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Piece of blimp Spirit of Akron lands in museum
By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Nov 01, 2008
GREEN: Truck driver Fred Hauff admits he didn't have much recent experience in hauling things that have flown.
''I think the last time was when I brought part of an Apollo rocket from Cleveland to a show south of Canton in the mid-'60s,'' Hauff said.
But he managed Friday to safely transport the restored blimp gondola of the Spirit of Akron to its new resting place in the 40,000-square-foot display hangar at the MAPS Air Museum at Akron-Canton Airport.
The 13-mile trek to Green from the Wingfoot Lake North American Airship Operation in Suffield took about 40 minutes.
''There were about three tough turns, especially the one onto [state] Route 619,'' said Hauff, 71, who drives for Elbert Construction Co. in Elyria. ''But, overall, everything went beautifully. It rode like a baby buggy all the way.''
The move was supposed to take place late last week, but it was initially delayed by the availability of the flatbed truck. Inclement weather earlier this week pushed the move to Friday.
All that mattered to Jackson Township resident Don Block was that the gondola arrived safely.
''The last time it landed was up in the trees in Brimfield when it crashed in the mid '90s,'' said Block, a retired Goodyear Aerospace employee who was the project manager for the Spirit of Akron's construction from 1983 to 1987. ''That was my baby and this is a much better final resting place.''
MAPS Air Museum officials are thrilled to have the gondola, which seated eight passengers and two pilots, in their hangar.
''The best part is that it's something from Akron,'' said Ken Alexander, the museum's public relations director. ''It really fills a niche because here we are at the Akron-Canton Airport and we really didn't have anything from Akron, which is an aviation-rich area. We really like to showcase the local contributions to aviation.
''And Goodyear is thrilled it has a permanent home instead of wasting away in a corner of a building at Wingfoot Lake.''
Alexander said two new windshields and carpeting still need to be installed in the 3,000-pound gondola before people can go through it. He expects the exhibit to be ready for tours in two weeks.
Block was a key member
of the restoration crew that worked every Wednesday for the past six months to get the 36-foot-long gondola back into its original condition.
The biggest concerns, he said, were replacing windshields that had broken in the crash and the contoured fiberglass nose.
Block found replacement windshields in a crate at the Wingfoot Lake facility, and he was able to track down the molds for the nose at Lockheed Martin's facility in Akron. Loral Corp. bought Goodyear Aerospace in 1987 and then sold out to Lockheed Martin in 1996.
''We were very fortunate that Lockheed Martin sent the molds to us and we had a guy on the restoration crew who did fiberglass work,'' Block said. ''It looks great.''
He said the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. still owned the Spirit of Akron.
''The people at Goodyear were great to work with,'' Block said. ''When I first approached them two years ago about getting the seats out of the gondola for the museum, they told me the airship was still part of a lawsuit.
''When it was released from the lawsuit, the Goodyear people told me, the good news is you can have the seats and the bad news is you have to take the whole car.
''That really was great news for us and aviation fans. I think having the entire gondola is going to be a great display.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
GREEN: Truck driver Fred Hauff admits he didn't have much recent experience in hauling things that have flown.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 11:53 AM, 11/01/2008
Thank you for all that made its arrival possible & for MAPS for keeping it safe and available to the public. I can't wait to see it.
