Nuclear airship

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American postage stamp (1955)

Atom airships are airships , which instead of internal combustion engines as a drive system for a nuclear reactor should have. In terms of technology, this drive system should build on the experience gained with nuclear-powered ships or submarines since the 1950s . In the 1970s there was a support company for nuclear airship construction and airship travel in Lübeck. Motivated by a study by Dornier , the VDI carried out a survey within the German aviation industry and the airship sector in 1972. Surprisingly, this survey found that German Lufthansa was not generally averse to the idea of ​​the airship and that Lufthansa and VFW-Fokker could imagine large nuclear airships in use. In contrast to nuclear submarines and nuclear ships, such as the German freighter Otto Hahn , atomic airships were never built and remained only conceptual considerations in the history of airship travel.

Atoms for Peace Dirigible

Atoms for Peace Symbol (1955 or earlier)

At the beginning of 1955, under President Eisenhower, money was released within the US Congress for the so-called "Atoms for Peace" program , whereby a nuclear-powered merchant ship should be manufactured and thus present the state of US nuclear technology development. However, after the discussion about the project continued in the spring of 1956, Frank Tinsley expressed criticism of the planned ocean-going ship in two magazine articles and presented a nuclear-powered airship as an alternative, which would be better suited for advertising and sympathy purposes.

Tinsley did some graphic conceptualizations and popular science articles on the project. Technologically, his considerations were closely based on the "flying aircraft carrier" presented in 1951 by the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation , which in turn was closely based on the rigid airships Akron and Macon . The nuclear reactor should be installed in the middle of the airship and generate electricity via a steam turbine and drive a propeller at the stern. Overall, the technical specifications remained rather vague. Tinsley, on the other hand, was more precise about transporting people and that it should have landed on the water.

Goodyear Aircraft Corporation study

Even in the late 1950s, the idea of ​​the nuclear airship remained present. In 1957, Edwin Kirschner published a monograph entitled The Zeppelin in the Atomic Age , making use of Frank Tinsley's drawings and illustrations. Kirschner was particularly motivated by the Geneva summit conference that took place in 1955 , at which President Eisenhower presented the Open Sky Plan for civilian air surveillance. According to Kirschner, a nuclear-powered airship would have enormous advantages for airspace surveillance, especially due to its virtually unlimited range and duration of use.

In May 1959, the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation actually presented a first in-depth study on the subject and announced that it would have an atomic-powered impact airship ready for use by 1963. In terms of dimensions, this ship would have exceeded the ZPG-3W if it had a double-decker nacelle, with the nuclear reactor intended for the center of the ship.

Project by Francis Morse

From 1962, Boston- based professor Francis Morse and some of his students developed the concept of a nuclear-powered airship to present it at the world exhibitions in New York and Montreal . In terms of technology, the team wanted to build on tried and tested rigid airships of the 1930s, so that aluminum frames were used and the propulsion systems from Goodyear of the 1940s and 1950s should be used. To operate the two counter-rotating four-blade propellers, the nuclear reactor should be installed in the middle of the ship. The ship filled with 3,000,000 m³ of helium was supposed to transport up to 400 passengers. The plan was to have extremely luxurious furnishings with a dance hall, a promenade deck and even an aircraft hangar. Similar to the airships Akron and Macon , which are used as aircraft carriers , an aircraft could have been incorporated into the airship via a trapezoidal construction and thus could have offered connecting flights for 18 people.

Henry Irwin's project

The in Oklahoma -based company Henry Irwin and Associates, headed by Henry Irwin developed the second atom airship project of the 1960s. Irwin planned to build on the technological concepts and developments of the 1930s even more consistently. All that is known is that a lifting gas volume of 280,000 m³ should be used. In addition, this nuclear airship should only be used as a cargo airship . The project was supported by Charles E. Rosendahl , who even became a partner of Henry Irwin and Associates. Although Irwin reached an agreement with Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in January 1964 , which would have given him access to historical construction documents, the project was later not pursued.

Project ALV 1 & ALV-C / 1 (Erich von Veress)

In the period from 1955 to 1965 , Erich von Veress , who came from Graz , developed the concept of a nuclear airship called the ALV 1 . Allegedly, Veress only started the project on the advice of Otto Hahn . He was considering a 324 meter long ship to transport 500 passengers, 100 crew members and 100 tons of payload. A core drive housed in the bow should generate 18,000 hp and lead to a cruising speed of 300 km / h. Technologically, Veress planned to use existing nuclear reactors, but hoped in vain that progress would never occur in the development of very light reactors. After the interest in the project subsided in the late 1960s after initially positive media coverage, Veress presented a modification in the early 1970s with the ALV-C / 1, which was to be used as a cargo airship. In the 1970s, the Lübeck-based Fördergesellschaft für Atomluftschiffbau und Atomluftschiffahrt eV also sent out information material, advertising the ALV project on the letterhead. However, the project never got beyond this early project stage.

See also

literature

  • J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . Pp. 151-175
  • Edwin J. Kirschner: The Zeppelin in the Atomic Age . University of Illinois Press, 1957.
  • Rolv Heuer: The German nuclear-powered, helium-filled streamlined airship . In: Die Zeit , No. 20/1969

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 171.
  2. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 154 ff.
  3. ^ Gunter Bischof: Cold War Respite: The Geneva Summit of 1955 . Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge 2000, p. 215.
  4. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 156 f.
  5. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 164 f.
  6. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 165
  7. ^ Rolv Heuer: The German nuclear-powered, helium-filled streamlined airship . In: Die Zeit , No. 20/1969.
  8. ↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA . In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (ed.): Airships that were never built . Publication for the exhibition “Airships that were never built” from June 21 to September 15 at the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen. Verlag Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 3-86136-076-4 . P. 166 f.