What you didn't know about Goodyear blimps in South Florida, always a WOW

 

Goodyear Blimp 1980
State Archives of Florida/Hastings

Goodyear Blimp Base
1500 NE 5th Ave., Pompano Beach, Fl 33060
Passenger rides no longer available except by invitation
Base tours only
954-946-8300

By Jane Feehan

Goodyear blimps have been capturing live sporting events for broadcasting long before drones. They’re still at it. These blimps also capture the attention of residents and visitors to South Florida. They seldom fail to stop conversations or to draw eyes upward as they majestically glide by.

Goodyear first built airships in 1917 for use in World War I. In 1919 after the conflict ended, the company started building their own for commercial interests. They launched the Pilgrim, Puritan, Volunteer, Mayflower, Vigilant, and Defender in the years that followed. Built at Wingfoot Lake, Ohio blimps were named after winners of America’s Cup, the international sailing race. This naming protocol was used until early 21^st century.

The company opened a blimp base on Watson Island in Miami in 1930, where it remained until 1978. The blimps cruising over Fort Lauderdale* flew from that base until Goodyear lost its lease (see link below about airship blimpcasting” over Fort Lauderdale in 1948). By 1978, they were known for covering Superbowl and Orange Bowl games and other events. Though Hollywood, Florida made a pitch for relocating the base to their city, Goodyear settled on Pompano Beach.

Pompano Beach “blimpmania” began in August 1979 when its City Commission approved the deal: $25,000 a year for a 30-year lease for 22 acres at their air park. Many hoped the ship would put Pompano Beach on the map and serve as goodwill ambassador for the city. The Pompano Beach Chamber of Commerce sponsored a parade and red-carpet welcome held November 9^th for the maiden voyage of Goodyear’s Enterprise. Mayor Emma Lou Olson christened the airship before thousands who gathered for the event. By November 28 rides were available to the public for $7.50 for adults and $5 for children under 12.

 A 45,000 square foot hangar was built to house the airship. Permanent administrative offices were dedicated in 1986. Enterprise was replaced in 2017 or 2018 by Wingfoot Two (named by Akron, Ohio native and wife of basketball great LeBron James, Savannah James).

About airship construction, movement and use

Today’s Goodyear airship models are not technically blimps. No longer bags of highly flammable hydrogen, their fleet is comprised of semi-rigid structures filled with helium and air. Pilot Tracey Lawford says today’s models fly with engines that swivel and use propellers. Control of the balance of helium and air pressure moves the craft through the air. “Today they are much easier to maneuver,” says Lawford. She also flies helicopters and says the craft ascends much the same as a helicopter. Wingfoot Two cruises 40-45 mph and is quieter than older airships.

Goodyear blimp tourists
in Miami 1960
State Archives of Florida/Hansen

Today’s mission for the Goodyear airships is primarily advertising but its Stars and Stripes was pulled into emergency service after the devastating Hurricane Andrew in 1992. It flashed signs about relief supply locations to storm survivors.

Lawford stresses the importance of the ground crew in the movement of Wingfoot Two. A retinue of 20 staff travels to events. It includes two trucks with one serving as a mechanic shop. Destinations are scoped out ahead of a temporary relocation to make sure the landing area is level and free from mud for a flight. Ground crews are instrumental in ship launch and landing.

Airships no longer leave Pompano Beach for six months a year as they used to. Travel is assignment-based after which they return home. There are three bases today: Carson, California, Wingfoot Lake in Ohio and Pompano Beach, Florida (one in Spring, Texas closed in 1992). These craft do not fly in the cold.

We don’t see them as much as we used to in Fort Lauderdale due to air traffic patterns of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, but when we do, there is always a sense of ... WOW!

 Thank you, Goodyear.

* About blimpcasting over Fort Lauderdale in 1948 - See index

About the Defender and Seminole passengers:- Use search box for "A cultural exchange"

About the Graf Zeppelin trip to Miami, use search box for "Celebrated Graf Zepplin lands ..."

Copyright © 2023. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan

 Sources:

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 16, 1979

Fort Lauderdale News July 10, 1979

Fort Lauderdale News July 11, 1979

Fort Lauderdale News, Aug. 8, 1979

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 2, 1979

Fort Lauderdale News, Nov. 9, 1979

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Oct. 22, 2016

Fort Lauderdale News,  Jan. 19, 1986

Goodyear Blimp:

 Tags: Goodyear blimps, Goodyear blimp in Pompano Beach, Pompano Beach airpark

A cultural exchange: Seminoles take flight ... over the Everglades

 

Posted by Jane Feehan

The story below, in language we’d consider way off the politically-correct charts, describes a trip Seminoles took by air in 1929. A flight on the  Defender*, Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation's largest non-rigid airship, took the group over their  Everglades "haunts." While amusing and poorly written, the news story also sheds light on Seminole customs. And, it points to something else: This flight was borne of the desire to help bridge the cultural gap between the white man and Seminole. 

