Thanks and yes, a pretty good read by Nevil Shute (Norway). He was an engineer on the successful British airship R100, as opposed to the R101 which crashed & burned in France. He later became a successful writer of several well-known novels, including the very depressing 'On the Beach'.
I took a plant trip to Akron/Goodyear Wheel & Brake for an interview in '82 when I was graduating (the first time I ever flew in a jet!). It was not a real sexy job, but I did get a tour of the hangar. IIRC the guy said they only open the doors once a year for the employee picnic, and it takes a few hundred dollars in electricity to move them!
Speaking of Ohio, I'm a bachelor for a week since the wife & kids are visiting family in Milford. I have a few hot jobs I'm jamming on, and that Cricket robot is a major distraction. Had to put it aside in lieu of a paying job. For now anyway.
Erco, we have something in common besides the love of robots, my mom worked for Goodyear Aircraft in Akron during WWII, she worked in the hanger offices in charge of blueprints and files, that was way before I was born but she told me storys about it, she said the building had it's own weather system because of it's hight. I had seen it from the outside many times as a kid, there is a great custerd stand nearby on Tripplet blvd. called Stricklands. Homemade softserve with a special different flavor daily. Butter pecan was a favorite. Seeing the blimps over Akron was almost as common as airplanes, quite a sight passing over at low altitude. I will have to search my old photos, I have some of the office areas and her coworkers.
Cool stuff, Mike. We might have to start a Zeppelin forum at this rate, before we clog Ken's servers.
I've visited many of the surviving airship hangars. I regret missing a unique photo op near Hangar No. 1 in Lakehurst NJ in ~1993. Inside a McDonald's near the the base, someone had painted an amateur mural of the Hindenburg landing at the base (it did land there safely ten times in 1936 before being destroyed in 1937). It surprised me even then that the bright red swastikas were right there in the mural. Swastikas in McDonalds???!!!
I'm sure they're long gone now. Can you imagine the social media storm if those were still up today?
Awesome erco, Yea, if it were not for soldier's like my father and uncle's, we would all be wearing those infamous armbands.
Here is a couple of 8x10s from my mom's things, she's not in either one, but that is her pen on back, these were publicity photos for the company news letter.
P.S., Sorry Ken, I tried this @ full resolution, but I was stopped.
Upon closer inspection, these photos are post war, cir.1952. I will have to ask my older half brother the particulars on my moms tenure at Goodyear Aircraft.
Wow Mike, it looks like they flew right over your house.
Always fun to see...and yes, not much else goes on around here.
They usually do, if it's anything lke the ANG C-130s that used to fly over, I was told that they also use landmarks in their navigation, following a river or such.
The Wingfoot Two was under a thousand feet, and I caught it with a 10x optical zoom.
Whatever their plans are today, we sometimes see them heading the opposite direction later in the afternoon.
Yea! Fun to see.
EDIT: How does an airship acknowlege a wave, this one brought the nose up maybe to say it noticed me.
Awesome, that's OUR Zeppelin NT, soon to head out here, just a few miles from my house. Our current GZ-20 Goodyear blimp is still flying daily here, enjoying its final days. It will be replaced soon by Wingfoot Two. Sad and exciting at once.
Awesome, that's OUR Zeppelin NT, soon to head out here, just a few miles from my house. Our current GZ-20 Goodyear blimp is still flying daily here, enjoying its final days. It will be replaced soon by Wingfoot Two. Sad and exciting at once.
I watched the first half of "The Story Of The Goodyear Blimps" last night. With my reception it seemed to take an hour to watch fifteen minutes of video. But it was well worth it, I love the old stills and clips. One thing comes to mind, in the early days of airships, I wonder who was more the daredevil, the pilot and passengers or the ground crew that had to catch these behemoths on the fly. And to see the Goodyear airdock in Akron from the inside was a treat, the size of the building is amazing.
Comments
Jump to 9:30:
I just found (on Youtube) the movie that started it all for me. Elke rocked my world at age 11!
You folks might also be interested:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slide_Rule:_Autobiography_of_an_Engineer
See paragraph 3.
cheers, David
Erco, we have something in common besides the love of robots, my mom worked for Goodyear Aircraft in Akron during WWII, she worked in the hanger offices in charge of blueprints and files, that was way before I was born but she told me storys about it, she said the building had it's own weather system because of it's hight. I had seen it from the outside many times as a kid, there is a great custerd stand nearby on Tripplet blvd. called Stricklands. Homemade softserve with a special different flavor daily. Butter pecan was a favorite. Seeing the blimps over Akron was almost as common as airplanes, quite a sight passing over at low altitude. I will have to search my old photos, I have some of the office areas and her coworkers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Airdock
I've visited many of the surviving airship hangars. I regret missing a unique photo op near Hangar No. 1 in Lakehurst NJ in ~1993. Inside a McDonald's near the the base, someone had painted an amateur mural of the Hindenburg landing at the base (it did land there safely ten times in 1936 before being destroyed in 1937). It surprised me even then that the bright red swastikas were right there in the mural. Swastikas in McDonalds???!!!
I'm sure they're long gone now. Can you imagine the social media storm if those were still up today?
Here is a couple of 8x10s from my mom's things, she's not in either one, but that is her pen on back, these were publicity photos for the company news letter.
P.S., Sorry Ken, I tried this @ full resolution, but I was stopped.
We had a side shot as they went a bit south of us. (sorry for the bad phone picture...not made for taking selfies of blimps, sadly!)
Always fun to see...and yes, not much else goes on around here.
They usually do, if it's anything lke the ANG C-130s that used to fly over, I was told that they also use landmarks in their navigation, following a river or such.
The Wingfoot Two was under a thousand feet, and I caught it with a 10x optical zoom.
Whatever their plans are today, we sometimes see them heading the opposite direction later in the afternoon.
Yea! Fun to see.
EDIT: How does an airship acknowlege a wave, this one brought the nose up maybe to say it noticed me.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20160506/move-over-goodyear-blimp-the-zeppelin-nt-is-coming-to-carson
Good reading, she was heading west last time I seen her, maybe delivery is ahead of schedule.
EDIT: This could have flown back over, it is really quiet, mostly gliding.
http://www.goodyearblimp.com/christening-wingfoot-two.html
http://www.today.com/video/good-grief-metlife-is-retiring-snoopy-phasing-out-iconic-blimps-790779971692
They dropped the whole advertising theme, the poor dog is out of a job.
I heared on the news that the country's servers are under attack.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-world-hackers-claims-responsibility-internet-disruption-cyberattack
In other airship news, I have a new best friend, Igor Pasternak.