In order to train pilots and other personnel, Goodyear decided to build and operate a fleet of small non rigid airships. These would not only prove useful as training craft, but also as experimental ships to test new materials and techniques required for the rigid airship programme.
Between July 1928 and August 1940, twelve commercial airships were built by Goodyear, eleven of the Type TZ, which was an enlarged and improved version of “Pilgrim”, and one larger Type PA. The one off Type PA named “Defender”, largest of the fleet, began life in 1929 with an envelope of 178,000 cut ft. In September 1935, this was replaced with one of 183,000 cu ft when the ship was sold to the U.S. Navy as the first of the G Class.
The “Defender”, the Flag Ship of the fleet, was powered by two 165 h.p. Wright Whirlwind engines and could take eight passengers plus pilot.
Operations were based on five airships during the summer months, With “Defender” based at Akron until retirement in 1934.
Goodyear had supplied the Navy with J 1 in 1922 and G 1 in 1935. G 1 was ex-¬Goodyear DEFENDER,1935, Vol 183,000 cu ft. G 2 to G 8 were ordered June, 1942.

In order to train pilots and other personnel, Goodyear decided to build and operate a fleet of small non rigid airships. These would not only prove useful as training craft, but also as experimental ships to test new materials and techniques required for the rigid airship programme.
Between July 1928 and August 1940, twelve commercial airships were built by Goodyear, eleven of the Type TZ, which was an enlarged and improved version of “Pilgrim”, and one larger Type PA. Various sizes of envelope were used, but finally a standard size of 123,000 cu ft was employed on all of the TZ type in service after 1932.
First of the fleet was “Puritan” of 86,000 cu ft, which flew on July 2, 1928. For the next ten years, “Puritan” was in more or less continuous service until completely wrecked in a hurricane on September 21, 1938, at Springfield, Mass. Next to fly was “Volunteer” in April, 1929, to be followed by “Mayflower”, “Vigilant” and “Defender”, all named after winners of the America’s Cup yacht races.
These TZ ships could accommodate four to six passengers and the pilot in their totally enclosed cars, and were powered in their final form by two 145 h.p. Warner Scarab engines.
Operations were based on five airships during the summer months, With “Defender” based at Akron until retirement in 1934, “Volunteer” at Los Angeles, and the remainder either touring or operating at one or other of the two main bases. As ships were lost or retired they were replaced by new or rebuilt ships. When “Vigilant” was wrecked at Piedmont in November 1930, the car and fins were fitted with a new envelope to become “Columbia” re entering service in July, 1931. The new “Reliance” first flew in November, 1931, and she was followed by “Resolute” in 1932, “Enterprise” in 1934, “Rainbow” in 1939, and “Ranger” in 1940.
The outbreak of war curtailed the commercial fleet’s operations until the summer of 1946, when a new fleet was established to continue the tradition. The fleet, however, did not go into retirement. All the ships then in commission, plus a replacement car for “Ranger”, saw service with the U.S. Navy as training L Class ships throughout the war period.
Goodyear had supplied the Navy with J 1 in 1922 and G 1 in 1935, but it was not until 1937 that an order was placed for the first of the L Class (L 1) which was based on the TZ type commercial ship of 123,000 cu.ft. In 1940, L 2 (ex RANGER) and L 3 were ordered and these were followed by the five former Goodyear fleet ships (L 4 to L 8) and 14 production models of which Goodyear built ten (L 13 to L 22). Over twenty of the type were used for wartime training.
The L 1 was followed by the prototype of a new class of naval airship which was destined to be built in larger numbers than any other single airship type, either rigid or non rigid; the K Class.
The second “Ranger” was a replacement for the first. Completed after outbreak of war and delivered direct to U.S.N. as L 8 at Moffett Field, 26 2 42. The car returned to Goodyear in 1946 and was stored. Rebuilt as GZ 20 type for AMERICA, 1968 69.
Immediately after the war, Goodyear bought back from the Navy four complete L ships and one K ship to form the basis of a new commercial fleet. Goodyear were not the only company to be interested in the airship, however.
The Douglas Leigh advertising company purchased no less than 29 surplus L and K ships in February, 1946, and began operating some of them in various parts of the United States with advertising for Ford, M.G.M., Mobilgas, and many other sponsors. However, the coming of television advertising and the high cost of replacing the war surplus ships soon began to tell, and by the early 1950s Goodyear were alone as commercial airship operators in America.
Total production: 18.
The only other Goodyear built airship to be used commercially, other than those of the Goodyear fleet, was the ex Navy L 19, N65N. Originally built in 1944, the airship was delivered to a German company and made its first flight at Stuttgart on March 16, 1956. It became D LAVO, later D LISA, and was used for aerial advertising in Germany until sold to Japan in 1968.
The post war Goodyear fleet, which began operations in May, 1946, were given names used before by the pre war ships, although there was no connection between them and the previous ships of the same name. Navy L-14 became “Mayflower”, L-16 became “Enterprise”, L 17 “Volunteer”, and L 18 “Ranger”, all in service by May, 1947. The single K ship (K 28) became “Puritan” and was the largest commercial airship ever operated by Goodyear, with an envelope of 425,000 cu.ft. She entered service in March, 1947, but due to the high operating cost was withdrawn just over a year later in April, 1948.
Cars from three of the pre war fleet (L-4, L 5, and L 8) were also acquired in 1946 and placed in storage as spares. The car of L 8 has since been used in a modified and improved form for the “America” in 1968. As with the pre war fleet, several rebuilds took place during the 1950s and 1960s to keep one or two ships always in commission up to 1968 when a major expansion programme got under way.