Florida Seminole leaders saw their favorite hunting grounds, the Everglades, from the air for the very first time Thursday …

They also had their first ride in a dirigible, when the Goodyear Zeppelin Corp. baby blimp Defender took them over the area. But disappointment lurked in the eyes of Cory Osceola, chief of the east coast Indians. He was banned by tribal law from the trip. By the law of the Florida redmen, he is forbidden to take any chances with his life or do anything out of the ordinary routine of living until his infant son is able to walk. The six-month-old papoose is just getting about on his hands and knees.

The six who made the trip were surrounded by about 125 eager-eyed members of the tribe, with papooses in the majority, just before the big gas bag rose in the air. Cory Osceola, who had listened attentively to the pilot as he explained to him in English the workings of the craft, addressed the crowd telling them in the Seminole tongue what he had learned of it.

During his address there were frequent ejaculations of surprise and a deep interest was manifested as he was halted in his talk to be questioned by some brave.

Chestnut Billie, one of the youngest in the party who made the flight was included because of his air-mindedness and his avowed intention of learning to fly.

*About the Defender: It was was 184 feet long, 43 feet in diameter with a gas capacity of 185,000 cubic feet. It had a cruising radius of about 1,000 miles. The Defender, stationed at Opa Locka during winter,was christened by Aviator Amelia Earhart Aug. 20, 1929 at the Cleveland Air Races. 

______

Sources: 

Fort Lauderdale News, Dec. 6, 1929

Miami News, Dec. 26, 1929

Fort Lauderdale News, Jan. 24, 1930

Tags: Florida history, Seminole history, Everglades, blimp history, aviation

Celebrated Graf Zeppelin lands in Miami with big plans

Graf Zeppelin arriving at Opa-Locka naval base
Florida State Archives/Florida Memory

By Jane Feehan

The German-built airship, the Graf Zeppelin, achieved world-wide celebrity status in 1928. It made the first commercial-passenger dirigible flight across the Atlantic, landing Oct. 15 that year in Lakehurst, New Jersey. It was also the largest one built up to that time—800 feet— and its commander, Dr. Hugo Eckener (1868-1954) was considered a leading expert in dirigible flight. In 1929 he successfully flew the airship around the world, chalking up another first.

Enthusiasm for commercial dirigible flight surged across the U.S. after the Graf Zeppelin’s trans-oceanic trip in 1928. The U.S. military was already using rigid-construction (frame) airships to support search and coastal operations but visions of passengers and goods traveling across the Atlantic fueled dreams of expanded commerce. According to news accounts, Miami officials, excited by the prospects of such travel, set aside hundreds of acres and spent $40,000 for a dirigible docking port at the Opa-Locka Naval Reserve Base, dedicating it Jan. 13, 1930. Some news sources claimed it was the only such port in the world municipally owned.

Miami officials were eager to see the Graf Zeppelin up close after the commander accepted their invitation to visit Miami. Dr. Eckener scheduled a trip from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Miami in 1933 before heading to Goodyear headquarters in Akron. Floridians were also caught up in airship fever. Seaboard Air Line advertised discounted two-day, round-trip rail service from Bartow, Winter Haven, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood to see the famous zeppelin in Opa-Locka.

On Oct. 23, 1933, the Graf Zeppelin, with its 98-foot gondola, coasted 1,000 feet over Miami. It was escorted by a plane to the Opa-Locka naval air station, where beefed-up security was deployed to guard the dirigible against possible violence. Protests were predicted (but did not occur) against the new German regime headed by Hitler who grabbed power in January 1933.

Commander Hugo Eckener was accompanied by a representative from the German Air Ministry, an editor from a French aeronautical magazine, Hearst reporter, Lady Grace-Drummond-Hay and a few private citizen passengers. Miami Mayor E.G. Sewell, Miami commissioners, Opa-Locka officials, and other notables, soon whisked the visitors to the McAllister Hotel and then to a luncheon at the Old Heidelberg restaurant.

Eckener told hosts about his plans to expand Graf Zeppelin’s trans-oceanic service: a route from Seville, Spain to Rio de Janeiro with a stop in Miami during the winter, and a summer route to Lakehurst or Washington, D.C. The commander thought the service could begin in two years. Dr. Eckener also hoped for service from the U.S. to Egypt via Europe.

