G6 (197 hp) 4-cylinder gasoline piston engines

Propellers: 3 vectored thrust Hoffmann 2.7 m three-bladed; 1 lateral thrust Hoffmann 2.2 m three-bladed

Total fuel 835 kg/306.3 gal (left & right tanks 302.5 kg/110.9 gal each, aft tank 230 kg/84.5 gal)

Usable fuel = 825 kg /302.7 gal (left & right tanks 299 kg/109.6 gal each, aft tank 227 kg/83.5 gal)

Maximum speed: 78 mph

Endurance: 24 hours

Static Lift: 2,940 pounds

Maximum Dynamic Lift: 1,102 pounds (500 kg)

Maximum static heaviness, take-off/landing: 400 kg

Maximum static heaviness, inflight: 500 kg

Maximum static lightness : -200 kg

Payload: 5,181 lbs (2,350 kg)

Max. flight altitude: 10,000′ (3,048 m)

Source: EASA and FAA Type Certificate Data Sheets for LZ N07-101; Goodyear

The Goodyear and Zeppelin companies have a long history of working together. In September, 1923, the two companies formed the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation as a joint-venture and the two firms worked closely throughout the 1920s and 1930s, building the airships Akron and Macon for the United States Navy in the early 1930s.

A Guide to Goodyear’s Advertising Blimps: 1925 to the Present

The First “Goodyear Blimp”

The first Goodyear blimp used for advertising was Pilgrim, which was also the first blimp to fly with safe helium rather than flammable hydrogen.

Pilgrim (I)

First flight (hydrogen): June 3, 1925

First flight (helium): July 17, 1925

Volume: 47,700 cu. ft. (Envelope D-94)

Length: 105.5 ft.

Maximum diameter: 31 ft.

Engines: 1 Lawrence air-cooled radial (60 hp)

Max speed: 50 mph

Cruising Speed: 40 mph

Pilgrim (I) was christened by Florence Litchfield, wife of Goodyear executive and lighter-than-air advocate Paul Litchfield.

Pilgrim was deflated in June, 1928 and its car (C-35) was fitted with a new, larger envelope:

Pilgrim (II) (NC-9-A)

Launched: April 19, 1929,

Volume: 55,000 cu. ft. (Envelope D-122)

Length: 110 ft.

Maximum diameter: 32 ft.

Engines: 1 Lawrence air-cooled radial (60 hp)

Max speed: 50 mph

Cruising Speed: 40 mph

Originally inflated with hydrogen when it first flew at Akron, Ohio, on June 3, 1925, Pilgrim was re-inflated with helium the next month; every Goodyear blimp since then has used helium.

Pilgrim was also the first blimp to have its control car entirely supported by an internal catenary curtain and cables, and flush with the envelope. Previous blimp cars were suspended beneath the envelope to keep the engine away from the flammable hydrogen, attached by cables secured to finger patches or looped around the envelope. The category system employed by Pilgrim became the standard for all future blimps.

Pilgrim was retired on December 30, 1931, having carried 5,355 passengers on 4,765 flights, flying 2,880 flight hours and 94,974 miles.

Blimps of the 1930s: “Yachts in the Sky”

Pilgrim’s success led Goodyear to build additional blimps to advertise the company.

Goodyear president Paul Litchfield named the blimps after defenders of the America’s Cup yacht race, because he thought blimps could “serve a similar purpose for persons living inland as do yachts for those living along the seacoast.”

Type TZ

Puritan (I) (NC-7A)

First flight: July 2, 1928

Volume: 86,000 cu. ft.

Length: 128 ft.

Diameter: 36 ft.

Engines: 2 Siemens-Halska (82 hp)

Based at Miami, Florida

Volunteer (I) (NC-8A)

First flight: April 27, 1929

Volume: 86,000 cu. ft.

Length: 128 ft.

Diameter: 36 ft.

Engines: 2 Siemens-Halska (82 hp)

Introduced at the National Balloon Races in Pittsburgh, 1929

Based at Los Angeles, California

Mayflower (I) (NC-10A)

First flight: May 17, 1929

Volume: 86,000 cu. ft.

Length: 128 ft.

Diameter: 36 ft.

Engines: 2 Siemens-Halska (82 hp)

Based at New Bedford, Massachusetts and St. Petersburg, Florida

Deflated February, 1931 for installation of larger envelope

Mayflower was christened with a flask of liquefied air on May 21, 1929 by Bertl Arnstein, wife of Dr. Karl Arnstein, the famed airship engineer who was later noted for designing the Goodyear-Zeppelin airships U.S.S. Akron and U.S.S. Macon for the United States Navy.

