What have airships been used for?

Question

What have airships been used for?

Answer 1

polar exploration

reconniesance

transportation

Answer 2

The were used for arrying freight and passengers.  We'd still be using them if the Zeppelin company (Germany) hadn't used rocket fuel on the skin which made the Hindenberg flammable.  Once it crashed and burned that was pretty much the end of derigibles.

Interestingly enough, the Zeppelin company is still in business and they have explored developing a modern version.  Since it will get its lift from helium it will save a tremendous amount of fuel.  They won't be as fast as commercial jets, but shipping stuff will be a lot cheaper and for some types of freight, speed may not be a problem.

Check out the new airships at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT

Answer 3

Wow that is a broad topic. But I will try to tackle some of the key points. First one has to realize when airships were first developed, which was way back even before the Wright Brothers. So first they were really the only thing that flew. And what can you do up there well surveillance is probably the first thing one would think of and the first airships that were used in military operations were actually used for surveillance which always was and still is a key usage of airships. The Navy used blimps to guard their transport ships in the world war so that they could spot German U-Boots. Today the US Coastguard just restarted  Blimp surveillance with an airship that is patrolling the Florida Keys. Check out this article about it: http://airshipworld.blogspot.com/2008/07...

Another big usage especially in the early days was of course passenger transportation. The Zeppelins from Germany were the first to offer regular scheduled flights between Europe and America. The Graf Zeppelin and the Hindenburg pioneered the modern day cross Atlantic travel. Unfortunately we don't have anything comparable today but we are hopefully getting back there. Zeppelin is building airships again and the Zeppelin NT is currently in London offering sightseeing flights. Check out these articles about it. http://airshipworld.blogspot.com/search/...

The Zeppelin will be shipped to the US where it will start flights in San Francisco this Fall. Besides being a passenger craft the Zeppelin is also a really good aerial Billboard and has been used for Advertising ever since it first started flying.

Advertising and marketing missions are definitely a big thing for airships. MetLife http://airshipworld.blogspot.com/2008/07... and Goodyear http://airshipworld.blogspot.com/2008/08... are just two of the many companies that use blimps to raise their brand awareness. But of course they don't just fly through the sky doing nothing. Both the MetLife and Goodyear blimps cover sporting events as aerial camera platforms . The MetLife blimps mostly golfing and the Goodyear blimps the Nascar Races.

Beside those missions, the Zeppelin has been used for scientific missions and even for Diamond hunting in Africa.

Oh and I almost forgot a dark chapter in the history of Zeppelins they were also used as bombers in World War One.

So there have been many uses and there are still many today. And if fuel prices soar even higher maybe some creative people find even more uses for airships today.

I hope I could answer your question if not don't hesitate to ask me again or send me an email.

Andreas

--

Editor of Airshipworld

--------------------------------------...

Visit the Airshipworld Blog at

http://airshipworld.blogspot.com

--------------------------------------...