On my travels yesterday I spotted the attached .... think it had just flown or they were preparing for a flight today.

I've read about this one.

Aren't they really struggling to get it going for any sort of distance?

Are they filming the new Bond film?

Is it the Goodyear blimp repainted?

That's Caddington, just south of Bedford.

Drive past it most days towards Bedford, they had a long flight a couple of weeks ago. I must say, up close it is majestic to see

Herts Clarets wrote:That's Caddington, just south of Bedford.

Or for those wanting to look at the hangers on google maps, try Cardington instead.

Can we hire it to fly over Blackburn?

You don't realise just how big those Hangars are until you actually see them!

Great to see them still being used, as Vickers and Barnes Wallis would have wanted.

Sidney1st wrote:I've read about this one.

Aren't they really struggling to get it going for any sort of distance?

You must be reading nonsense, then posting about it......

There's a whole thread on it here:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aviation ... ht=airship" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

including some interesting pictures!

I'm off back there tonight if it's still out I'll try and get some better pictures. The hangers are massive buildings and I'd love to have a look inside one day.

My mistake, it is Cardington.

There is a reason the concept was largely abandoned in the 30s. Too big, too clumsy, too vulnerable, too just about everything apart from good. It begs the question, why?

Imagine if it got a hole in it though and couldn't fly.




It'd be a massive let down...

BennyD wrote:There is a reason the concept was largely abandoned in the 30s. Too big, too clumsy, too vulnerable, too just about everything apart from good. It begs the question, why?

One major application is for supplying aid etc to disaster zones i.e. earthquakes. Small landing zone required, huge lift capacity, incredibly low fuel usage.

The design creates it's own lift as well as the gas providing lift so it's completely unique. That is why......

However, in a lot of cases (because of its low ground speed), you are going to need a big fixed-wing cargo lifter to transport it to where it's needed. Provided you can get one this will need a major runway somewhere close to where it's needed. Either that or hope the country that's affected can afford to buy a blimp just in case they may need one. However, that country will, almost certainly, already have helicopters which can do the same job but get backwards and forwards a lot quicker.

BennyD wrote:However, in a lot of cases (because of its low ground speed), you are going to need a big fixed-wing cargo lifter to transport it to where it's needed. Provided you can get one this will need a major runway somewhere close to where it's needed. Either that or hope the country that's affected can afford to buy a blimp just in case they may need one. However, that country will, almost certainly, already have helicopters which can do the same job but get backwards and forwards a lot quicker.

I'm sure that helicopters will still be used. It will be a useful addition. Also, I think the plan will be to manufacture more than one.

I took that as read, but I'm pretty sure not every country liable to earthquakes will buy one. Also, where are you going to put the huge lift capacity? Not inside, and you would have to have hard points on the outside which would probably neccesitate a manually released load. Whilst it is a good make-over of old technology I can't see a role which would make it preferable to existing delivery systems.

It's the one we lost, they've just re painted it

Hipper wrote:There's a whole thread on it here:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aviation ... ht=airship" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

including some interesting pictures!

What's a picture of my ex wife doing on here?

BennyD wrote:I took that as read, but I'm pretty sure not every country liable to earthquakes will buy one. Also, where are you going to put the huge lift capacity? Not inside, and you would have to have hard points on the outside which would probably neccesitate a manually released load. Whilst it is a good make-over of old technology I can't see a role which would make it preferable to existing delivery systems.

Best to read up about it on Hybrid Air Vehicles website and other resources. There are lots of answers to your points.