The Goodyear Blimp “Wingfoot Three” Was in Lawton Yesterday!
If you looked up while outside yesterday (05-24-21) afternoon you may have seen the Goodyear Blimp "Wingfoot Three" flying around Lawton, Fort Sill. The iconic airship came to town on it's way to Goodyear's Akron, Ohio headquarters for scheduled maintenance. We were lucky enough to have a stopover on the way. It flew all over town and landed at the Lawton Regional Airport. Several people were able to get videos and photos, watching it land and lift off. After a quick visit and overnight stay "Wingfoot Three" ended up leaving earlier this morning (05-26-21) to continue it's trip to Akron. Maybe we'll see it again on it's return trip to it's home base in Carson, California. It would be great to see it again soon! *Fingers crossed*
Before it's arrival we were paid a visit at the studios by Jimmy Cagle, Communications Director at the Lawton Goodyear Plant. He gave us all the details and tipped us off as to when we could expect the blimp to arrive in Lawton, Fort Sill so we could help spread the word. It was great to see him again, it's been awhile and it's always great to catch up. Plus, when he shows up he normally has some really cool news to share! He gave us all the information and some of the fun facts about "Wingfoot Three" and the Goodyear Blimp family.
"Wingfoot Three" is the third and final Goodyear Blimp in the U.S. fleet. It was christened on August 30th 2018 by aviation pioneer Shaesta Waiz. She set the record for being the youngest woman to fly solo around the world in a single engine aircraft. Some of the fun facts about "Wingfoot Three" include it's size.
The blimp is almost a full football field in length, it's measures 246.4ft. It's as wide as 2.5 London double-decker buses at 64.79ft. And is 57.57ft high, that's around 8 pro basketball players high! It's powered by 3 Vectored engines that make as much horsepower as a ZL1 Chevy Camaro, each engine has 200hp each. Maybe we'll get lucky again and have it back in Lawton, Fort Sill for a stopover when it returns to it's home base in California. If that does happen we'll let you know and spread the word so you can be prepared!