One of my favorite blogs is Dieselpunk, which celebrates the aesthetics and iconography of the Machine Age.  Dieselpunk often features images of the classic aircraft of the period, including airships and flying boats, and I thought readers of Airships.net might be interested in paying them a visit.

While fans of the Steampunk genre often invoke the airship, airships are actually a product of the internal-combustion era of Dieselpunk.

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Retired engineer Jack Clemens has been getting attention lately with his giant radio-controlled model of the airship U.S.S. Macon.

The 1/40 scale model is 20-feet long and has a diameter of 3.3 feet; it is driven by miniature “Firefly” electric motors attached to the eight outrigger props and powered by a lithium-polymer battery in the nose, and is lifted by helium contained in multiple mylar gas bags.

This is the third model of the Macon built by Clemens, and each took more than two years to create.  The first was destroyed by the Clemens’ cat Roscoe in 2006, before its first flight.  The second model flew successfully but was lost in 2008 when a gust of wind carried it beyond radio range; the remains of the craft were recovered two days later in an orchard five miles away.  The third model, seen above, was completed in April of this year.

Links:

Recreating the USS Macon from FlyRC.com

You Built What?! A Colossal Flying Reproduction of a 1935 Airship from Popsci.com

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Dramatic and disturbing photos of the Goodyear blimp crash in Germany have been published by Bild.de.

The images were taken by photographer Joachim Storch, who was a passenger aboard the blimp.  Storch and two other passengers were saved when pilot Mike Nerandzic heroically evacuated them from the burning blimp at the cost of his own life.

Photo: Joachim Storch, Bild.de

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The B-17 “Liberty Belle” was destroyed in a crash in Illinois this morning.  Fortunately all seven persons aboard the classic WWII bomber escaped without injury, but the ship was a total loss.

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The Lightship Group has issued a statement regarding yesterday’s tragic crash of a Goodyear-branded blimp and the death of its pilot, Mike Nerandzic.

In an email to Airships.net the company noted: “As you can imagine this is a very difficult time for our company, and our primary concern at this time is with the family of Mike Nerandzic and the passengers and crew involved. Our deepest condolences go out to Mike’s family at this time. He was a well respected and loved colleague and friend.”

Company Statement Regarding Blimp Accident at Reichelsheim Airfield

13th June  2011  0030hrs CET

An airship operated by Lightship Europe Limited caught fire at Reichelsheim Airfield in Germany this evening.

One member of the flight crew suffered fatal injuries. There were no injuries to passengers or ground crew.

The Airship is one of two leased by Goodyear from Lightship Europe Limited for marketing purposes in Europe. The second airship has been withdrawn from service until further notice.

First and foremost, our thoughts are with the family and friends of the crew member, and also with our colleagues and the passengers involved with the airship tour in Germany.

As is customary in incidents involving aircraft, the aviation and local authorities have initiated an investigation and it would be premature for Goodyear or Lightship Europe Limited to speculate on causes and findings at this time.

The Lightship Group

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I have updated the post on the Goodyear blimp crash in Germany with the latest information, including the identity of pilot Mike  Nerandzic.

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A Goodyear-branded A-60+ blimp burned and crashed in Germany on Sunday evening in the vicinity of the Reichelsheim airport near Frankfurt.  The ship’s pilot was killed; the three passengers, all journalists, survived the crash.

Photo DPA (from http://www.spiegel.de, see link)

Three reliable LTA sources have informed me that the pilot was Australian Mike Nerandzic [photo], who seems to have saved his passengers at the cost of his own life.

It appears the blimp made an emergency descent after the pilot and passengers smelled fuel during the approach to the landing field, and caught fire following a prop strike from one or both engines.  The pilot instructed his passengers to exit the airship to safety; the blimp then climbed rapidly, with the pilot still onboard, from the loss of the passengers’ weight.

