A familiar sight at most sporting events today, especially auto races and football games, the airship known as the Goodyear Blimp has a long pedigree going back to well before World War I.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. entered the blimp business largely because of the efforts of Paul Litchfield, a Goodyear executive and fan of the almost-silent airships.
A few airships had dotted European skies since the late 19th century. They were more common by the early 1900s, when enthusiast groups held regular meets and races. Litchfield saw his first airship at an air meet in Europe in 1910 and fell in love. In Scotland, Litchfield visited the North British Rubber Co., which had invented a machine that could spread dissolved rubber on fabric. He negotiated for one of the machines…
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Reminisce (Digital) - 1 Issue, October/November 2022