For over 60 years the Goodyear Tire Company has maintained a fleet of blimps that have become familiar to the world, especially since their frequent use in televised events enables an overview of professional sport activities and other large events from on high, gaining scenes that would otherwise not be seen by the normal spectator. These large airships maintain their internal pressure of the helium lifting gas within a polyester fabric skin. Internal air compartments, or ballonets, are inflated or deflated to compensate for ambient pressure differences. Other blimps have become commonplace, such as the Budweiser ‘Bud Lite’ Blimp and Sea World’s ‘Shamu’. These blimps have made frequent stopovers at the Cumberland Airport over the years. As indicated in Chapter II, a Goodyear blimp made a stop at the Mexico Farms Airfield in 1937 during Cumberland’s Sesquicentennial celebration.
The ‘Spirit of Akron’, Goodyear’s Akron, Ohio based airship is the one most frequently seen as it travels to or from events on the east coast. No matter which blimp makes an appearance, a large crowd seems to materialize. This occurs without any advance notification. Only the slow moving air ship flying overhead the city advertises the fact that it will probably be spending the night at the local airport.
Goodyear’s blimp is powered by two Allison Turbo-prop 420 hp engines that move the craft over the ground at a leisurely 30 mph cruise speed. It has a top speed of 50 mph but rarely sees that rate, and always travels in good weather conditions fairly close to the surface. The under slung gondola, or pilot and passenger compartment, can carry six passengers plus the two pilot aircrew. A ground crew consisting of 16 personnel and a public relations representative supports the air ship in its travels. The motorcade consists of a large tractor trailer, a large bus, and one or two smaller vehicles that normally precede the air ship to its stopping points. The ground crew is responsible for installing the mooring stand, securing and guarding the blimp, and air ship maintenance, as well as making advance housing arrangements for the air and ground crew members. Most trips are planned well in advance, but still require a great deal of coordination.
Observing the arrival of a blimp is fascinating. The ground crew positions the mooring mast in a clear area sufficient to allow the blimp, once secured, to circle the mast as it becomes a free wheeling vehicle. A circle of heavy steel posts are driven into the ground with connecting cables to the apex that hold the mast in a solid position. The aircrew approaches the mooring station always into the wind, proceeds cautiously with little forward motion, and part of the ground crew grabs the two suspended long ropes that dangle from the nose and are used as an aid in completing the hook up. One individual climbs the mooring station and makes the final secure connection. Should the surface winds pick up, it can become extremely difficult to complete this docking procedure and a go-around and a second attempt is frequently seen. The pilot in the gondola in the center of the large blimp has little view of the actual hook-up. This docking procedure could be described as directing a heavy thread (the blimp) into the eye of a needle (the mooring station).
The airship has a length of 205.5 feet and therefore needs a clear circular area double that distance. Once docked the blimp is secured only by the connection at the nose and therefore becomes, temporarily at least, ‘The World’s Largest Windsock’. The blimp simply aligns itself with the prevailing wind and only rarely touches ground with the one swivel wheel located on the bottom of the gondola.
A pilot who is airborne and unaware of an air ship in his area may suddenly see a blimp at a distance pointed either directly toward or away from him. This aviator is awed by the sight of a large unmoving circle. The first time this occurs, and it has happened to one of the authors of this manuscript, the pilot muses, “I have never believed in this Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) nonsense, but, so help me, I think I see one!” With no apparent movement of this huge circle on the horizon, one has the feeling that suddenly the object will suddenly whirl off into space, returning to its home planet. It takes only a turn of the blimp to return reality to the observer.
A 1990 Goodyear blimp stop at Cumberland as it approaches over Irons Mountain. On the right is the ground crew support caravan.
The Goodyear blimp after mooring. On the right is Sea Worlds’ ‘Shamu’ blimp on a stopover.
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Wings Over Cumberland 