Early press reports incorrectly identified the ship involved in the crash as a Zeppelin NT, but it was an A-60+ blimp operated in Europe by The Lightship Group (Lightship Europe Ltd.) under contract to Goodyear.  Goodyear operates its own blimps in the United States.

Goodyear recently announced that it will be replacing its famous blimps with zeppelins beginning in 2014.

The Lightship Group has issued a statement about the accident.

Photo DPA (from http://www.spiegel.de, see link)

Media links:

Pilot killed after helping three passengers to make incredible escape (dramatic photos)

Pilot stirbt bei Luftschiff-Absturz (story and photos)

Pilot Dies as Airship Bursts Into Flames (Spiegel Online Inernational, in English)

Drama in Hessen: Zeppelin in Flammen!

Piloot redt passagiers maar komt om bij crash zeppelin

Un zeppelin s’écrase en Allemagne: un mort

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Today is the 74th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

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Beginning in January, 2014, the famous “Goodyear Blimp” won’t be a blimp at all, but a Zeppelin NT.

More than 70 years after the dissolution of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, the two companies are working together again.

The Zeppelin NT with Goodyear Branding during a charter tour through the Benelux states in summer 2010. Photo: Chris Schotanus

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has just announced plans to purchase three Zeppelin LZ N07-101 (a successor to the current LZ N07-100) from ZLT Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH & Co KG.

Goodyear’s director of Global Airship Operations, Nancy Jandrokovic, explained: “Our current airships are approaching the end of their lifecycle, and we saw this as an opportunity to take the next evolutionary step in our airship program.”

In a move reminiscent of the Goodyear-Zeppelin glory days of the 1920s and 1930s, the three airships will be assembled by Zeppelin and Goodyear teams working together at Goodyear’s Wingfoot lake airship hangar near Akron, Ohio, under the direction of Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik.

Goodyear-Zeppelin Airdock

Goodyear and Zeppelin began their close relationship in October, 1922, when Goodyear executive William C. Young went to Friedrichshafen, Germany, to propose a joint venture to Hugo Eckener and other leaders of the Zeppelin Company.  In September, 1923, the two companies created the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation.  Goodyear president Paul W. Litchfield was a leading supporter of the rigid airship and the two firms worked closely throughout the 1920s and 1930s.  Zeppelin captain Ernst Lehmann and engineer Karl Arnstein, along with other Zeppelin personnel, moved to Akron, Ohio to help Goodyear-Zeppelin build airships using Zeppelin Company patents.  The culmination of the joint venture was the construction of the airships Akron and Macon for the United States Navy in the early 1930s.  Relations between the companies became strained after the outbreak of World War II in 1939 and the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation was dissolved in December, 1940.

Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik was founded in 1993 and is a successor to the famous Luftschiffbau Zeppelin (the Zeppelin Company) which built German zeppelins from 1909 through 1939, including the LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin and the LZ-129 Hindenburg.

Hat Tip to Zeppelin pilot Hans-Paul Ströhle for letting us know about this development.

Links:

Goodyear Press Release

Zeppelin Press Release [PDF download]

Goodyear Zeppelin Comparison Fact Sheet [PDF download]

Goodyear to clear air of blimps [article from Ohio.com]

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Today is the anniversary of the loss of the U.S. Navy airship ZRS-4, U.S.S. Akron, which crashed at sea off the coast of New Jersey in the very early hours of April 4, 1933.   The cause of the crash may have been poor handling by the ship’s commander, Frank C. McCord, who may have inadvertently flown the ship’s tail into the water during a storm.

The crash resulted in large loss of life; 73 of the 76 men on the ship died in the frigid water due in part to the lack of lifejackets on the navy vessel.  [List of officers and men lost in the crash.]  Among the casualties was Rear Admiral William Moffett, Chief of the Navy’s Bureau of Aeronautics and a leading proponent of the U.S. Navy rigid airship program.

The Akron and its sister ship, U.S.S. Macon, were designed as flying aircraft carriers to provide long-distance aerial reconnaissance in support of fleet operations.

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