Airship Update #10

We actually made it to ten Airship Updates, exciting!  Now without further ado, here is more news from the wonderful world of airships:

US Air Force is set to ground its mega-blimp spy ship before it even gets off the ground — literally. 

'Super Mario Bros. 3' Airship Gets LEGO-Fied.

“Planet-hunting with a zeppelin? I never would have believed it,” says Webster Cash ...

Guns Of Icarus Online closed beta to begin next month.

Links in the Air

Aerostats in 1912: A Look in Scientific American's Archives [Slide Show] by Daniel C. Schlenoff at Scientific American.

Airships and Oranges: The Commercial Art of the Second Gold Rush by Sarah C. Rich at Smithsonian Magazine.

More than a road: Who was Dale Mabry? by Jennifer Epstein at My Fox Tampa Bay.

World Surveillance Group Files U.S. Patent Application for Airship Design by Andy Choi at Coors Tek.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Airship Update #9

Some technical problems stopped me from posting yesterday, but that will not stop the airships from soaring (or maybe not).  Now more wonderful news from those whales of the skies...

A new generation of British-built airships may be bought by the Royal Navy to resupply ships, follwoing their use by the US Army on the front line in Afghanistan.  The Ministry of Defense, however, denies having any plans for purchasing military airships.

Solar Ship proposes a new solar hybrid airship that could be the key to green travel in the Great White North.

The newest arrival in the National Air and Space Museum’s inventory of historic aircraft is the C-49 airship control car...

Links in the Air

Comedy inspired by 'flying Titanic' at This is Nottingham.

Issue 174 of the Airship Journal is now available

M1400 Airship Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulator (HILSim) at MAV6.

The U.S.S. Macon's fateful flight by Andy Stiny at The Californian.\

World Surveillance Group Chairman and CEO Outline Strategic 2012 Goals Following Recent $5.5 Million Investment at Market Watch.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Airship Update #8

More from the wide-world of airships.  Enjoy!

Thanks to The Steampunk Tribune for finding this.

The main engine pylons are mounted on the M1400 power car.

And there is the tail fin!

The...um...flying sperm?!?!  Yep I guess that is what people are calling.

Another artistic rendering from the game Guns of Icarus.

Links in the Air

4th Airship Regatta Winners announced at New Babbage.

To the Sky Whale by James Hope Howard at Uptown.

World Surveillance Group Provides Approved Footage of the Argus One UAV at Government Demonstrations in Nevada at Market Watch.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Airship Update #7

Airship Updates is back with more news about those wonderful whales of the skies:

Blue plaque unveiling to commemorate the bombing by Zeppelin air ship in Great Yarmouth.

The Sunrise!  A thermal-powered, eco-friendly ariship.

World's Largest Airship Available to New Sponsor for First Time in Two Years at Market Watch.

The future or Arctic travel?  Canada thinks so.

If Canada can do it, why not Australia?

Links in the Air

Andy Lester thrilled residents by bringing a dirigible to Stuart in 1930 by Alice L. and Greg E. Luckhardt at TC Palm.

Argus One airship undergoes initial testing by Defense Systems.

The Fate of the K-14: Navy inquiry was fast, ignored key evidence by Earl Brechlin at Fence Viewer.

No Airship Was Safe From Nora by Jack Marsh at the North West Evening Mail.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Airship Update #6

Did you think I was really not going to post anything this week?  Well I lied both to you and myself.  So enjoy this new Airship Update:

The steam airship from the 2012 post-apocalyptic/steampunk MMORPG "Era Zero".

The R101 which crashed in 1930 in northern France, killing a Major Johnston and 47 others.  Johnston's medals were recently auctioned off.

An airship emerges from the reddish clouds of dawn, concept art by William Smith.


Links in the Air

Avionics displays and processing units for Zeppelin NT airships to be provided by Barco by John Keller at Military and Aerospace Electronics.

Congress: Time for a Defense Department Airship Czar by Bob Brewin at Nextgov. (Editor's Note: "Airship Czar" sounds like the coolest title anyone in the government could ever have.)

Navy Lakehurst blimp veterans recall Cold War submarine hunts by Kirk Moore at Asbury Park Press.

Airship Update #5

Look up in the sky...

The US Navy's new blimp lands in Edgewater for the Army-Navy game, which the Navy won!

The Farmers Insurance-sponsored airship was seen hovering over the Town of Los Gatos the afternoon of Wednesday, Dec. 14.

University of Manitoba professor's airship is unveiled with the goal of being used to move goods and equipment to remote communities in Canada's north.

