Did you see it?
Celebrating its 100th-birthday tour, the iconic Goodyear blimp passed over part of the West Valley yesterday on its way from Casa Grande to Phoenix-Goodyear Airport.
Dan Smith, the senior airship communications specialist for Goodyear, told InBuckeye the blimp was traveling back to its home base in Carson, Calif., after spending a week in Austin, Texas, for SXSW. It was the first time the blimp had been in that city in a decade.
“It’s a four-day trip for us, with stops in Pecos, Texas; Deming, N.M.; Goodyear and then finally back to Carson tomorrow,” Smith said.
But — it’s technically not a “blimp” at all!
Built in 1925, Goodyear’s first blimp, The Pilgrim, became the first commercial non-rigid airship flown using helium. It was the start of the Goodyear Airship program, which has become the longest in history, according to the company.
The airship that passed over the West Valley was one of three Zeppelin NTs built since 2014. The aircraft have no internal structure but are instead shaped from the pressure within their envelopes. Dubbed “Wingfoot Three,” this one went on its maiden voyage Aug. 30, 2018.
The airship was on the way to Phoenix-Goodyear Airport to stay “overnight so the crew can rest,” airport spokesperson Heather Shelbrack told InBuckeye.
In an August 2023 Instagram post, the Goodyear blimp posted times like this call for happiness: “When the Goodyear Blimp stops in Goodyear, Arizona, good things happen.”
The brand has a special connection to yesterday’s stop.
When the Ohio-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was seeking an alternative to highly desirable cotton from Egypt, they set sights on what is now the Goodyear area.
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company executive and expert tire designer Paul Litchfield travelled to Arizona for that cotton, and the company bought more than 20,000 acres of land, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company relocated to the area now known as Litchfield Park, according to the city of Goodyear.
The Goodyear Post Office, general store, and school opened in 1918. At the dawn of World War II, the Goodyear Corporation’s aircraft division was actively involved with operations at a naval airfield near Goodyear Farms. That Naval airfield was home to 132 Navy blimps, and of course, the iconic Goodyear Blimp.
