For those interested…
Helium may be the second most abundant element in the universe but most of it escapes into space.
The world currently has only a limited supply of the gas, which is vital in a number of technological and industrial processes, from arc welding to computer chip making.
Some experts predict there will be no more helium left for the party industry in less than a decade.
http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/helium-shortage-party-balloons-637/
Assuming nobody wants another Hindenberg blow up, will rising helium prices make this idea run out of gas?
There has been advocacy for airships for both commercial and military usage for a long time now. They may be relatively inexpensive to operate but they are also rather delicate and don’t handle less than ideal weather too well.
Duirng the "golden age"of rigid airships or “Zeppelins” (sometimes inaccurately called “dirigibles”, a term that technically applies to any steerable airship), foreign, hydrogen filled rigids,when they got in trouble, tended to burn (like the Hindenberg).
The U.S. rigids, on the other hand, used helium rather than hydrogen. They did not burn - they crashed. Part of the reason for this is that helium was so expensive at the time that the commanders would not try to gain altitude to get above storms (which required helium to be released as the increased altitude caused the gas pressure to increase within the airship) until they were absolutely certain they had to, which could be too late. The crash of the rigid airship Shenandoah in a storm was probably due to this. It may also have been a factor in the crash of the huge rigid airship Akron in a storm. The Akron accident, by the way, killed about twice as many people as the Hindenberg accident, but isn’t as well known since it happened at sea and wasn’t caught on film. The Macon, the Akron’s sister ship, also crashed, though with much less loss of life (helium probably didn’t play a role in that one). That was the end of the U.S. rigid airship program.
In all those 1980s movies that took place in the future year of 2000, there were almost always surveillance dirigibles.
Kind of a disappointment.
How so? The US Military (and now the Border Patrol) have quite a fleet of tethered surveillance blimps (aerostats) and there are tests going on of lighter-than-air unmanned vehicles.
However, if the initial point of this thread is that hypothetical cargo airships pose a threat to the railroad freight business I have a swell flying car I’m willing to sell you…
We must not have seen the same movies.
As someone who caught “Zeppelin Fever” a long time ago let me explain what happened to the US Navy’s rigid airships. “Shenandoah” was caught in a midwestern line squall over Ohio, and there was nothing the skipper, Commander Lansdown could have done about it. Ask any pilot about the wisdom of flying through a thunderstorm. Zach Lansdowne being an Ohio native didn’t want to make the flight at that time of year but was overruled by the Navy who wanted the “Shenandoah” to make the state fair circuit and “show the flag.” It was Zach Lansdowne’s death that sent Billy Mitchell over the edge into making his “criminal negligence” comments concerning US military aviation. We know what happened next.
The “Akron” was flown into the ocean off Barnegat Light when the low atmospheric pressure conditions caused by the storm it was flying through caused false altimeter readings. The zero-visibilty conditions didn’t help either.
“Macon” had a design flaw in the tail assembly. A high-speed turn caused one of the fins to snap and rupture several gas cells. She went down slowly but went down just the same.
Interestingly, a German-built airship used by the Navy, the “Los Angeles”, had a long and spectacular careeer. she flew from, I think, 1925 through 1933 without mishap, finally being scrapped in 1939.
As far as new Zeppelins are concerned, I’ll believe it when I see it. Wish it was otherwise, but the subject has come up on and off since the 60’s, so far, nothing.
Zeppelin GmbH in Friedrichshafen am Bodensee, Germany (worth visiting) currently produces the Zeppelin NT. I saw the Eureka last summer here in the Chicago area coming in for a mooring. It is not as big (246’ vs 776’) as even the old Graf Zeppelin, (sister to the Los Angeles, which never crashed) but still quite impressive with some new technology (the NT).
The Shenandoah was based on the Zeppelin L-49, but built at Lakehurst.
Interesting post Schlimm, was the Zeppelin GmbH air ship a rigid type, or a semi-rigid? I think I read about it somewhere but can’t remember the specific. And you’re absolutely correct about “Shenandoh” being copied from the German L-49. The Navy even had a German airship skipper do the flight training, can’t remember his name though.
Firelock: it’s semi-rigid, with some unusual features: 
As a Zeppelin fan myself, It was a real treat to see it come in, standing quite close.
Here’s a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT
Add me to the “I’ll believe it when I see it” crowd.
Airships are VERY slow, fuel guzzlers, and can’t deal with high winds.
They are great as flying billboards, aerial camera platforms, or very short haul heavy lifters because if you make the vehicle weigh only 10 or 15 pounds then all the engine power can be used to pick up a hovering load. They might be good for logging. They will never be good as transportation of people or cargo.
I’m surprised, well maybe not, with all the talk about Zeppelins that no one has remembered the C&NW Class H Northerns. When they first received them, they used a publicity brochure that compared the steam engine’s boiler to an airship. The brochure was called, “The Zeppelins of the Rails.”
Jeff
“Zeppelins they were called, Zeppelins they were surely not” or something to that was the title for a Trains article on the C&NW class H’s. IIRC the article appeared in an early 1971 issue.
- Erik
P.S. Gotta keep the thread on-topic…
Now that you say that, I just saw that issue available at an antique store about 4 weeks ago. The wife and I took a trip back home to the Amanas. I was going thru an antique store there where I’ve picked up railroad memorabilia in the past. I saw that issue, has a CNW H on the cover, and thought about picking it up, but didn’t. I did get a large record of freight bills that were actual or photocopies of inbound freight waybills from an IC (I think Waterloo, IA with dates of 5/67 to 8/68 on the cover) office. The first time I had ever seen a waybill for livestock.
Now back to our lighter than air discussion.
Jeff
I’ve seen “Blade Runner”…IIRC, the Blimp or airship in that film was a flying billboard showing video imagery…I don’t recall seeing a single train in it (unlike “Total Recall” (no,not the remake))