The gondola of the "Sky Whale" airship unveiled in Winnipeg that could carry goods to remote northern communities.

Airship Update #4

More from the wide world of airships...

Airship Ventures flight attendant Anthony Dizon enjoys the breeze by sticking his head out the rear window of the Eureka, a commercial zeppelin run that gives tours to paying passengers.

The airship used by Lei Xiang on December 4 to fly 577 meters above the ground to beat the world record set by the BX-2.

The Germany Society for Air and Space Travel held an airship workshop in Aachen, Germany last month.  To coincide with the event, a group of European airship modelers held an "Airship Regatta" at the same time.  Thanks to Up Ship! for informing me us about this event.

Airships, like the one above, may be responsible for carrying cargo in the Arctic as climate change makes ice roads no longer viable.

Send your airship news to ahwupdate@gmail.com.

Airship Update #3

Since the people have spoken, I bring you news from the wide world of airships...

Goodyear has ordered new semi-rigid airships from Zeppelin NT.  They will still likely be called blimps, especially due to Goodyear's new marketing ploy.  If you would like to learn more about Zeppelin NT and happen to live in California with $375 to spend, you can take a sightseeing tour on the Eureka.

The MZ-3A, or Warlock 9, made a flight across New York Harbor on Nov. 9, signalling the US Navy's return to using airships.  This new weapon of war has also been named "Best of What's New" by Popular Science.

The above is a trailer for the steampunk, MMO airship co-op game by Muse Games called Guns of Icarus.  So even if you cannot get your hands on a real airship, there is a digital one waiting for you.

The Argus One, an unmanned drone "sky worm" that has the flexibility to quickly change its flight path as it slinks through sky and can carry 30 pounds of surveillance sensors or cameras.  Recent test flights of this strange looking airship were successfully completed without air fish trying to eat the bait...I mean airship.

Weekly Update #29

Editor's Note

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, so I will not be writing my usual number of weekly posts.  I do plan to post a review of Prologue by Greg Ahlgren and post an interview with said author this week as well.

I am still polishing up my untitled, alternate history short story and hope to have it ready for the publisher by next month.  Kier Salmon has been very helpful as a beta reader and I wanted to give her a special thank you in this Weekly Update.

Meanwhile, we got our first readers from Kenya and Pakistan.  Welcome.  On top of these new readers, we are less then 200 page views away from breaking our monthy view record!

And now the news.

The Future of Airship Updates

So I have written two Airship Updates (which can be seen here and here), but I am questioning whether I will continue with this feature of Alternate History Weekly Update.  While I love reading about airships, I just do not know if I can give justice to the topic.  So I am playing around with the poll feature of Blogger and I am leaving up the future of Airship Update to you, the reader.  Your question is "Should Mitro keep writing Airship Updates" and you have three answers to choose from:

• Yes.
• Yes, but someone else should write it.
• No.

 The final decision is up to you.

Update on Matthew Quinn

Matthew Quinn is the author of the short story "Coil Gun" and is a friend of Alternate History Weekly Update.  According to his blog, he has been very busy as of late.  He has has wrote some comments on the Destroyermen series and is writing a screenplay for "Coil Gun".  This sounds like an excellent idea to me and I wish Quinn the best of luck in this endeavour.

Thomas Mallon on Alternate History

For those who do not know, Thomas Mallon is a famous novelist and critic.  Mallon is the author of the novels Henry and Clara, Two Moons, Dewey Defeats Truman, Aurora 7, Bandbox, and most recently Fellow Travelers; as well as writing four works of nonfiction. He is a former literary editor of GQ, where he wrote the "Doubting Thomas" column for ten years, and has contributed frequently to The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The American Scholar, and Harper's. He was appointed a member of the National Council on the Humanities in 2002 and became Director of Preservation and Access of the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2004. He then served as Deputy Chairman of the NEH.

So he has a pretty impressive resume, but does he know what he is talking about when he discusses alternate history?  You can check out his article on The New Yorker Never Happened: Fictions of Alternative History and listen to him talk about the genre on The New Yorker Out Loud.  On that podcast he discusses the Harry Turtledove books he read over the summer and Stephen King's new novel 11/22/63.

Links to the Multiverse

Articles

10 Themes Shared By Historical Fiction and Science Fiction by Annalee Newitz at i09.

Universe or two-niverse by Frank Mulligan at Wicked Local Plymouth.

The Multiverse and Theism: Theistic reflections on many worlds by J. W. Wartick.

Steampunk powers female characters forward by Ashley Strickland at Geek Out/CNN.

