Transport airship

Artist's impression of a Piasecki Heli-Stat

Transport airships are airships which are to be used for the exclusive transport of goods of a civil and military nature. In contrast to airships , which transport small amounts of cargo in addition to passengers, this type of airship is intended for the exclusive transport of cargo. Within the history of airship travel, concepts and projects emerge again and again that plan and plan the development and use of airships for the transport of loads and freight. To this day, however, there is no operational airship of this type.

Unrealized projects

Russian transport airships and transport airship concepts

During the Second World War, the Soviet airships "USSR-W12" and " Pobeda " were used to transport hydrogen and cargo, so that during the war a total of around 200,000 cubic meters of hydrogen and around 320 t of cargo were transported for the Red Army . In 1968 an airship was proposed under the name "Novosibirsk 2", which should transport up to 30 t payload, whereby the project never got beyond the conception phase. In 1982 it was decided to build two test models of large transport devices to use the airship as flying cranes in agriculture and forestry. The first test airship, "Ural 3", was 20 meters long, 18 meters high and 7 meters wide and had a load capacity of 500 kg. A version with a three-ton payload was initially planned for series production. There were also larger studies, but none of them were ever carried out.

Goodyear Transcontinental Airship Project

In the mid-1940s, Goodyear Aircraft Corporation sponsored a transcontinental airship project. In addition to a luxury version for 112 and a regular version for 288 passengers, a version was also proposed which should transport cargo within the airship deck. The proposed helium-filled airship was supposed to transport 90 tons of cargo from the American west coast to Hawaii . In 1947 Hugo Eckener stayed seven months in the United States at the invitation of Director Paul W. Lichtfield and advised the Goodyear company on its projects. Due to a lack of government grants, however, the project could not be implemented, so that the idea did not get beyond the conception phase.

LZ-132 project

In the mid-1950s, the new conception of an airship based on the Zeppelin LZ 131 was proposed, this study being referred to as the LZ 132 . In addition to the use as a passenger airship, a second version as a cargo airship was planned, which should have a transport capacity of up to 30 t. However, the study did not get beyond the conception phase, so the airship was never built.

ZPG-3W airships and the Saturn rocket

In 1962, NASA was considering moving the second upper stage of the Saturn rocket , the so-called S-IV, with ZPG-3W airships from its production facility at Douglas in El Segundo to Cape Canaveral . For this purpose, all unused equipment should be removed and a landing gear installed between which the rocket stage could be added. The alternative was to ship it through the Panama Canal. Nothing is known of the implementation of this idea.

Henry Irwin's nuclear airship project

The in Oklahoma -based company Henry Irwin and Associates, headed by Henry Irwin developed a nuclear-powered cargo airship concept in the 1960s. Irwin planned to consistently build on technological concepts and developments of the 1930s. All that is known is that a lifting gas volume of 280,000 m³ should be used. 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.

Aerospace Developments: Study for the Shell Group

In the late 1960s, the founders of Aerospace Developments , John Wood and Roger Munk , began thinking about a large airship.

The concept envisaged a large airship of a rigid construction , which was to be constructed for Shell, the mineral oil and natural gas group . In terms of dimensions, a length of 549 m and a gas volume of 2,750,000 m³ were considered. Shell planned to use the airship to transport natural gas deposits. The cost-intensive conventional gas transport (e.g. of liquefied natural gas ) should therefore be avoided. Inside the airship, the natural gas would have been used as a lifting gas in combination with helium and hot exhaust gases .

The project ended before detailed concept studies were carried out. In particular, the first preliminary considerations and preliminary study results showed that the concept would have been impractical.

Concept study by Dornier AG

At the beginning of the 1970s, Dornier AG prepared a concept study on behalf of Flugschiffbau Hamburg GmbH, whereby, surprisingly, no framework conditions for the study were specified when the order was placed. The study, which was carried out within 6 months, looked at the possibilities of an airship designed for European short-haul traffic in a technical and economic part. A ship 214 meters long and 52.6 meters wide that would have been operated with 200,000 m³ of lifting gas was proposed. A special feature was the shell, which was supposed to be made of lightweight aluminum sheets, but thanks to new manufacturing technologies it would have been much easier to construct than the ZMC-2 all-metal airship. In addition to a passenger version, which should carry up to 468 passengers, a freight version was proposed, which would have taken 75 tons of freight. Both versions were designed for a cruising speed of 245 km / h with a range of 600 kilometers. The concept did not get beyond the study, so the airships were never built.

Thermo-Skyship Ltd. & Wren Skyships Ltd.

Also in the 1970s, the Isle of Man- based company Thermo-Skyship Ltd. proposed his concept of a lenticular, bi-convex airship. Depending on the design, a payload of 100 to 1,000 t of freight was calculated. The primary lift of these airships was supposed to be done by helium, whereby an air chamber inside the airship could also have been filled with hot waste heat from the engines. This would have gained additional lift and the airship could even have been heavier-than-air on the ground. Although a demonstrator was produced in 1975 and presented to the press in the Cardington airship hangar , fundamental physical questions of stability and resistance remained unanswered.

