MOGADORE, Ohio (AP) — The iconic Goodyear airships are taking a victory lap over the skies of an Ohio city this week.
The Akron-based tire company is celebrating the 100th anniversary of “Pilgrim,” its first blimp to take flight just outside of the city on June 3, 1925. The airships took to the skies on Tuesday, and will again on Wednesday and Thursday, flying over land that once housed the company's original hangar.
Jim Crone, who manages airship maintenance, explained why the company chose this swath of land in 1917. “It was secluded. It was away from most of other parts of the city, and it allowed them to build airships here. It’s a lot of property.”
Goodyear had started experimenting with vessels that would be lighter than aircraft in the early 1900s, and the dirigibles have since become a lasting and iconic symbol of the corporate brand. For some, it evokes nostalgia, while for others it offers a glimpse into a larger-than-life part of advertisement history.
Locally and around the country, Crone said the brand has a “cult following.”
“People love the airships,” he said. In the Akron area specifically, "they identify with Goodyear and identify with the airships. They’ve become part of this community.”
One of those fans, Madison Hayberg, brought her 2-year-old son Levi with her to see the airships on Tuesday.
“I think it’s just a cool thing that a lot of us locally probably take for granted because we see it all the time,” she said. “I wanted to bring him because when I was younger I remember they retired one of them so my mom pulled us all from school, brought us and we got to see them all, so I thought it would be cool for him to do something similar.”
Here is a by-the-numbers look at Goodyear airships over time:
Goodyear establishes an Aeronautics Department to build lighter-than-air aircrafts, and by 1912 the company had built its first balloon.
In 1930, the “Defender” blimp became the first airship in the world to carry a lit neon sign so the company’s name could be seen after dark.
Goodyear began making airships for the U.S. Navy in 1917, and its first blimp — the first commercial non-rigid airship flown using helium — launched years later, becoming a marketing tool.
From 1942 to 1944, the company built more than 150 airships for the Navy to serve in World War II, flying patrol over warships on the seas with zero reported loss of ships when a blimp was on watch.
The Goodyear Blimp has been a regular at major sporting events since flying above the 1955 Rose Bowl. A few years later, it became a service vehicle for television coverage while simultaneously functioning as a highly visible advertising platform.
Since that time, blimps have undergone wholesale changes and improved dramatically: steering technology; safety innovations; high-definition cameras; aerial views captured with specialized systems that compensate for movement during filming, resulting in stable and smooth footage footage; and much quieter rides thanks to relocated engines and propellers.
There currently are four Goodyear Blimps — the three in the U.S. and one in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
Today’s Goodyear Blimps are semi-rigid dirigibles, meaning they have an internal frame as compared to previous eras of blimps that could be fully deflated. In 2014, Goodyear transitioned to the New Technology semi-rigid airship platform designed to allow for improved maneuverability and speed.
The Goodyear Blimp is 246 feet long (75 meters), which would cover about 80% of a football field. It is 58 feet (18 meters) high and holds three Olympic-sized swimming pools' worth of helium.
Goodyear gets helium for its blimps from multiple sources. Because helium is a finite resource, the company purifies its helium every six to eight weeks to extend its life.
The blimp travels more than 100 days per year, with trips ranging anywhere from three days to three weeks. A crew of nearly 20 people travel with the airship whenever it is touring. Today’s Goodyear Blimps fly between 1,000 and 1,500 feet (305 meters and 457 meters) in the air and travel at speeds up to 73 miles per hour (117 kilometers per hour).
There currently are fewer blimp pilots in the world than astronauts, according to Goodyear, which has 10 full-time pilots. To serve in that job, you must have a commercial pilot license followed by approximately 250 hours of training to earn an additional lighter-than-air airship rating from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The blimp has covered more than 2,500 events and taken more than 500,000 passengers for rides, according to Goodyear. Former President Ronald Reagan might be the most famous passenger, but it was rapper Ice Cube who raised the blimp’s street cred when he included a line about it in his 1992 song titled “It Was A Good Day.”
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Shipkowski reported from Toms River, New Jersey.
FILE - A Goodyear blimp flies over Michigan Stadium in the first half of an NCAA college football game between Michigan and Southern California in Ann Arbor, Mich., Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - The Goodyear Blimp is prepared for takeoff, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in New Smyrna Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Long, File)
FILE - The Goodyear blimp hovers above the 16th hole during the Phoenix Open golf tournament, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb, File)
