American Blimp Corporation (ABC) is an American privately owned
Hillsboro, Oregon-based company that is the largest manufacturer of
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 in the United States. It manufactures the hardware and rigging for the Lightship and Spector brands of airships. In 2012, American Blimp Corporation and The Lightship Group were acquired by Van Wagner Communications LLC, and became referred to as the Van Wagner Airship Group.
On November 17, 2017, the Florida-based AirSign Inc. purchased the American Blimp Corporation and the Van Wagner Airship Group. In additional to getting 15 airships in the acquisition, AirSign also purchased the
A-170 airship (MZ-3A) from the U.S. Navy. With ownership and management of Van Wagner's global airship operations, including staff with decades of experience in the airship industry, AirSign became as the world's largest airship company.
Models
ABC was founded in 1987 by James Thiele.
The company's lightships (proprietary blimps) are the
A-60 and
A-60+, as well as the
A-150 and
A-170.
The website says, "There are more A-60+ airships flying in commercial service than those of all other manufacturers combined."
In 1995, it launched the
Spector
Spector is a guitar manufacturing company. It has been based in Woodstock, New York
Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders ...
series, with a gondola capable of nine passengers plus the pilot.
In 1999, American Blimp Company purchased Simply Blimps, the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of remote controlled arena blimps for $US 95MM.
The blimps feature internal lights and translucent envelopes for the advertising and sales promotion markets. The airship's
envelope
An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card.
Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a sh ...
s are manufactured by
ILC Dover
ILC Dover, LP is a special engineering development and manufacturing company, globally headquartered in Newark, Delaware. ILC Dover specializes in the use of high-performance flexible materials, serving the aerospace, personal protection, and ...
's
Lighter than air
A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result. It is required for aerostats to create buoyancy, particularly in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include free ...
division based in
Frederica, Delaware
Frederica is a town in Kent County, Delaware, United States. It is part of the Dover, Delaware Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 774 at the 2010 census. ILC Dover, the company which manufactured the spacesuits for the Apollo and ...
.
Oregon facilities
Its Hillsboro location has a facility and leased space in the former US Navy
airship hangar
Airship hangars (also known as airship sheds) are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a ...
at
Tillamook, Oregon
The city of Tillamook is the county seat of Tillamook County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on the southeast end of Tillamook Bay on the Pacific Ocean. The population was 5,231 at the 2020 census.
History
The city is named for the ...
.
There are 45 employees in Oregon.
The Lightship Group
Wholly owned subsidiary The Lightship Group (TLG) sells lightships and is based in
Orlando, Florida and has more than 200 employees.
TLG was formed in 1995 as a partnership of
Virgin Lightship and ABC's Lightship America. In 2002, ABC acquired control of the group. In 2012, TLG was acquired by Van Wagner Communications LLC, and operated under The Van Wagner Airship Group until 2017, when it was purchased by Airsign Inc.
TLG has contracted with
Goodyear to operate the
Goodyear Blimp outside of the United States, in Europe and countries such as Australia, Brazil, and China; this includes airships such as the "Spirit of Europe 1" and 2 as well as the "Spirit of the South Pacific".
It was one of TLG's Goodyear
airships that crashed in
Reichelsheim, Germany on 14 June 2011, resulting in the death of Michael Nerandzic, an experienced pilot whose last-minute actions saved the lives of his three passengers.
According to its website, the AirSign Airship Group is the "world's largest airship operator, providing integrated, full service Airship advertising and promotion programs for companies such as
Goodyear,
Met Life
MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...
,
General Motors,
DirecTV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...
and
Sanyo
, stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded by ...
."
Aircraft
*
American Blimp A-170
*
American Blimp MZ-3
The American Blimp MZ-3A is a blimp owned by the United States Navy from 2006 to 2017. It is a modified American Blimp Corporation A-170 series commercial blimp and given the USN type/model/series (T/M/S) designation MZ-3A and Bureau Number (B ...
*
Conan blimp
The ''Conan'' blimp was an orange dirigible owned by Turner Broadcasting System for the purpose of promoting the premiere of Conan O'Brien on his late-night talk show, '' Conan'', on TBS.
Background
O'Brien's shift from NBC to TBS stemmed from ...
*
DIRECTV blimp
See Also
*
List of current airships in the United States
This is a list of airships with a current unexpired Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) registration.
In 2021, ''Reader's Digest'' said that "consensus is that there are about 25 blimps still in existence and only about half of them are still ...
*
List of companies based in Oregon
References
External links
{{commons category, American Blimp Corporation
Website--> Now operating under Airsign Airship Group.
AirSignAirships
Airships
Aircraft manufacturers of the United States
Companies based in Hillsboro, Oregon
Manufacturing companies established in 1987
1987 establishments in Oregon
Privately held companies based in Oregon