Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!spool.mu.edu!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!amdcad!military From: military@amdcad Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Airships? Message-ID: <1991Jun14.080126.20320@amd.com> Date: 13 Jun 91 22:55:01 GMT Sender: military@amd.com Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ Lines: 22 Approved: military@amd.com From: I doubt that it would be reasonable. Answering your first limitation question (load) is easy. Look up the load figures for the Hindenburg and keep firmly in mind that helium doesn't provide as much lift as the hydrogen used by the old dirigibles. They used to carry about 40 passengers, as I recall, in the same comfort as a steamship (including a bar with a grand piano). I don't think all that adds up to the lift necessary to pick up a couple of 60 ton tanks. Range shouldn't be a problem. The old airships made a living crossing the Altantic from Germany to the US. I'm not sure how they dealt with the fact that the prevailing winds are from the west and usually are higher than 20 knots (the jets can go high enough to pick a good wind). Such a vessel would be absolutely impossible to defend. Even aircraft able to go 400 mph were occassionally downed by ground fire. WWI pilots were absolutely terrified of ground fire (at ~100 mph). Imagine what a 105mm recoilless would do to this thing with a sensitive contact fuse!