I think that MilGov would be very, very careful not to lose any airships to catastrophic failure because once available stores of helium are gone that is it. You could power airships using internal combustion engines burning a variety of fuels (including alcohol or biodiesel) but I can't see anybody but the French being able to produce helium in industrial quantities in the decade after the nukes fly. And I very much doubt that hydrogen would be seen as a viable lifting gas option by the poor bastards expected to fly the airships.
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 "It is better to be feared than loved" - Nicolo Machiavelli
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