Serving Midwest Aviation Since 1960

January Mystery Airplane

The non-rigid airship, or blimp, came into its own during World War I with the Royal Naval Air Service use of Sea Scout, Sea Scout Zero, North Sea, and Coastal non-rigid

airships for convoy escort, anti-submarine patrol, and coastal reconnaissance. After the Great War, use of blimps expanded, including their use in advertising. In 1925, Goodyear got into the act with the non-rigid ship Pilgrim, which pioneered the use of an enclosed cabin attached to the airship's envelope. It also was inflated with helium.

In 1970, Airship Industries, based in London, began development of what it called a "new generation" of airships utilizing updated materials and technology. This included composite materials, thrust vectoring, light weight construction, and inboard-mounted Porsche engines.

The Model 500, shown in this Oshkosh 1993 photo, was one of Airship Industries' major products. With a gross envelope volume of 182,000 cubic feet, the Skyship 500 measured 170 feet 6 inches long, with a height of 61 feet, and a diameter of 45 feet. Powered by a pair of 204 hp Porsche 930 engines driving five blade Hoffman reversible pitch props in a vectorable duct, the 500 has a maximum speed of 58 mph, a range of 540 miles, and an endurance of 12 hours.

First flown on 28 September 1981, six were manufactured capable of carrying a crew of two and eight passengers. Used worldwide for advertising, security, and sight-seeing flights, the Skyship 500 appeared at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in the James Bond film A View to a Kill, and was tested by the U.S. Navy at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

N501LP, Skyship 500 (serial number 1214-4), appeared at Oshkosh in 1993 as Bud One and in 1994 advertising the Family Channel. The larger Skyship 600, N602SK, advertising Fuji Film, journeyed to Oshkosh in 1996 and 1997. Over the years the Skyship series has advertised Budweiser, Tostitos, Hilfiger, Fuji Film, Fuji Tape, MetLife, and Sanyo during United States operations. N501LP's registration was cancelled with the FAA on 4 May 2015. It had been registered to Transcontinental Leasing, Inc., of Orlando, Florida.

After three years of financial losses and a failure to refinance, Airship Industries' operations ceased in August 1990. Numerous civilian and military projects, including semi-rigid and fully rigid airships, had been proposed, but did not come to fruition.

Only one reader nailed it. Mary Hoyt of Cresson, TX. Check out the March mystery photo and take a shot. Blue skies and tail winds.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/18/2024 13:14