Detroit ZMC-2 Metal-Skinned Airship (1929-1941)

[Boxman]

I didn't see any topics featuring or referencing this interesting airship (including the compelling figures involved in its development and construction), but I came across a some newsreel footage of it worthy of posting and created this topic for reference and as a potentially clearinghouse for additional information regarding it - the Detroit ZMC-2 (US Navy BuNo A-8282).

As per Wikipedia:

Detroit ZMC-2 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The ZMC-2 (Zeppelin Metal Clad 200,000 cubic foot capacity) was the only successfully operated metal-skinned airship ever built. Constructed at Naval Air Station Grosse Ile by The Aircraft Development Corporation of Detroit, the ZMC-2 was operated by the U.S. Navy at Lakehurst, New Jersey from 1929 until its scrapping in 1941. While at Lakehurst it completed 752 flights, and logged 2265 hours of flight time.
. . .
The ZMC-2 was built in Grosse Ile, Michigan by the Aircraft Development Corporation, a division of Detroit Aircraft Corporation, on a site shared with, and later acquired by Naval Air Station Grosse Ile. The ZMC-2 was the brainchild of Ralph Hazlett Upson, a balloonist and engineer who had previously won the Gordon Bennett Cup for balloon racing in Europe, bringing the cup to the United States for the first time. Upson teamed up with Carl B. Fritsche of Detroit and together they formed the Detroit Aircraft Corporation, with backing from Henry Ford and Edsel Ford, as well as Charles Kettering of General Motors, Alex Dow, president of Detroit Edison, and William B. Stout, a local industrialist. Chief of hull design was the young Czech-American designer Vladimir Pavlecka.

YouTube - British Pathe: "USA / TRANSPORT: Aviation: Navy Blimp ready for first flight. (1929)"

YouTube - Critical Past: "Metal-skinned airship ZMC-2 is launched and in flight over Grosse Ile, Michigan."

Also see the attached pdf copy of "ZMC-2: The Metal Clad Airship - The Tin Blimp" prepared and posted by the Lighter Than Air Society at: https://www.blimpinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ZMC-2-The-Metal-clad-Airship.pdf

 

[archipeppe]

The ZMC-2 is portrayed, at its best, by Clive Cussler in his "Cyclops" novel of 1986 (I love Cussler and I have most of all his novels in Italian edition).

 

[Boxman]

Here's is what appears to be a film, approximately 15 minutes in length, produced by the manufacturers of the ZMC-2 in 1929, portraying the fabrication and construction of the airship. It has been posted by "PVT. Snafu" to Dailymotion.

The quality of the film is outstanding, as is the footage of the fabrication and construction details. Just check out the Hill Automatic Riveting Machine (from the 2min 54 sec mark to the 6min 12sec mark) or the reverse cracked-egg assembly of the two halves of the airship (7min 15sec mark to 9min 18sec mark).

Dailymotion: Pvt-Snafu: "THE METALCLAD AIRSHIP Built by DETROIT AIRCRAFT CORPORATION Through its subsidiary Aircraft Development Corporation"

 

[Nicknick]

Faszinating design, its definately not a blimp because it is rigid and even more so, because it was surly missing the characteristic "blimp" sound when snipping on the gas cell. This design could hold helium much better and could have even provided more safety in case of a hydrogen filling. The riged skin made the ballonets effective so that it could operate in all three dimensions without using ballast or release gas. In combination with the stiching mashine, this could have been the way forward for airships in generell, but unfortunately it was just a single prototype. It built to last and was used much longer than the avarage airship livespan, its a pitty that it was scrapped, I really want one!