Airship/External Links

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A hand-picked, annotated list of Web resources about Airship.
Please sort and annotate in a user-friendly manner and consider archiving the URLs behind the links you provide. See also related web sources.

General

  • Airship Home Page - Provides a list of airship related websites. Also contains airship mailing list.
  • Airship and Blimp Resources - This site focuses more on how to build your own airship with a particular focus on hot air airships (also known as "hotships")
  • Airships Mailing List - A forum for the discussion and design of lighter-than-air craft.
  • Airship: DJ's Zeppelin Page - Provides photographs of and ephemera from airships
  • Blimp-N2A.com - Compendium site inspired by the visit of Goodyear Blimp N2A to Europe from 1972 to 1986. Includes a very complete list of helium airship (i.e. does not include hot air airships) here.
  • Airshipworld blog - News blog of airships in general with a particular focus on their planned conference in 2008.

Associations

Historical

Manufacturers and commercial operators

  • Airship Association Net Links Page for a comprehensive list of companies throughout the world focusing on the development of airships.
  • Airship Management Services — Operators of several type-certified airships including the Fuji Blimp. These aircraft were originally built by the Westinghouse Corporation with the designation Skyship 600. They also own and operate a sightseeing airship in Switzerland under the name Skycruiser Switzerland
  • Airship Asia Company making helium airships in Thailand
  • American Blimp Corporation In association with The Lightships Group, this company builds and operates the world's largest fleet of airships.
  • Augur Aerostatic Systems — Russian company making both gas and hot air airships
  • Cameron Airships — Hot air airships manufactured by Cameron Balloon - the world's largest manufacturer of hot air balloons.
  • GEFA-FLUG GmbH - The Air Company — makers of hot air airships
  • The Goodyear Blimps — The most famous modern airships, owned and operated by The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
  • Lindstrand Airships — Hot air airships manufactured by hot air balloon company Lindsrand, a subsidiary of Cameron Balloon.
  • RosAero — Russian airship company that makes both Helium and hot air airships
  • WDL -- a German airship that also operates heavier-than-air aircraft
  • Worldwide Aeros Corp. — Aeros is an lighter-than-air (LTA) aircraft manufacturing company. The company's operations involve the research, development, production, operation and marketing of a family of Aeros-branded air vehicles used in government and commercial applications. These include non-rigid FAA Type Certified Aeros 40D Sky Dragon Airship (blimp), Advanced Tethered Aerostats and New Type Rigid Air Vehicle - Aeroscraft.
  • Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH — The Zeppelin Company and the Zeppelin NT.

High-profile flights

Experiments, prototypes and one-offs

  • 21st Century Airships Inc. Developers of spherical, finless airships. In 2007 started work on a more conventionally shaped airship.
  • USA Airships - Small helium airship with vectored thrust
  • White Dwarf — A small, human-powered airship. In 2007 envelope failed during on-the-ground pressure test. Future prospects uncertain.
  • Zeppy — Human powered airship. Website in French.
  • Voliris — French company that has built a small 2 person ship.
  • Electroplume 250 — a small, one person electrically driven airship. Website in French.
  • Dendronautics — This group, led by Graham Dorrington, has developed several 1 and 2 person electric-motor-powered airships specifically focused on rain forest canopy access. One of these ships was the subject of the Werner Herzog documentary "The White Diamond" in 2004.
  • Operation L’Alize — A lenticularly shaped airship
  • Personal Blimp — A hot air airship with a "double-umbrella" tension-membrane envelope structure and tail-mounted steerable engine.
  • Santo2006 - A Roziere (helium and hot air) airship used for rain forest canopy access. There is also a technical write-up in English.
  • Thermoplane - Russian lenticularly shaped Rozier (helium and hot air hybrid) developed in the 1990's. Made one low-altitude (possibly tethered) flight. Current status unknown.

Designs under development

  • Aeroscraft - heavy lift air vehicle by the Worldwide Aeros Corp.
  • Lockheed-Martin HAA Project - Department of Defense Missle Defense Agency funded stratospheric airship project. The project received nearly $150 million in funding in 2005 to build a prototype to be flown in 2009.
  • Dynalifter - Hybrid airship under development from 2003 thru 2006. Prototype developed through the point of taxi tests. The prototype was destroyed when its hanger collapsed during a windstorm in Spring of 2007.
  • JP Aerospace - Building very large V-shaped airships to fly to 140,000 feet

Proposed designs

Recently defunct projects

  • World Skycat Ltd. - A company marketing the Skycat aircraft being developed by Advanced Technologies Group (see next item.)
  • Advanced Technologies Group Until August of 2005, when it went into receivership, this company was developing a range of products such as UAV's - Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, heavier-than-air airships and HAPS' - High Altitude Platform Stations for telecommunication. The assets of the company were purchased by an unnamed Italian group in Spring of 2006. The future of the company remains uncertain.
  • Sanswire Stratellite - Stratospheric airship project put forward by Globetel Communications in 2006. Globetel went out of business after the company was investigated by the US Securities and Exchange commission in 2007.