If you tuned in to Game 1 of the National League Championship Series last night , you were deal to spectacular ethereal aspect of Dodger Stadium and greater Los Angeles good manners of one of Goodyear ’s sausage . America ’s most recognizable airships , the tire and pencil eraser company ’s " airy Ambassadors,“ travel more than 100,000 miles each year to cover more than 80 sporting event . Here ’s a abbreviated account of how Goodyear ’s blimps have evolved .
What’s a Blimp?
A sausage balloon is just a balloon filled with nonflammable helium and propelled by an engine . Goodyear sausage balloon are power by two aircraft engine . Lt . A.D. Cunningham of Great Britain ’s Royal Navy Air Service is often credited with coining the term " blimp . “ As the story goes , Cunningham , who command an airwave station in England during World War I , plucked the stuff of His Majesty ’s Airship SS-12 and it made a strange sound . " Blimp,“ is how Cunningham supposedly described it .
The Goodyear Blimp’s Origins
World War II and Beyond
Goodyear provided at least two different types of airships for the Navy during World War II . The first airship were rigid and served as airborne aircraft carriers , but proved difficult to cover in certain conditions and were destroyed . Goodyear later provide non - rigid airship capable of aerial surveillance , which the Navy made use of until 1962 . Today , Goodyear operates three non - rigid airships , or sausage : the Spirit of Goodyear ( based in Akron , Ohio ) , the Spirit of America ( Carson , Calif. ) , and the Spirit of Innovation ( Pompano Beach , Fla. ) . The Spirit of Innovation , which was christen in 2006 and is filled with 20,000 cubic feet of helium , is the new blimp in the fleet and the first to be distinguish by the public in a " name - the - blimp" contest .
Goodyear Enters the Sports Arena
Two age before the Navy discontinued its blimp program , Goodyear pioneered the usage of blimps to provide aerial coverage at sporting events .
In 1960, the first images from a camera installed on one of Goodyear’s blimps were broadcast on national television from Miami’s Orange Bowl.
The technology has better dramatically since then , including the introduction of gyrostabilized camera mounts in 1984 . All three Blimp in Goodyear ’s current fleet feature electronic sign technology and can display text , animation , and telecasting . Cruising high above the action at law at Super Bowls , playoff games , NASCAR and buck races , and golf tournament , the Goodyear sausage balloon ’s purpose is to see and be look , and not only by the fans in attendance . If the Goodyear sausage is at an event that you ’re watching on television , you ’ll know it , and not only because of its classifiable scene . At some point during the game , the broadcasters will announce that aeriform coverage has been provided by Goodyear , and they might even name the name of the blimp ’s pilot . The realisation accomplishes the same goal as a 30 - instant commercial for Goodyear , which will receive a pile of airtime in the coming weeks . " I ’d say baseball is where we receive the most recognition,“ Goodyear public relation managing director Jerry Jenkins tell FoxSportsBiz.com in 2000 . " During the baseball playoff in October , our fleet of three Blimp can be on the air for as many as 12 to 15 days in the month . “
The Goodyear Blimp on the Big Screen
The movie was based on Thomas Harris ’s best - selling novel and film at the Orange Bowl before and during Super Bowl X between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys . An actual Goodyear blimp was used for some of the scenes , while the nozzle of a blimp was recreated and supported by a crane for the scene in which the blimp enters the bowl .
Other Blimps
While Goodyear ’s are the most iconic , other companies , including Budweiser , Fuji Film and MetLife , have advertised with their own blimps over the age . MetLife has convey attention to itself since 1987 via the Snoopy One and Snoopy Two sausage balloon , which provide aerial coverage of more than 60 events each year . Tomorrow , MetLife - owned sausage balloon will linger above the Cotton Bowl for the Red River Shootout between Oklahoma and Texas , and be in South Bend , Ind. , where Notre Dame plays host to USC . The Fuji Film blimp was used by the New York Police Department to help in police Madison Square Garden during the 2004 Republican National Convention .
