Goodyear blimp gondola goes to Smithsonian

LSRUNQI

Goodyear blimp gondola goes to Smithsonian
Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Suffield, OH - Goodyear Tire & Rubber is making another significant gift to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum - the second in two years - with the donation of the Goodyear blimp gondola, or car C-49. The C-49 car goes to the Smithsonian on the heels of last year’s donation of a lifeboat used on the 1911 airship, Vaniman’s Akron, which utilized Goodyear’s first airship envelope. “The C-49 is a welcome addition to our collection as it fairly represents the scope of military and commercial roles played by the Goodyear blimps,” said Tom Crouch, the Museum’s senior curator of aeronautics. It will have a place of honor, joining the control car of the first Goodyear blimp, Pilgrim, in the National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. In 1942, like some active Goodyear blimps, the C-49 was sold to the U.S. Navy and designated L-5 where it served until 1946. Goodyear made and supplied hundreds of airships to the U.S. Navy during World War II. The Navy used airships for submarine patrol during naval convoy deployments, coastal and inland patrol and trainers. When used on convoy escort duty, the Navy never recorded losing a ship.