Introduction
In February 1968, the Goodyear Corporation initiated a $5 million expansion programme for its airship operation. Goodyear had been a major provider of non-rigid airships since the early 1920s. A decision was made in 1971 that, as part of this new programme that a ship would be provided for public relations operations based in Europe.
Assembly
Components for the new ship, the 4th in the new fleet, were created in Akron, Ohio, the base of Goodyear operations for many decades, and loaded on board a “Guppy” transport N1037V from Akron Municipal Airport, the largest aircraft ever to fly out of the airport, then flown over to the Royal Aircraft Establishment as known at the time, Cardington.
The parts for Europa were assembled in shed number 2, and the completed ship was first moved out of the shed on 8th March 1972 when the first flight was made. Unfortunately, the successful first flight was marred shortly afterwards when on the 19th April, the ship tore away from its mast, and the envelope deflated. The ship and envelope came to rest, ironically, the ship came to rest in a tree in the grounds of a Cotton End house, once owned by Major George Herbert Scott, of the R101. The ship was recovered and returned to the shed. The crew worked to repair the ship, and a spare envelope was flown over from Akron. The ship was repaired and emerged from the Cardington shed on 25th June. With this, the Europa was able to fulfil its duty over the summer, including the coverage of the Munich Olympics.
Design
The envelope of the Europa had a surface area of 21,600 sq ft and was made of two-ply Neoprene-coated Dacron. Like the rest of the fleet, and all other airships since, it was inflated with helium. On each side of the silver envelope was the livery of Goodyear airships and the famous “winged foot” logo. The steering rudders were painted light blue with a red stripe. One of the most advanced features of the ship was the addition of a four coloured sign, consisting of 3,780 lamps which could create a flying “nightsign”. The sign could be read at a distance of 1 mile at a cruising height of 1,000 ft. The power for the lamps came from a turbojet APU mounted on a removable pad on the undersurface of the ship’s gondola. This was used to drive the 500A 28V generator to supply power for the lights. The turbojet was specifically designed to operate without developing any appreciable amount of forward thrust to the ship.
The gondola, attached to the underside of the envelope, had enough accommodation for two pilots and six passengers.
Two twin-blade metal reversible pitch pusher propellers were fixed on either side of the gondola, powered by two 210 h.p. six six-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled engines.
New base in Rome
As part of its tour of duty, the Europa was also based in a newly constructed hangar at Capena, in Italy, some 18 miles from Rome.
By January 1975, the Europa had flown some 4,000 hours and carried more than 20,000 passengers since its first flight. In November 1982, it was announced that the European operation would be discontinued to reduce costs in the face of a hostile takeover bid of Goodyear. The Capena Airship Facility was offered for sale.
Operational Life
The Europa continued to fly and was used for many private commissions, including being an aerial TV platform for the weddings of HRH Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 and also later, in 1986, for the wedding of HRH Prince Andrew to Miss Sarah Ferguson. It was in 1986 when the ship was chartered by the BBC for wildlife filming in the Camargue region of Southern France. During this time, the ship was caught by a down-draught in freak torrential rain, and driven onto marshes and wrecked. The ship was eventually recovered, and the Europa control car and envelope deflated were returned to the Akron Wingfoot Lake facility and placed into storage. The original damaged envelope had been repaired at this site and stored as a spare.
Airships never die, but have a tendency to be reused. The Europa control car was rebuilt over the years, and in 1998, it was returned to service on a new ship named “Stars and Stripes”, Goodyear model N1A. The Europa will always be seen as the return of lighter-than-air craft to the U.K.
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