Post-War Innovations

Challenging Limits

In the 1940s and into the 1950s, Goodyear built a series of large surveillance airships used to protect merchant fleets along the coast and serve as early warning radar stations. The ZPG-2 model could stay aloft for more than a week at a time.

In fact, an airship of this type, the Snow Bird, still holds the flying endurance record with 11 consecutive days in flight. In March 1957, Snow Bird flew from Weymouth, Massachusetts, to Europe, Africa and Key West, Florida, without refueling or landing.

The Dawn of Aerial Television Coverage

During the early 1950s, television programming was growing in popularity, and Goodyear once again used its fleet of Blimps to capitalize on the opportunity.

On January 1, 1955, using camera and microwave transmitting equipment provided by NBC, the Enterprise V became the first aerial platform to provide a live television picture of a nationally televised program when it broadcast the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.

In the early years of the Blimps’ aerial television coverage, the equipment was heavy and unstable, but it brought a new angle to the industry and allowed audiences to see things like never before. The networks loved it then, as they still do today.

Getting Back to the Lab

In the late 1950s, Goodyear settled back into supporting the Blimp fleet’s operations and began developing, testing and producing radar microwave components. Wingfoot Lake soon became the most complete radar testing facility in the United States with 17 separate range sites. The lake itself was used as a huge reflector, off of which Goodyear engineers bounced radar signals during testing.

In 1946 to 1947 Goodyear put the Ranger, Volunteer, Enterprise, Mayflower and Puritan into service for advertising and public relations. The company also continued to build airships for the government until the early 1960s, when the Navy program was discontinued.

Shortly thereafter, the facility’s name was changed to Wingfoot Lake Test Operations, and there Goodyear continued its research including testing helicopter armor, developing cryogenics, simulating atmospheric re-entry conditions to test materials for viability in space, testing fuel and exploring the field of electromagnetics.

Growing Again

Goodyear Blimp technology saw another leap forward in 1959 with the GZ-19 Mayflower V, which incorporated major gondola and power plant changes. This Blimp also featured the largest envelope yet at 132,000 cubic feet.

By the end of the decade, Goodyear had made three major advancements that would prove to be hallmarks of the fleet as well as lighter-than-air aviation in general: the new incandescent aerial sign lights, the larger envelopes allowing for more lift and the venture into live television. With the waning of significant military applications for airships, these new opportunities would prove to be very important for the company as the Blimps soared into the 1960s and beyond.

Changing the Game

The 1960s were in full living color. With television sets now in most homes across the country, live sports found a new way to engage the fans. The Goodyear Blimps were right there to take that engagement even further.

From providing live aerial views of major sporting events to displaying Goodyear’s name over thousands of people at a field of play, Goodyear’s Blimps were ready to take on the new decade.

In 1963 the Mayflower VI was enlarged to 147,300 cubic feet, and Goodyear built a new sister ship of the same size, the Columbia II. . The size of Goodyear’s Blimps would continue to grow, and as they grew, the Blimps were able to carry additional television equipment and more modern, easier-to-read electronic signage.

Introducing "Skytacular"

A remarkable advancement to the electronic sign was made with the introduction of Skytacular, a four-color, animated night sign developed at Wingfoot Lake. It debuted to the public on the Mayflower at the Indianapolis 500 in 1966.

Skytacular was a colorful leap forward from the 182 white bulbs, which were the standard for the blimps in the 1950s and early 1960s. With 1,540 lights per side in red, green, yellow and blue, the Mayflower’s was the first Goodyear Blimp sign to display moving figures and text.

Skytacular was so successful that in 1969 when the larger GZ-20 airship was designed and certified with more powerful engines and a larger envelope size of 202,700 cubic feet, the sign was enlarged as well. The new sign, dubbed "Super-Skytacular,” had double the lights at 3,780 per side and was connected by more than 80 miles of wiring!

The Super-Skytacular sign was later installed on two new GZ-20A airships built in 1969, the America I and Columbia V, and on all new GZ-20As made after that, such as the Europa.

A Decade of Firsts

Sports programming was a blossoming industry in the 1960s and produced a number of firsts, some with the Goodyear Blimps in attendance.

The first Super Bowl, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers, was played on January 15, 1967 in Los Angeles, California, and shown live on CBS. The Goodyear Blimp Columbia shared in the experience by providing live aerial views for the network and the nation. The next year, when the Packers met the Oakland Raiders in Miami for Super Bowl II, the Mayflower was there to provide coverage. The Columbia also made a simple flyover appearance at the 1966 World Series in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers were playing the Baltimore Orioles.

In 1967 Goodyear purchased its first complete set of color television gear, with microwave transmitter and receiver. The company would no longer be totally dependent on network-provided equipment for aerial coverage. Eventually all three Blimps would have their own equipment, a tremendous step forward in flexibility and, more importantly, continuity in operation. 


For the Goodyear Blimps the 1960s came to a close with another expansion of the fleet as a new airship, the America, was built and given a home with a brand-new hangar and base in Spring, Texas, near the growing city of Houston.