Day Three- Green, OH
16 miles- The year was 1898 and a guy named Frank Seiberling opened a company that made poker chips, horseshoe pads, and carriage and bicycle tires. He named the company after the long dead inventor, Charles Goodyear, who discovered vulcanization of rubber. Frank was a forward thinker and created their Aeronautics Division in 1910 which started marketing rubberized fabric to the nascent airplane and lighter than air craft builders. By 1912 Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company was making large balloons for the military.
In 1916 the company bought 720 acres including Fritch’s Lake, south of Akron, OH. They renamed the lake Wingfoot Lake, after their logo the winged shoe of Mercury, and in 1917 began construction of a hanger in which to erect (i.e. build) airships. By 1918 the first C-1 models were being delivered to the Navy for use in reconnaissance and artillery spotting. It was the location of the first military training in airships, also. In fact Wingfoot Lake Airship Base is the oldest airship base in the country. And, after 107 years, it is still in use for the Goodyear Fleet of blimps.
I mention all this, because this morning I walked by the facility on the Buckeye Trail. After a night of heavy weather which thankfully was mostly south of me, I was on the move by 8AM. The sun was out and the road shoulder was relatively wide so it was easy going.
After about an hour and a half, I crested a hill and below me was an enormous building. It looked much closer than it was due to its size. The giant scaffolding door was closed, so I figured I would not be able to see a blimp. But when I finally got to the hanger, there was a blimp parked a few hundred yards in front of the hanger. This was definitely the highlight of the day.
I still had a long way to go and so continued on. Since the state park I should have stayed in is closed for the season, I am in a motel tonight in the town of Green. But I won’t lie, it’s nice to get a shower and do a laundry. Tomorrow I shove off for the Ohio & Erie Canal segment of the trail, which should be interesting.
Until tomorrow, Happy Trails!
You’ve always been full on a lot of hot air so its only fitting that you should see a blimp on your walkabout. Your hike is indeed educational!
Interesting you should mention hot air. Turns out that blimps used hydrogen gas initially, as nonflammable helium gas extraction had not been perfected. One of the first blimps Goodyear made was called the Wingfoot Express. On the day of its maiden voyage, during its final flight of the day in Chicago, it burst into flames several hundred feet up. Everyone parachuted out of the burning aircraft, but I think only two of the six survived. Not a good start for Goodyear’s blimp plans.