A strong America needs dirigibles!

[substitute]

As much as I loathe the military-industrial establishment...

...I inherited from my father a great love of airships.



Defense Tech reports the latest developments in the Walrus project to build a bigass blimp that will carry troops, spy on us from above, and host elegant piano bar soirées other military crap.

I'm holding out for a real dirigible though, and not just a big blimp. If I ever become as rich as a supervillain my preferred transport will be my private airship. Quiet, luxurious cruising, 500 feet in the air, looking down at the little people from my flying hotel and sipping champagne.

Comments

[katayamma.livejournal.com]

At one time I'd heard that the Zepplin Company was working on the design for a super cargo-carrier Zepplin that would haul cargo across the oceans and land far faster than you could with current ground/ocean based transport while charging a competetive price.

Too bad they dropped that idea and went with smaller semi-rigid and partial-rigid blimps that were designed for short payload/distance work.

elegant piano bar soirées

[leolo.livejournal.com]

oh please! please yes! please!

[screed.livejournal.com]

Hear fucking hear.

[do-not-lick.livejournal.com]

Dirigibles would be much more affordable if they'd go back to using hydrogen instead of super exensive helium for floatation.

[kineticfactory.livejournal.com]

Also, when the cheap oil runs out, dirigibles may make a comeback, being cheaper to run than aeroplanes. They'd take longer to get there, of course, but the intervening time could be spent in the relative luxury of a cabin and onboard bars, casinos, gyms, restaurants and such (not to mention communication with the ground by satellite-based internet; now that it's no longer high-pressure executives who need it, the cost would come down by economies of scale).

[zarriq.livejournal.com]

That would be SO COOL. I love blimps and zepplins and all that neat stuff.

A guy I met once who claimed to be some sort of weapons engineer said that during the Vietnam war he was part of a project designing some sort of quiet, air-based spy ship that was turning out to be some kind of a blimp-type thing, but it was never made.