This article was updated on July 10 as more information was provided from Goodyear.
There are a lot of things you’d expect to see in the skies above London. Pigeons, planes, in non-heatwave times a lot of clouds. Blimps? Less so. But this week Londoners have been getting plenty of blimp action: the (we don’t use this word lightly) iconic Goodyear blimp has been spotted drifting over the capital, with sightings from Brixton to Tower Bridge and central London. At the time of writing, it’s floating above Chelsea.
The Broadsheet team spotted the blimp from our office, as it floated over the new St Clement hotel development just off The Strand. Broadsheet readers have reported sightings above De Beauvoir Town, Victoria Park, Canary Wharf, East Ham and Chelsea.
Goodyear tells Broadsheet that the blimp made the journey from its homebase in Essen, Germany to celebrate 4th of July and will be hanging above the UK until July 14. “The Goodyear Blimp is a recognisable icon worldwide and we’re thrilled to see it return to the UK this summer,” said Ben Crawley, Goodyear’s sales general manager consumer replacement Northern Europe. “For over 100 years it has been an iconic presence at cultural and sporting events.”
A Goodyear blimp was last seen in London in 2022, and first took to the UK sky in 1972 – though the tyre company’s blimp debut was in 1925, spearheaded by the company’s first CEO, who was passionate about aviation and spotted an opportunity to expand beyond the tyre game. While the blimps are massive billboards for Goodyear, they’re often sighted above sports stadiums in the US as they can also be used as aerial camera platforms. Goodyear has built more than 325 airships since 1925, most of them for the US navy and army.
The blimp is not, in fact a blimp – it’s a zeppelin, the D-LZFN to be precise. (A blimp is not rigid and relies on the gas that lifts it to remain inflated – think a large balloon; a zeppelin is rigid, with an internal frame made from aluminium alloy.) It’s 75 metres long and 18 metres high, and can reach speeds of 73 miles per hour. And while the famous Hindenburg disaster might have you thinking “oh, the humanity”, today’s zeppelins run on a non-flammable helium. The one spotted around London is one of only four Goodyear blimps in action today (there are only around 25 of left in the world).
Blimp-watchers can track the flying machine here. And follow the Goodyear blimp’s international adventures on the Goodyear blimp Instagram page.
