Existing comment:
Goodyear Airship Pilgrim:
In the mid-1920s the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio, built a fleet of small civil airships that were used to demonstrate the value of lighter-than-air flight and to train future airship pilots. One of those airships - the Pilgrim -- was the first ever designed for inflation with helium. It first flew at Akron, Ohio, on June 3, with pilot Jack Yolton at the controls, and was christened on July 18 by Mrs. P. W. Litchfield, wife of the president of Goodyear. By the time the Pilgrim was retired on December 30, 1931, it had made 4,765 flights, carried 5,355 passengers, flown a total of 2,880 hours, and covered 15,300 kilometers (95,000 miles).
The gondola, or control car, had a magnesium-coated steel-tube framework covered with thin metal sheeting. It could accommodate the pilot and two passengers in the comfort of blue mohair velour upholstered seats with mahogany finished veneer. |