Vigilant (NC-11A)

First flight: June 27, 1929

Volume: 86,000 cu. ft.

Length: 128 ft.

Diameter: 36 ft.

Engines: 2 Siemens-Halska (82 hp)

Wrecked at Piedmont, Alabama, November 20, 1930.

Vigilant was christened on June 25, 1929 by Miss Edith Litchfield, daughter of Paul Litchfield.

In late 1929, Goodyear decided to equip Puritan and Volunteer with larger, 96,000 cu. ft. envelopes:

Puritan (II)(III) (NC-7A)

Volume: 96,000 cu. ft.

Length: 133 ft.

Diameter: 39 ft.

Engines: 2 Warner Scarab (110 hp)

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Volunteer (II) (NC-8A)

Volume: 96,000 cu. ft.

Length: 133 ft.

Diameter: 39 ft.

Engines: 2 Warner Scarab (110 hp)

Based at Los Angeles, California

During this era Goodyear built the only blimp it ever made for another private firm. Neponset was built for the New England Airship Corporation of New Bedford, Massachusetts and carried advertising for that firm’s clients, including Bird & Son and the Enna Jettick Shoe Company.

Neponset (NC-13A)

Launched: April, 1930

Volume: 86,000 cu. ft.

Length: 128 ft.

Diameter: 36 ft.

Engines: 2 Siemens-Halska (82 hp)

In 1931, Goodyear began equipping its blimps with a larger 112,000 cu. ft. envelope:

Type TZ – 112,000 cubic feet

Volume: 112,000 cu. ft.

Length: 141 ft.

Diameter: 39 ft.

Engines: 2 Warner Scarab (125 hp)

Max speed: 60 mph

Columbia (I) (NC-11A)

First flight: June 14, 1931

Deflated: February 13, 1932

Based at Holmes Airport, New York City

(Columbia used the car and fins from Vigilant, which had been wrecked at Piedmont, Alabama on November 20, 1930.)

Mayflower (II) (NC-10A)

First flight: May 17, 1929

Mayflower was destroyed in a storm on July 12, 1931 when it crashed into power lines at the Kansas City Municipal airport and burned.

Reliance (I)(II) (NC-14A)

First flight: November 5, 1931

Deflated: April, 1933

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Resolute (I)(II) (NC-15A)

First flight: April 28, 1932

Based at Los Angeles, California

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Puritan (IV) (NC-7A)

First flight: September 5, 1931

Volunteer (III)(IV)(V) (NC-8A)

First flight: September 5, 1931

Based at Los Angeles, California

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Type PA – “Flagship of the Fleet”

Defender (NC-12A)

Type: PA

First flight: August 20, 1929

Volume: 179,000 cu. ft. (later 183,000)

Length: 184′

Diameter: 44′

Engines: 2 J-6 Wright Whirlwind (165 hp) / 2 Packard diesel (225 hp) from November 6, 1931 – June 5, 1932

Max speed: 63 mph

Based at Akron, Ohio

Defender was christened by Amelia Earhart on August 30, 1929 at the National Air Races in Cleveland. Defender was sold to the U.S. Navy and flown to Lakehurst October 5, 1935. As U.S. Navy blimp G-1, the ship collided with Navy blimp L-2 (formerly Goodyear’s Ranger) on June 8, 1942 during night operations near Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey. Both blimps were destroyed.

Blimps of the Pre-War Era

In the mid-1930s Goodyear upgraded Puritan, Reliance, and Resolute with 123,000 cu. ft. envelopes that would become the prototype for the U.S. Navy’s L-Class, and built new blimps (Enterprise, Rainbow, and Ranger) of that size as well.

Type L

Volume: 123,000 cu. ft.

Length: 148 ft.

Diameter: 46 ft.

Engines: 2 Warner (145 hp)

Max speed: 63 mph

Cruising speed: 45 mph

Puritan (V) (NC-7A)

First flight: October 25, 1935

Puritan (V) was wrecked in a hurricane, September 21, 1938, at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Reliance (III)(IV)(V) (NC-14A)

First flight: June, 1937

Became U.S. Navy L-6

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Enterprise (I)(II) (NC-16A)

First flight: August 23, 1934

Transferred to US Navy in 1942, became U.S. Navy L-5

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

The car used on Enterprise is now in Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Car C-49 had a long history; it served Goodyear in peace and the U.S. Navy in war, and it was rebuilt in 1969 and put into service as GZ-20A Columbia (N4A) in 1975.

