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The Aircraft Development Corporation ZMC-2 was the only successfully-operated metal-skinned airship ever built. It was built in Grosse Ile, Michigan, first flown on August 19, 1929, and flew safely for over ten years. As a sub-scale test vehicle, it was considered to be very successful, but the company that built it did not weather the Great Depression well, and by the time a successor might have been built, there was little interest in pursuing it. The US Navy classified it as a non-rigid airship.

The ZMC-2 was nicknamed the "Tin Bubble" and was also sometimes called a "tinship". It was not made of tin, but of duraluminum, an aluminum alloy. It had roughly a teardrop-shape, and had eight small stabilizer fins, four of which had rudders.

It was scrapped in 1941, reaching its planned lifetime after more than 10 years of service. Other, more conventional blimps did go on to serve in World War 2.

Specifications (ZMC-2)

General characteristics

• Crew: Two
• Volume: 5667 cu m (200,000 cu ft)
• Length: 45.4 m (149 ft)
• Width: 16.2 m (53 ft)
• Height: m ( ft)
• Empty: kg ( lb)
• Loaded: kg ( lb)
• Powerplant: Two Wright J-5 Whirlwind engines, 224 kW (300 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 112 km/h (70 mi/h)
• Range: 1087 km (675 statute miles)

See also

• The airship of David Schwarz was the first airship that was metal-skinned, although Schwarz's ship had an internal framework rather than a monocoque design.
• List of airships of the United States Navy

External links

• Lakehurst: International Airport (a picture of the ZMC-2 is near the bottom of the page)
• ZMC-2 in hangar, under the nose of the Hindenburg
• The ZMC-2 shown here on a flight over Washington, DC
• This has a short history of the ZMC-2 along with pictures of construction and flights of the ZMC-2

United States Navy airships

ZMC-2 | ZMC-2