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| Above, the new Los Angeles-based Wingfoot Two in December 2017. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The new Los Angeles Goodyear blimp, Wingfoot Two, is not a blimp technically. It is a semi-rigid airship larger than the Goodyear blimps of the past.
As it has framing inside the envelope, it requires some protection from the elements. The former blimps sat out in an open field in Carson, California. It replaced the last real blimp, the Spirit of America in 2017.
A new inflatable hangar was introduced last year. For details, go here.
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| Above, Goodyear blimp Columbia at Point Mugu circa 1967. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
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| Above, the Spirit of America in Carson, California in 2013. Photo by Armand Vaquer. |
The old blimps in Los Angeles weren't always out in the open. Decades ago, there was a big Goodyear plant in South-Central Los Angeles and there was a blimp hangar, or dock near the Florence Ave. side of the plant. We used to pass by it often, but we never saw a blimp inside.
Here is what the old blimp dock looked like:
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| Above, this was Building 57, known as the airship dock at the then-Los Angeles Goodyear plant. National Park Service photo.
A side note: Just before the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, I attended a baseball game at Dodger Stadium. During the game, two Goodyear blimps circled the stadium. Besides the Goodyear blimp based in Los Angeles, Columbia, another blimp (America) was brought over by Goodyear to also cover the Olympics.
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