Introduction
The following Q&As originally were provided as handouts by Westinghouse-Airship Industries (W-AI) for the Sentinel Series Skyships (non-rigid airships), primarily marketed for USA military and para-military purposes. However, they’re provided here as edited versions (in some cases nearly re-written) to give factually and technically correct plus commercially interesting responses for people generally to consider; where the military-sell aspect is de-emphasised in favour of civil aspects for public applications to help the buoyant aircraft industry promote development of commercial types for private, public, industrial and human need purposes.
Nonetheless, the sort of threats and operating aspects that military aircraft face still need to be addressed for commercial operations, since nastiness regrettably is endemic in our world – often causing upset. Many military objectives (e.g., transport, surveillance, construction, etc) thus suit parallel commercial needs for capable aircraft able to serve in harsh environmental conditions!
The Q&As:
- Airships are big and slow; aren’t they vulnerable to hostile action?
- How do airships work?
- How does weather affect airship operations?
- What determines an airship’s size?
- What happens if an airship gets a hole in it?
- What is an airship?
- Why Airships for surveillance instead of other things?
- Why were former airships abandoned?
See also the following videos, providing a comprehensive round-up of additional information:
- Nova – The Blimp Is Back! (57:58 mins)
- Documentary Channel – Battle Airship: Modern Weapons of War (45.24 mins)
It should be noted that big benign airships are hardly ‘Weapons of War’ but do have abilities for many useful purposes under perhaps surprisingly harsh conditions, revealed to some extent by the videos.