Goodyear blimps to be replaced by German Zeppelins
The long-running era of the Goodyear Blimp has finally ended: but it’s good news for airship enthusiasts, not bad. Goodyear has decided to replace its famous fleet of inflatable blimps with more sophisticated semi-rigid “Neue Technologie” ships designed by the modern-day German successor to the original Zeppelin company.
Most present-day airships are blimps like the current Goodyear fleet. A blimp, as distinct from other types of dirigible airship, has no structure supporting the fabric envelope which holds its lifting gas. Rather, the envelope maintains its shape by being kept inflated at a slightly higher pressure than the air outside it, much like a novelty balloon. In the case of a blimp the extra pressure is furnished no matter what altitude or temperature the ship may be at (and thus, no matter what volume the helium lifting gas may care to take up) by blowing air into “ballonets” inside the envelope.
Blimps have the advantage of being simple, but the naturally squashy nature of their envelopes presents problems in mounting propulsion and control surfaces away from the main gondola. Beyond a certain size, too, it becomes difficult to maintain envelope shape by pressurisation.