Resolute (III) (NC-15A)

First flight: October, 1938

Transferred to US Navy in 1942, became U.S. Navy L-4

Rainbow (NC-9A)

First flight: March 31, 1939

Transferred to US Navy in 1942, became U.S. Navy L-7

Ranger (I) (NC-10A)

First flight: August 13, 1940

Transferred to US Navy February 1, 1941, became U.S. Navy L-2

As U.S. Navy blimp L-2, the ship collided with Navy blimp G-1 (formerly Defender) on June 8, 1942 during night operations near Manasquan Inlet, New Jersey. Both blimps were destroyed.

World War II

Goodyear did not operate advertising blimps during World War II. At beginning of the war the the U.S. Navy took over Goodyear’s five advertising blimps (Resolute, Enterprise, Reliance, Rainbow, and Ranger) and operated them as Navy blimps L-4 through L-8.

Postwar Blimps of the 1940 and 1950s

Goodyear’s postwar fleet was dominated by former U.S. Navy L-type blimps.

Type L

Volume: 123,000 cu. ft.

Length: 148 ft.

Maximum diameter: 46 ft.

Engines: 2 Warner (145 hp)

Max speed: 62-63 mph

Ranger (II) (III) (NC-1A, N1A)

Ex-Navy L-18

First flight: May 28, 1946

Wrecked at Fort Lauderdale, Florida, January 26, 1958

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Ranger was temporarily renamed Century in 1951-1952 when operated by Goodyear under contract to advertise Stag beer.

Volunteer (VI)(VII) (NC-2A)

First flight: September 26, 1946

Retired: 1949

Ex-Navy L-17 car

Enterprise (I)(II) (NC-3A, N3A)

First flight: October 9, 1946

Retired: 1959

Ex-Navy L-16 car.

(The version numbers represent different envelopes of the same size)

Enterprise was temporarily renamed Century in 1952 when operated by Goodyear under contract to advertise Stag beer.

Mayflower (III) (NC-4A,N4A)

First Goodyear flight: May 12, 1947

Retired: 1948

Ex-Navy L-14 car

ZPK Type

Goodyear operated one former U.S. Navy K-ship as an advertising blimp:

Puritan (VI) (NC-21A, NC-10A)

Ex-Navy K-28

Launched: 1946

First Goodyear flight: March 3, 1947

Volume: 425,000 cu. ft.

Length: 251 ft.

Maximum diameter: 57.85 ft.

Width: 63.5′

Height: 79′

Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-AN2

Cruise speed: 56 mph

Maximum speed: 67.5 mph

Retired: April, 1948

The car of this blimp is on display at the New England Air Museum at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

The Modern Era

Goodyear entered the modern era with the GZ-19/GZ-19A in 1959, and the Goodyear Blimp we have known for the past several decades — the iconic GZ-20/GZ-20A — was first introduced in 1969.

Type GZ-19 and GZ-19A

Mayflower (V) (N4A)

Type: GZ-19

First Flight: February 25, 1959

Volume: 132,500 cu. ft.

Length: 150 ft.

Maximum diameter: 41 ft.

Engines: 2 Continental (175 hp)

Maximum speed: 61 mph

Based at Miami, Florida

In 1963, Mayflower’s car was rebuilt as a type GZ-19A and the ship was given a larger 147,300 cu. ft. envelope:

Mayflower (VI) (N4A)

Type: GZ-19A

First Flight: September 30, 1963

Volume: 147,300 cu. ft.

Length: 157 ft.

Maximum diameter: 41 ft.

Engines: 2 Continental (175 hp)

Maximum speed: 57 mph

Retired: October, 1969

Based at Miami, Florida

Mayflower (VII) (N1A)

Type: GZ-19A

First Flight: September 4, 1968

Volume: 147,300 cu. ft.

Length: 157 ft.

Maximum diameter: 41 ft.

Engines: 2 Continental (175 hp)

Maximum speed: 57 mph

Retired: July, 1976

Based at Miami, Florida

Columbia (II)(III)(IV) (N2A)

Type: GZ-19A

Launched: July 23, 1963

Volume: 147,300 cu. ft.

Length: 160 ft.

Maximum diameter: 41 ft.