When Time is a Battlefield: The Most Brutal Time Wars! by Charlie Jane Anders at iO9.

Books

Review of 11/22/63 by Stephen King done by Mike Fischer at The Kansas City Star.

Review of Anno Dracula by Kim Newman done by The Virtual Victorian.

Review of Opening Atlantis by Harry Turtledove done by Agamedes at PissWeakly Reviews.

Online Works of Alternate History

Begun that revision of Harry Turtledove's Timeline-191 I've mentioned a few times at Fiat Lux.

Fifth-place teams put 'wild' in Wild Card by Christina Kahrl at ESPN MLB.

Newt Gingrich Is an Author of Alternative Histories. What If He Wrote an Alternative History of Himself? by John DeVore at The New Republic.

Trimback by Jim Reid.

Two Interesting Alternate-History Scenarios... at The World According to Quinn.

Television

‘Family Guy’s 9/11 Counterfactual by Alyssa Rosenberg at Think Progress.

Games

Review of Cold War Gone Hot done by Whisperin' Al at The Wargame Shed

Airship Update #2

Do you know what is going on in the skies above you?  Here are a few clues...

Not Steampunk...Solarpunk!

A prototype solared power airship went through test flights recently, bringing the dream of green blimps into reality and the people are rejoicing.  This cargo airship may even be the most efficient way to fly.  See the video below:

Granted it is a hybrid vehicle, but if this trend in airships continue, it is very unlikely we are going to see airship pilots using Victorian lingo.  This blogger wonders when we will see a sci-fi sub-culture based off of green energy technology.  Solarpunk anyone?

Record Breaking Airships

Farner's Insurance claims to have the largest airship on the plant.

Yet that record does not seem so impressive when John Powell and his team sent their unmanned airship 95,085 feet in the air, making it the highest airship in the world.  Sadly, the airship itself does not look that impressive:

But the view is a whole other story:

Military Airships

The MZ-3A is the first Navy airship commissioned in over 50 years.  It will act as a flying laboratory and it is one of many military blimps currently being produced and tested by the American armed forces.  You can find out more about this historical event here.

The Army has their own version, called the LEMV (Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle).  The mission of the LEMV is to hover over the battlefield with a mess of sensors for up to three weeks.   However, when this football field sized airship will take its first flight is currently unknown.

In the current economic climate, however, the American government may feel the costs of military airships may outweigh their potential.  The Congressional Budget Office has released a report detailing some of the issues inherent with airships that may put the kibosh on current and future projects.

Airship Fans Wanted

Know a few things about airships and want to share them with Alternate History Weekly Update?  We are currently looking for contributors to author future Airship Updates.  Contact Mitro at ahwupdate@gmail.com, if you are interested.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.

Airship Update #1

Airships are those wonderful flying inventions that tend to dominate alternate history and steampunk.  If you, however, thought they only belonged in the imagination of the writers who craft fictional timelines, you would be wrong.  These majestic whales of the sky may be appearing over the horizon as you read this blog.

For example, did you know that there are organizations out there dedicated to promoting the use of airships?  One group is the Naval Airships Association, Inc., which promotes the history, education, applications, and technology of lighter-than-air (LTA) vehicles including balloons, blimps, dirigibles, zeppelins, and other airships. Despite its name, membership in the Naval Airship Association requires no naval affiliation and is open to anyone. Membership includes full website access and a subscription to their publication, The Noon Balloon.

Of course, what arguments could organizations like the NAA possibly make to get everyone to forget this:

Furthermore, what possible use could airships have in the modern world of heavier-than-air flight?

Well, for one thing, they can be used to transport goods to Canada's north, provide battlefield intelligence over Afghanistan, advertise product or scare gullible peasants.  Some could be designed to use solar power, making them better for the environment then modern aricraft.  In fact, airships have so much untapped potential because people just see the picture above.  Instead they should be looking at this concept airship from Retronaut called the "Archangel":

How cool does that look?  The future airships, however, is unlikely to look like the classic cigar shape we are familiar with.  In reality it is going to look like the Seymourpowell Aircruise, a proposed luxury cruise ship that sails the skies instead of the seas.  Check out the official video below:

So perhaps those guys you see dressed up like futuristic Victorians at sci-fi conventions know something we do not.  Airships are likely to come back in a big and unexpected way and Alternate History Weekly Update will make sure you stay informed.

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Mitro is founder, editor and contributor of Alternate History Weekly Update. When he is not busy writing about his passion for alternate history, he spends his time working as a licensed attorney in the state of Illinois and dreams of being a published author himself one day.