By Karen House
- 1: Introduction
- 2: History of the Weeksville Blimps
- 3: Modern Operations
- 4: Blimp FAQ
- Download the full article
as a
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Click photos to enlarge and learn more. | |||
In a field near the Elizabeth City airport, the hangar’s size is a surprise. It’s enormous. Huuuugggge. Built to last in 1941, at 960 feet long, it’s bigger than the luxury ocean liner QE2. Its two clamshell doors alone weigh 420 tons apiece. When those massive doors part like a steel curtain, you see the giants inside. Some call them airships or aerostats. Technically, they are dirigibles. But most of us know them as blimps.
When people think of a blimp, they recall the “Hindenburg” crash of 1936. Or they mention the festive purple zeppelin in the 1960s movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” But more often they look puzzled and confess they really don’t know bumpkiss about blimps, especially modern ones. It doesn’t help that blimps are the Rodney Dangerfield of aircraft – they get no respect from folks keen on speed and maneuverability. Even the funny name, b-l-i-m-p, can evoke a grin.
But in Pasquotank and Camden counties, folks know from blimps. They know about TCOM, L.P., the company that maintains and repairs blimps inside the hangar. They see blimps aloft over the Pasquotank River and hear the odd-pitched sound they make while flying overhead.
Definitely head-turners, blimps create excitement for advertising and promotional purposes, towing a banner above the beach or over a stadium. Besides the well-known Goodyear and Fuji blimps, companies that own logo blimps include Kroger Foods, Pepsi-Cola, Frito Lay and Lowenbrau.
But blimps, manned and unmanned, are less known for their considerable technical applications. Radar systems, infrared imaging equipment and cameras can be mounted on blimps. Police officers employed a surveillance blimp during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and television crews like their hovering capabilities.
The TCOM. L.P. facility outside Elizabeth City is the only place in the world exclusively devoted to aerostat and airship manufacture, assembly, flight-testing and training. How blimps came to Elizabeth City stems back to a military decision made during World War II.
| top |