Airlords alternate blimp

[Jason]

I saw this article and thought about the blimp. This thing can stay aloft for days and can be configured to carry 10 tons of cargo or 48 passengers. It also says it can go 92 MPH. Looks like it has 'Modules' for different applications.

Airlander 10

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/airlander-10-worlds-largest-aircraft-test-flight/

It could carry multiple ultralights quite easily.

[Legbreaker]

Interesting, if a little late for the T2k timeline.
Hope it's a commercial success even though the USAF passed on it.

[Jason]

I figured it was too late for the timeline, but more feasible than an atomic airship. I would trade this out for the blimp in the module and give the Airlords a bunch of ultralights along with a few crop dusters and a helicopter of some type. Easy enough to say the blimp is an early prototype with SoTA solar panels integrated into the skin and high-efficiency motors.

I would limit the top speed to about 30 mph fully loaded, but it would be capable of launching a large number of ultralights very quickly. It could also carry many bombs; even improvised explosives could be devastating in enough numbers.

Stockpiles of helium and the early confiscation several rural airfields to secure avgas would grant the Airlords a massive, if short lived advantage in taking over targeted communities. The cropdusters and helicopter would only be used for special operations, or as a way of escape for the leadership.

[Legbreaker]

I figured it was too late for the timeline, but more feasible than an atomic airship.

Why? Compact reactors have been in use in ships and especially subs for decades before 2000. What's the issue with adapting that technology for use in a very large heavy lift aircraft?
Yes, there is the issue of carrying water for the turbine, but condensation/reclamation systems should help there, and topping up the tank every few days shouldn't be much of a problem either.
So why aren't there already nuclear powered aircraft? Fear mostly, and the weight of the shielding. In an airship weight shouldn't be too much of a factor, and the fear issue was covered in the module.

Edit: found reactor research from 1965 which did away with water and just used air to run the turbine. They'd gotten the weight down to 250 tonnes at that point. Another 30+ years of development and I'd expect they'd just about halve that weight using new materials and technologies.

[.45cultist]

Nothing stops one from using a later timeline. That's good for an update!

[unkated]

Here's one more suited to the timeline:

The Zeppelin NT ("Neue Technologie", German for new technology) is a class of helium-filled airships being manufactured since the 1990s by the German company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen.[1] The initial model is the NT07. The company considers itself the successor of the companies founded by Ferdinand von Zeppelin which constructed and operated the very successful Zeppelin airships in the first third of the 20th century. There are, however, a number of notable differences between the Zeppelin NT and the airships of those days, as well as between the Zeppelin NT and usual non-rigid airships known as blimps. The Zeppelin NT is classified as a semi-rigid airship.

Development

The modern development and construction was financed from an endowment, initially funded with money left over from the earlier Zeppelin company, that had been under the trusteeship of the Mayor of Friedrichshafen. A stipulation on the endowment limited use of its funds to the field of airships. Over the many years, the investment value of the endowment grew to a point where the time seemed right to use it for the design, development, and construction of a new Zeppelin.

The initial design study was prepared in 1989. The ZLT was founded as a spin-off of the Zeppelin company in September 1993. It began to construct a prototype in 1995. The prototype first took to the air in September 1997.

On July 2, 2000, the centennial of the first Zeppelin flight, the prototype SN 01 was christened D-LZFN Friedrichshafen. Subsequently, it traveled some 3,600 km in test flights.

In 2001 the company began manufacturing the Zeppelin NT in series and began to exploit the airships commercially. The second ship SN 02 was christened D-LZZR Bodensee on August 10, 2001 and started to give joyrides five days later.

Full wikipedia entry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_NT)

I remember this at the time, as I am a bit of a dirigible enthusiast.

It's range is some 900 km, and its load is just shy of 2 tons, but I just got an idea...


Fly Germany to the Canary islands, Spain or North Africa.
Refuel.
Fly SW until you pick up the Trade Winds. As did Columbus.
Drift west with the wind (unpowered) until you reach the Caribbean. As did Columbus.
Turn on your engines and fly NW the rest of the way home to the Continental US.

Can make for an interesting campaign, with a few... points of possible friction:


Acquiring a working Zeppelin NT (assumes that development was advanced enough to have a working prototype) from whoever has one (probably still the developer); probably not entirely peacefully. And, of course, having an LTA pilot. Some knowledge of Zeppelin repair may be useful, too.
Acquiring a depot of fuel in North Africa or the Canary Islands. That would mean either sending an advance team (who would have to hold the tempting target of lots of gathered fuel) or finding it on the fly (pun intended).
Wind, of course, while an inexpensive power source is not a controlled or guaranteed power source. It may weaken or cease - or may blow into a hurricane (don't try this between June and December).
There may be the need for a refueling in the Caribbean before reaching the US. Um, using what in exchange?


And then you would have an actual airship to sell to the Airlords of the Ozarks and continue your adventures in the US... :)

Uncle Ted