G-class blimp
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''G''-Class Blimps were a series of non-rigid
airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...
s (
blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hy ...
s) used by the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. In 1935, instead of developing a new design airship, the Navy purchased the Goodyear Blimp ''Defender'' for use as a trainer and utility airship assigning it the designator ''G-1''. ''Defender'' was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio and was the largest blimp in the company’s fleet of airships that were used for advertising and as passenger airships. Goodyear built additional ''G''-class airships for the Navy during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
to support training needs.


Operational history

After purchase on September 23, 1935, ''G-1'' was in constant use until it was lost in a mid-air collision on 8 June 1942 with another blimp, the ''L-2''. The two blimps were conducting experimental visual and photographic observations during night flight. Although twelve people were killed in the crash, ''G-1'' had demonstrated her capabilities as a trainer and utility blimp. As the Navy needed additional training airships during the World War II war time build up, a contract was awarded on 24 December 1942 for seven more ''G''-class airships. These were assigned the designation Goodyear ZNN-G. (Z = lighter-than-air; N = non-rigid; N = trainer; G = type/class). The envelope size of these new G-class blimps was increased over that of ''G-1'' by . Airships ''G-2'' through ''G-5'' were delivered by late 1943 and ''G-6'' through ''G-8'' followed in early 1944. They were used for training mainly from the two major lighter-than-air bases,
NAS Lakehurst Lakehurst Maxfield Field, formerly known as Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst (NAES Lakehurst), is the naval component of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst (JB MDL), a United States Air Force-managed joint base headquartered approximately ...
and NAS
Moffett Field Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November 10 ...
on the southern edge of the
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
Bay.


Operators

; *
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...


Specifications (''G-1'')


References

* * *


See also

{{USN non-rigid airship classes 1930s United States military trainer aircraft Airships of the United States Navy Goodyear aircraft