The Graf Zeppelin, its crew and passengers departed Opa-Locka for Akron about 16 hours later. It proved to be a short visit with a long list of possibilities that did not come to fruition. Later, Eckener thought traveling across the Atlantic on a more southern route would be easier. The airship continued to operate but under clouds of pending war in Europe. Its nine-year successful run came to an end the day after the Hindenburg disaster May 6, 1937 in New Jersey when 36 died in its fire. In 1940, parts from the grounded Graf Zeppelin were taken for use in German war-bound winged aircraft.

Dr. Eckener, no fan of the Nazis (nor they of him) criticized the regime for cutting costs in operating dirigibles; he endorsed the use of helium rather than the explosive hydrogen in landings. Helium, a by-product of mined mineral gas, was controlled by the U.S. starting in 1925; regulation drove up its costs. The German government opted for use of the cheaper hydrogen. Some experts later surmised a spark ignited hydrogen, causing the devasting Hindenburg fire that occurred just 200 feet above ground. The Hindenburg disaster spelled doom for dirigible flight. Airplane travel was about to take over, further diminishing prospects for such ships as the Graf Zeppelin.

The L-27 Graf Zeppelin, the one that stopped in Miami, proved to be the most successful of zeppelins. It made 590 flights, racked up more than a million miles and carried more than 34,000 passengers without a single injury. It also conducted one scientific mission to the North Pole.

Between 1912-1930, there were 13 airship flights (NOT the Graf Zeppelin) involving 275 fatalities. There were more fatal accidents both before and after that time span; a comprehensive list is difficult to find. In spite of safety concerns, the glamour of dirigible flying was never matched by the more efficient common carrier airplanes, the flying buses that replaced them.

Copyright © 2021, 2022 All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

Sources:

Miami News, Oct. 11, 1928

Miami News, Oct. 16, 1928

Miami News, Jan. 13, 1930

Miami News, April 4, 1933

Miami News, Sept. 28, 1933

Miami News, Oct. 21, 1933

Miami News, Oct 23, 1933

Airships.net

Tags: Miami history, Opa-Locka, dirigibles, Graf Zeppelin, Jane Feehan, dirigibles, air travel, aviation history 

Look up in the sky! It's flashing, it's news. Fort Lauderdale 1948

Goodyear blimp, a common sight above
Fort Lauderdale beach today

By Jane Feehan

For three days in January and three in February 1948, residents of Fort Lauderdale, Dania and Hollywood could look up to the sky to read local, state, and national headlines. The Goodyear blimp* flashed news in five or six line bites each day from 6 to 9 p.m.

The blimpcasting event, a public relations initiative, was sponsored by Robert H. Gore’s Fort Lauderdale Daily News.  Most of us today probably have seen blimp messaging from one of the tire company’s airships but it was not a common sight in the 1940s. Many residents called the newspaper to express congratulations and to ask if the flashing news was the product of post-war technology. It was not; blimpcasting was first developed by Goodyear airship operations in 1930.

Incandescent signs were adapted for use on the curved sides of a blimp through the development of special light-weight equipment. Early signs, according to the Fort Lauderdale Daily News (Feb 8, 1948), were “boxed-in letters of tubing.” By 1948, eight by six feet frames “were a universal composite type of sign containing all the letters of the alphabet and numerals in one frame.” Equipment was simple: “a typewriter-style tape punch and a translator.”  (People then would be amazed by the simplicity of today’s digitized banners!**)

The Daily News phoned in headlines to the airship, the Mayflower based at Watson Island in Miami, where it was translated for broadcast. Ten letters  were posted in five or six lines at a time but there were no breaks while reading. It took between seven and eight minutes to go through the news that could be viewed 1,000 feet below and as far as a half mile away.

Robert H. Gore bought the newspaper in 1929 and sold it to the Tribune Company of Chicago in 1963. Once governor of Puerto Rico, Gore helped shape the political landscape of Fort Lauderdale for decades. 

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

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*Rides on the Goodyear blimps are available at the invitation of the company only. Most of the lucky riders are Goodyear customers, winners of local charity auctions, local dignitaries, or members of the press.

** After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, a Goodyear Blimp flashed emergency messages to disaster survivors. It may be a viable way of communicating in the aftermath of another disaster when/if conventional methods of communication are unavailable. Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. Jane Feehan.

For more on RH Gore, see index

Sources:

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 28, 1948

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 29, 1948

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Feb. 8, 1948

Gore, Paul A. Past the Edge of Poverty: A biography of Robert Hayes Gore, Sr. Fort Lauderdale: R.H. Gore Co. (1990)

Tags: Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s, R.H. Gore, Fort Lauderdale historian, Fort Lauderdale history, history of Fort Lauderdale