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| G class | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Role | Training airship |
| Manufacturer | Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation/Goodyear Aircraft Corporation |
| Introduction | 1935 |
| Primary user | United States Navy |
| Number built | 10 |
The G-Class Blimps were a series of non-rigid airships (blimps) used by the United States Navy. In 1935, instead of developing a new design airship, the Navy purchased the Goodyear Blimp Defender for use as a trainer and utility airship assigning it the designator G-1. Defender was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio and was the largest blimp in the company’s fleet of airships that were used for advertising and as passenger airships. Additional G-class airships were bought during World War II to support training needs.
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Operational history [link]
After purchase on September 23, 1935, G-1 was in constant use until it was lost in a mid-air collision on 8 June 1942 with another blimp, the L-2. The two blimps were conducting experimental visual and photographic observations during night flight. Although twelve people were killed in the crash, G-1 had demonstrated her capabilities as a trainer and utility blimp. As the Navy needed additional training airships during the World War II war time build up, a contract was awarded on 24 December 1942 for seven more G-class airships. These were assigned the designation Goodyear ZNN-G. (Z = lighter-than-air; N = non-rigid; N = trainer; G = type/class). The envelope size of these new G-class blimps was increased over that of G-1 by 13,700 cu ft ({{#invoke:Math|precision_format| 387.9407983104 | 1-2 }} m3).
Airships G-2 through G-5 were delivered by late 1943 and G-6 through G-8 followed in early 1944. They were used for training mainly from the two major lighter-than-air bases, NAS Lakehurst and NAS Moffett Field on the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay.
Operators [link]
[edit] 
United States
[edit] Specifications (G-1)
General characteristics
- Crew: 2-3
- Capacity: 7-8
- Length: 186 ft 8 in (56.94 m)
- Diameter: 42 ft 10 in (13.06 m)
- Height: 62 ft in (18.90 m)
- Volume: 183,000 ft3 (5,182 m3)
- Useful lift: 4,115 lb (1,867 kg)
- Powerplant: 2 × Continental R-670-2 radials, 210 hp (157 kW) each each
Performance
- Maximum speed: 57 mph (92 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 48 mph (77 km/h)
- Endurance: 16 hours 42 min
References [link]
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See also [link]
- Related lists
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https://wn.com/G-class_blimp
G class
G class or Class G may refer to:
Locomotives
Ships
Other uses
NZR G class (1928)
The NZR G class was a type of Garratt steam locomotive used in New Zealand, the only such Garratt type steam locomotives ever used by New Zealand Government Railways. They were ordered to deal with traffic growth over the heavy gradients of the North Island Main Trunk and to do away with the use of banking engines on steep grades. They were one of the few Garratt designs to employ six cylinders. A mechanical stoker was used to feed coal into the locomotive.
Introduction
In 1928, New Zealand Government Railways obtained and operated three unusual Garratt locomotives in the 4-6-2 + 2-6-4 layout from Beyer, Peacock and Company of the United Kingdom. These engines had three cylinders (16.5-by-24-inch or 419-by-610-millimetre) on each of the two set of engine frames, thus creating a 6-cylinder Garratt. The engines entered service in 1929.
Walschaerts valve gear operated the outside cylinders with the inner third cylinder operated by a Gresley mechanism. The locomotives proved a disaster on the light NZR tracks. W. W. Stewart, in his book When Steam was King (pp. 98–104) suggested the most likely reason was because the engines were too powerful for the system and also the valve gear mechanisms were complicated. Stewart stated, and existing photos verify, that the design was most unusual in that the coal bunker was carried on an extension to the boiler frame rather than the normal Garratt positioning on the rear engine frame.
G3 battlecruiser
The G3 battlecruisers were a class of battlecruisers planned by the Royal Navy after the end of World War I in response to naval expansion programs by the United States and Japan. The four ships of this class would have been larger, faster and more heavily armed than any existing battleship (although several projected foreign ships would be larger). The G3s have been considered to be proper "fast battleships" since they were well-balanced designs with adequate protection. Nonetheless the class was officially designated as a "battlecruiser" due to their higher speed and lesser firepower and armour relative to the planned N3 class battleship design. The G3s carried nine 16-inch (406 mm) guns and were expected to achieve 32 knots (59 km/h; 37 mph), while the N3s would carry nine 18-inch (457 mm) guns on the same displacement at the expense of a slower speed.
The G3 design was approved by the Board of Admiralty on 12 August 1921. Orders were placed in October—November, but were suspended later in November with the beginning of the Washington Naval Conference which limited battleship numbers. The orders were cancelled in February 1922 with the ratification of the Washington Naval Treaty which limited construction to ships of no more than 35,000 long tons (36,000 t) displacement.
