Airship Ventures Inc. was a private company that offered sight-seeing rides (which the company called "flightseeing") in a 12-passenger

Zeppelin NT The Zeppelin NT (''"Neue Technologie"'', German for ''new technology'') is a class of helium-filled airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen. The initial model i ...

out of a

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 opposin ...

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 ...

hangar at

Moffett Federal Airfield 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, ...

near

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

. , their airship, built by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH, is in a state of disassembly, but is still one of three

zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

s in the world. The ship was dedicated and christened ''Eureka'' at the 75th anniversary celebration for Moffett Field on November 21, 2008; its flight from

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

, where it was shipped, to the Bay Area was the first zeppelin flight in the United States in 71 years. At long, it was the largest airship in the world until the U.S. Army's

LEMV The Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander 10, originally developed as the HAV 304, is a hybrid airship designed and built by British manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV). Comprising a helium airship with auxiliary wing and tail surfaces, it flies usi ...

had its maiden flight in 2012. The company was owned by the husband and wife team of Alexandra and Brian Hall of

Los Gatos, California Los Gatos (, ; ) is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population is 33,529 according to the 2020 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area just southwest of San Jose in the foothills of the ...

. Alexandra Hall previously ran the

Chabot Space and Science Center Chabot Space and Science Center, located in Oakland, California, is a center for science learning featuring interactive exhibits, planetariums, a large screen theater, hands-on activities and three powerful telescopes. The center is the continu ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, and Brian Hall is the CEO of telecommunications software company Mark/Space. Two of their pilots, Katherine "Kate" Board (who left the company to fly another Zeppelin NT in Germany) and Andrea Deyling, are the only female zeppelin pilots in the world.Airship Ventures: People-Pilots
retrieved 2008-11-30
archived
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

2011-6-19. Airship Ventures was based out of the Bachelor Officer Quarters in Building 20 in the

NASA Research Park NASA Research Park is a research park operated by NASA near San Jose, California, which is developing a shared-use research and development campus in association with government entities, academia, industry and Nonprofit organization, nonprofit ...

. The airship was stored in the World War II era Hangar Two - a former blimp hangar. On November 14, 2012, the company announced that it was closing its doors and grounding flight operations due to a lack of long-term sponsorship. In mid-December the decision was announced to wind up the company and disassemble the ''Eureka'', which was shipped back to Germany.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.airshipventures.com
Official website as archived in September 2012
prior to cessation of operations

2008-10-23 Companies based in Santa Clara County, California American companies established in 2007 Airlines established in 2008 Moffett Field Aviation in California Aviation in the United States Airships Airships of the United States

See also

References

External links