In 1985, Wren Skyships announced their intention to build a 128 m long all-metal airship (RS.1) as a prototype for larger transport airships in Great Britain .

In 1992, Thermo-Skyship was founded by Wren Skyships Ltd. and henceforth the concept of the lens airship was abandoned. Instead, a more modern metal airship was designed. This concept, known as RS.1, was planned for a variety of purposes. On the one hand, it was intended to be used as a ferry between Dover and Calais, with up to 22 cars and 88 passengers being transported. On the other hand, a version of a "flying crane" was planned so that the airship would have been used for transporting trees in forestry , for transporting prefabricated houses or for delivering medicines and emergency hospitals to crisis areas. After the company's shareholders announced their request for a smaller prototype in view of the enormously increasing development and production costs, the concept was no longer pursued over time.

CargoLifter AG

CargoLifter , which was founded in 1996 and went bankrupt in 2002, planned to develop and operate a cargo airship for the transport of large turbines and plant components. This airship, named CL160, was designed to load up to 160 tons of cargo in a 3,200 cubic meter (50 m × 8 m × 8 m) cargo compartment. Due to the insolvency of the company, the airship project did not get beyond the conception phase, but the airship yard, today's Tropical Islands , had been built.

SkyHook International & Boeing

The Canadian company SkyHook International and the US aerospace company Boeing initiated a development project for a cargo airship in 2008. A 40 meter long airship with a 36 t payload and 370 km range was planned. In September 2010 the project was interrupted because, according to the company, the development project would not be feasible without state funding or subsidies.

Recent developments and ongoing projects

Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop

Since 2011 , conferences organized by the NASA Ames Research Center and other government agencies have been held in Alaska under the title Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop . The aim of these conferences is to bring together practitioners with airship experience and logisticians and to explore the possibilities of the construction and use of transport airships for northern regions. Former employees of CargoLifter AG were among the conference speakers . The conferences took place in August 2011, August 2012 and July 2013.

Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV)

On August 7, 2012, a 90-minute first flight of the Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) with a test flight crew took place in Lakehurst on behalf of the US Army . The hybrid airship was powered by diesel engines. Its main use should be in reconnaissance and espionage. According to the manufacturer, the airship should also be able to be used as a cargo airship and be able to transport up to 7 tons of cargo. The airship system was originally intended to be operational in Afghanistan from 2013 . However, technical problems and time delays caused the program to be aborted completely and the subsequent sale to the English manufacturer, where it was continued as Airlander .

Airlander

Civil hybrid airship project also for freight transport. The prototype first started in 2016 and uses the shell of the LEMV.

Ohio Airships Inc.

In 1999, Ohio Airships Inc. was founded by Robert Rist and Brian Martin. The company planned to construct a so-called Dynalifter airship, which was originally supposed to have its maiden flight in September 2009. This airship, designed as a hybrid airship, is to take 160 t - 200 t of cargo in its planned largest expansion stage. In 2010 a first smaller prototype, the Dynalifter DL-100, was completed, which was subsequently tested. Company representatives also attended the 2012 Cargo Airships for Northern Operations Workshop Conference.

Eros Corporation

literature

Willi Hallmann: Balloons and airships through the ages. From the Montgolfiere to the Cargolifter . Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2002, ISBN 3-89880-013-X .
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 .
Denis Howe: The feasibility of the large freight airship. In: Cranfield Report / Aero No. March 6, 1971.
Edwin Mowforth, Arnold Nayler: Airships today. An introduction to the types and various capabilities of modern airships . Airship Association, Folkestone, Kent 2004, ISBN 0-9528578-5-5 .

Individual evidence

↑ 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. 90 (color illustrations).

↑ 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. 152 ff.

↑ B. Waibel: The LZ 132 project. Revival of Zeppelin Air Shipping in the 1950s? . 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 .

↑ Blimp Airlift For S-4; Aviation Week and Space Technology; January 22, 1962 issue page 83; online behind the registration barrier in the Aviation.com archive ; accessed on October 15, 2016

↑ J. Bleibler: The fifties and sixties - large airship projects in Germany and the USA, In: Wolfgang Meighöfer (Hrsg.): 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

^ ^A ^b David Velupillai: AD500: the commercial airship . (pdf) In: Flight International . 115, No. 3649, February 24, 1979, pp. 539-44.

↑ Edwin Mowforth: An introduction to the Airship . (3rd ed.) London 2007, pp. 101-02.

^ R. Munk: Action rather than Words . In: Symposium on the Future of the Airship: A Technical Appraisal . Royal Aeronautical Society, London 1975, pp. 4-5.

^ R. Munk: Action rather than Words . In: Symposium on the Future of the Airship: A Technical Appraisal . Royal Aeronautical Society, London 1975, pp. 6-10.

↑ Edwin Mowforth: An introduction to the Airship . (3rd ed.). London 2007, p. 102.

↑ 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. 170 f.

^ Flight, Wren proposes rigid airship; Edition: August 31, 1985; Page 15; online as PDF , accessed on December 26, 2016.

^ I. Alexander: Airships never built in Great Britain . 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. 103-121.