A century ago, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company decided to take their advertising to the next level. To the skies, to be more exact.
The Ohio company posted their name on a 100 ft. long helium airship.
“It's one of the biggest recognized symbols that there is,” said Goodyear airship pilot Adam Basaran. “We're the only tire company that has a blimp typically flying around.”
The first Goodyear Blimp, “The Pilgrim”, took off from Wingfoot Lake, outside of Akron in Suffield, in 1925.
The behemoth’s first flight marked a milestone in aviation history – a moment that’s documented at the fledgling museum of aircraft artifacts inside the Suffield hangar. There’s photos of the Pilgrim’s first flight, the fin to the company’s longest running blimp and passenger bays of blimps past.
Goodyear’s blimps have gotten sleeker and bigger over the last century. They are now 250 ft. long, nearly the length of a football field. Still, Basaran said the basics are pretty much the same.
“The helium does 80 to 90% of the work to get this aircraft in the air. Then the engines just have to propel you forward.”
A major milestone
Goodyear originally got into the blimp business simply because they had the right materials. Their experience with vulcanized rubber made them a natural fit for manufacturing airships.
In the early days, they flaunted their new fleet. In 1928, one landed on the roof of a department store in Akron, a moment that local newspapers captured with curiosity.
But, the blimps received more than just advertising attention. During the World Wars, Goodyear manufactured blimps for the U.S. Navy as spy tech. In World War II, the attack on Pearl Harbor surged their production. More than 100 blimps were built to escort Navy ships.
“The blimps could follow along with an ocean-going convoy. Most of that was out in the Atlantic, and they would keep watch for submarines,” Basaran said.
The aircraft’s recon days ended there. Instead, the Goodyear fleet has spent most of the last century over some of the most high profile events, capturing aerial footage of everything from the World Series, to the Olympics, to the Super Bowl.
Basaran said he loves having a 1,000-foot view of history.
“We got to watch a rocket take off out of the Cape while we were during a NASCAR race from the blimp,” he said. “That's something I still think about today.”
In the air
Thanks to pilots like Basaran, the Goodyear Blimp fleet is still globetrotting. The company operates three blimps in the U.S. that fly out of Ohio, Florida and California. They travel around 100 days each year, tacking on hundreds of thousands of miles in their logs.
Each aircraft has a small passenger bay with two seats for the pilots and room for around a dozen other fliers. Wide windows span the entire cabin, even the bathroom – an upgrade from past models.
“The first big unveiling in the NT [the latest model], the first thing everybody wanted to do was actually go look at the bathroom,” he said. “The ‘loo with the view’, I think it was called.”
The latest blimp models can get up to 70 mph, but Basaran said they’re hardly ever in that kind of hurry. They typically take things slow, flying at a breezy 30 mph. And taking off feels a lot different than an airplane.
“You kind of get a sensation that you're lifting into the air,” he said
Reaching for the skies
It’s a feeling that Basaran is used to, after 12 years of piloting airships. Before coming to Goodyear, he flew commercial planes. Now, he prefers the wind-swept feeling of floating.
“I really enjoy being on the water, and airships are very similar to that,” he said.
It’s a rare experience. There are more active astronauts than full-time airship pilots. And Goodyear doesn’t often offer passenger flights, except through charity auctions. But for those lucky few who go aboard a blimp, Basaran said it offers an entirely new perspective.
“We can be up over Akron with somebody who's lived here 50, 60 years. And they've never seen it from that vantage point. That's always kind of a rewarding experience,” Basaran said.
The blimp is more than just clever advertising, he said. Even at 100 years old, he sees the Goodyear Blimp as a symbol of how far curiosity, and a little bit of helium, can take you.
“I think the airship kind of captivates people's imagination a little bit,” he said. “It can be a source of getting somebody to think about making the next big invention.”
