Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is donating its last blimp gondola frame to the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as part of a new children’s exhibit.  

At the same time, the company announced in a press release that it will sell boxed pieces of the blimp envelope (the outer structure of the blimp that holds the helium) that flew with the Spirit of Goodyear across North America from 2000 to 2014. 

The gondola frame is from Goodyear’s GZ20 model era of blimps that began in 1969 and spanned nearly 40 years, increasing the company’s worldwide exposure and the blimps’ use in broadcasting televised events in the United States.

The gondola frame being donated was previously used on Europa, which flew throughout Europe in the 1980s, and on the Florida-based Stars and Stripes in the early 2000s. The tradition of refurbishing gondolas from retiring blimps and using them on new ones ended in 2011 when Goodyear began to transition to the New Technology semi-rigid airship platform that its current fleet of uses.

“We hope this exhibit sparks curiosity and dreams of flight on aircraft of all kinds in countless children into the future,” said Michael Dougherty, Goodyear’s chief pilot.

The Spirit of Goodyear was christened by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, in March of 2000. It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuously operated airship. 

When it was retired in 2014, its gondola was donated to the Crawford Aviation Museum in Cleveland, but Goodyear kept the envelope it’s now using for the keepsake pieces of the blimp.

Two Goodyear blimps, Wingfoot One and Pilgrim, will fly during the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh show. Goodyear’s announcement of its gondola donation comes on the first day of the show. Wingfoot One and Pilgrim will participate in daytime airshows throughout the week, while Wingfoot Two, with its LED sign, will participate in nighttime airshows.

The three blimps kicked off the 100th anniversary year of the first Goodyear Blimp flight with an appearance over downtown Akron on June 3 during Mayor Shammas Malik’s State of the City address.

Fans can follow along @Goodyear and @GoodyearBlimp on social media for updates throughout the week.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.