Goodyear’s Wingfoot Two blimp leaves its Ohio nest

Airship to make Los Angeles its permanent base.

Goodyear’s Wingfoot AKRON — Two blimp has left the nest of the Akron area and is heading on a cross-country journey to its permanent base near Los Angeles.

The airship — the second of three semi-rigid airships — left the Goodyear blimp hangar in Suffield Township on Sunday morning on the 2,600-mile trek.

“This is an exciting milestone for Goodyear as we look forward to introducing our new generation of Goodyear blimps to the west coast and engaging fans along our tour route to create new memories of the Goodyear blimp across America,” Paul Fitzhenry, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s senior vice president of global communications, said in a prepared statement.

Goodyear, celebrating its 100th year of building blimps, is building its third NT, or New Technology, airship inside the Suffield hangar, which will be that blimp’s permanent base.

The company has built more than 300 lighter-thanair vehicles for public relations, as well as defense uses.

Purists say that the internal skeleton means the new airship is not a blimp because blimps are basically large helium-filled gas bags — no internal frame -— with a gondola attached underneath.

Goodyear, which calls the new airships blimps, notes the new ships are easier to maneuver than the previous ones.

Wingfoot Two’s trip to California will include flights over 10 states and many tour stops. It will conclude at the blimp’s west coast home in Carson, Calif., by the end of the month.

The journey includes a 26-person crew and a caravan of nine ground vehicles.

Key tour stops will include: Indianapolis; St. Louis; Fayetteville, Ark.; Lawton, Okla.; Lubbock, Texas; Deming, N.M.; Tucson, Ariz.; and Blythe, Calif.

The stop in Lawton, Okla. Oct. 15-19 will include activities focused on the company’s tire manufacturing plant there.

In Lubbock, Texas, Wingfoot Two will take part in the 75th anniversary of customer McWhorter Tire Co.

Goodyear is encouraging blimp fans to welcome Wingfoot Two to their towns via social media using the hashtags #WelcomeWingfoot2 and #BlimpGoesWest.

Goodyear has operated blimps in southern California for more than 90 years and delivered the first-ever live aerial feed to a transcontinental telecast over the 1955 Rose Parade and Rose Bowl. Notable appearances the blimp has made over sports and entertainment events through more than six decades of aerial coverage include the 1982 Olympics, 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, multiple Academy Awards red carpet arrivals and the 2015 Special Olympics.

In 2018, the company will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its Carson blimp base, which opened in 1968.