Engines: 2 Continental (175 hp)

Maximum speed: 57 mph

Retired: 1969

Based at Los Angeles, California

The first GZ-20 blimp, America, was introduced in 1969.

Type GZ-20 and GZ-20A

Volume: 202,700 cu. ft.

Length: 192 ft.

Maximum Width: 50 ft.

Maximum Envelope Width: 45.92 ft.

Overall Height 59.54 ft.

Maximum weight: 12,840 lb

Engines: 2 Continental IO-360-D gasoline piston engines (210 hp)

Propellers: 2 Hartzell constant speed, non-feathering, reversing propellers

Maximum speed: 50 mph (80 km/h)

Endurance: 24 hours

Static Lift: 2,530 pounds

Maximum Dynamic Lift: 800 pounds

Total Usable Lift: 3,330 pounds

Crew: 1 pilot

Passengers: 6

Source: FAA Type Certificate Data Sheet for GZ20A; Goodyear

America (N10A)

Type: GZ-20

First flight: April 25, 1969

Based near Houston, Texas

Retired: July, 1982

Columbia (V) (N3A)

Type: GZ-20

First flight: August 8, 1969

Retired: July, 1975

Based at Los Angeles, California

Europa (N2A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: March 8, 1972 (Cardington, England)

Retired: 1987

Based at Rome, Italy

Columbia (VI)(VII) (N4A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: July 12, 1975

The car used on Columbia was first used on Enterprise of 1934 and is now in Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.

Enterprise (VI) (N1A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: November, 1979

Retired: May, 1991

Based at Pompano Beach, Florida

America (N3A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: June 29, 1982

Retired: April, 1992

Stars & Stripes (I) (N3A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: June 6, 1992

Last flight as “Goodyear Blimp”: October 10, 1998

Based at Pompano Beach, Florida

Stars & Stripes (II)(III) (N1A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: June 20, 1998

Based at Pompano Beach, Florida

Accidentally deflated in incident at Northeast Philadelphia Airport: August, 2000

Spirit of Goodyear (N3A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight : February 17, 2000

Based at Wingfoot Lake

Retired: March, 2014

Spirit of Goodyear was christened by astronaut Sally Ride on March 15, 2000,

Columbia (VIII) (N10A)

Type: GZ-20A

First flight: May, 1986

Columbia (VIII) was re-named and re-registered in 1992 as:

Eagle (N2A)

First flight: February 4, 1992

Eagle was re-named and re-registered in 2002 as:

Spirit of America (N10A)

First flight: February, 1992

Based at Los Angles, California

The ship was re-christened Spirit of America on September 5, 2002, by Mrs. Letitia Driscoll, the mother of New York police officer Stephen Driscoll, who was killed in South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Spirit of Innovation (N2A)

First flight: June, 2006

Based at Pompano Beach, Florida

GZ-22 Spirit of Akron

Goodyear operated one Type GZ-22 blimp, built by Loral, from 1987-1999. Named Spirit of Akron, the GZ-22 was the only Goodyear blimp ever powered by jet engines, and was distinctive for the X-configuration of its tail assembly.

Type GZ-22

Volume: 247,800 ft3 (7,017 m3)

Length: 205 ft 6 in (62.64 m)

Width: 47 ft 0 in (14.33 m)

Height: 60 ft 2 in (18.34 m)

Gross weight: 15,000 lb (6804 kg)

Powerplant: 2 vectoring Allison 250-B17C turboprops, 420 hp (312.2 kW) each

Maximum speed: 65 mph (105 km/h)

Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3050 m)

Crew: 1 pilot

Passengers: 10

Spirit of Akron (N4A)

Type: GZ-22

First flight: October 9, 1987

Crashed: October 28, 1999, at Suffield Township, Ohio

A Bright Future

With the enduring popularity of the Goodyear Blimp, and the company’s recent commitment to the Zeppelin NT airship program, we can expect the joy of seeing a Goodyear airship in the skies for many years to come.

A Note on using this Guide:

What defines a particular blimp? Is it the car? The envelope? The name? The registration number? Blimps with the same car, name, or registration number often had different envelopes at varying points in their careers, and cars were often rebuilt and used on different types of blimp. Since this guide is intended to give the reader a sense of which blimps were flying at a particular time in history, and to allow the reader to identify blimps seen in photographs and referred to in historical documents, ships are identified by name and registration number. Where a ship with the same name is visually different — for example, because of a significantly larger envelope — a separate entry has been provided.

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