In 1964 Goodyear blimp Mayflower cruised over New York City with two chemists and 250 lb of air sniffing equipment to detect sulpherdioxide gases expelled from industry.

Type TZ (NAVY L CLASS) 1938
Engines: 2 x 145 hp Warner Scarab.
Length: 149ft.
Maximum diameter: 39ft 6in.
Volume: 123,000 cu ft.
Maximum speed: 60 m.p.h.
Cruising speed: 45 m.p.h.
Range: 335 miles.
Endurance: 61 hours.
Useful load: 2,150 lb.

GZ 7
Engines: 2 x145 h.p. Warner R 500 2/6.
Volume: 123,000 cu ft.
Length: 149ft.
Max Dia: 39ft.

The lack of military contracts caused Goodyear to look at the possibility of building commercial airships, and this led to a series of designs which were to become world famous. The first of these was the Type FD “Wingfoot Express”, of 95,000 cu ft, which first flew in June, 1919. Just over 160 feet long and capable of carrying five people, it was powered by two Gnome Le Rhone rotary engines which were suspended from the envelope above and behind the car. Although short lived, it was soon to be followed by three much smaller craft of 35,500 cu ft which were known as “Pony Blimps”.

The BA contract was followed by others for C and D Class ships, each slightly larger and more improved than the preceding type. The D class blimp was a patrol airship used by the US Navy in the early 1920s. The D-type blimps were slightly larger than the C-type and had many detail improvements. The Navy continued the practice of dividing the envelope production between Goodyear and Goodrich. The control cars were manufactured by the Naval Aircraft Factory. The major improvements over the C-type blimps were a better control car design and easier, more reliable controls and instrumentation. The engines were moved to the rear to reduce noise and allow better communications between crew members. The fuel tanks were suspended from the sides of the envelope. The envelope was identical to the C-type, except an additional six-foot panel was inserted for a total length of 198 feet (60 m) and a volume of 190,000 cubic feet (5,400 m3). The last of the D-Class, D-6, had a different control car designed by Leroy Grumman who later founded the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.

The D-1 burned the day of its first flight, 13 July 1920, in the Goodyear hangar at Wingfoot Lake, Ohio. The D-2, D-3, D-4 and D-5 were transferred to the United States Army which the Air Ship Board had given the primary role of operating non-rigid airships after World War I. D-3 participated as an observation and photography aircraft at the famed “Mitchell” bombing test of 1921. D-3 also participated in the Mitchell bombing trials and tested experimental mooring masts. D-3 also participated in early “hook-on” experiments to see if it was possible for an airplane to fly up to and hook onto a trapeze hanging from an airship. No actual hook-ons were achieved, but approaches were practiced. D-4 also participated in the Mitchell trials, for observation and photography. The D-5 was never operated by the Army with that designation. After the loss of D-2, the D-5 was erected with more powerful 180 hp Wright V engines and flown as the D-2 (no. 2) D-2 (no 2 is a designation created by historian James Shock, never used by the Army). There is no evidence the airship flew for the Army with the designation “D-5”. D-5 is believed to have been renumbered “D-2” after the loss of that airship.

The Navy retained one additional D-type, the D-6. The D-6 was built by the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but her design was sufficiently different that she was distinct from the other five D-class airships. It featured a further improved control car (the “D-1 Enclosed Cabin Car” which had a water tight bottom for landings on water and internal fuel tanks. The D-6 was burned in the Naval Air Station Rockaway hangar fire of 31 August 1921 along with two small dirigibles, the C-10 and the H-1 and the kite balloon A-P.
The last operational D-type, the D-3 was decommissioned by the Army sometime in 1924.

Typical Specifications
Length: 198 ft 0 in (60.37 m)
Diameter: 42 ft 0 in (12.80 m)
Height: 58 ft 0 in (17.68 m)
Volume: 190,000 cu.ft (5,380 cu.m)
Useful lift: 4,340 lb (1,969 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Union, 125 hp (93 kW) each
Maximum speed: 58 mph (93 km/h)
Cruise speed: 40 mph (64 km/h)
Range: 1,480 miles (2,380 km)
Endurance: 37 hours
Crew: Four
Armament: 1 × .303 Lewis gun
Bombload: 4 × 270 lb (122 kg) bombs