
Mystery of the Ghost Blimp (2016) - curtis
http://www.historynet.com/mystery-of-the-ghost-blimp.htm
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mcguire
" _L-8 was quickly repaired and resumed duty as a training vessel. When World
War II ended, the Navy returned the blimp to the Goodyear Tire & Rubber
Company, which refurbished its cabin and renamed the craft America. The blimp
traveled around the nation televising sporting events from 1969 until 1982,
when it was retired. In 2003 Goodyear donated the control car to the Naval
Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fla., where it was restored. It is now on
display in the same configuration and markings it had in August 1942._"

The L-8 was _that_ Goodyear blimp?! I had a model of it ad a kid.

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gerdesj
"Early on the morning of Sunday, August 16, 1942, ... World War II was only
nine months old"

Depends on your point of view.

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nvahalik
It's always interesting to hear about stories like these. Some of the
speculations are interesting, but I tend to always leave with the idea that
the truth is probably a lot less boring than we expect: i.e. someone fell out
and the other person tried to save them but failed.

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trhway
August 16 - water was warm enough and they were wearing flotation vests, so if
not for sharks as it is about the start of the shark season near Farallons.

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DoubleCribble
Warm enough [1]? How about going hypothermic in an hour or so [2] whilst
drifting down the California coastline hoping for a rescue from a _REALLY
GUTSY_ fishing crew that is trying not to get blown up by a Japanese sub?

[1][https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/cpac.html](https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/dsdt/cwtg/cpac.html)
[2][http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia](http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/coastal_communities/hypothermia)

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basicplus2
"In other words, there was nothing whatsoever wrong with L-8 except that it
lacked a crew"

Judging by the picture of a clearly broken airship at the top of the article,
this cannot be correct.

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jws
It is just low on helium. It had ascended above its pressure altitude and
vented helium, then descended again.

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valuearb
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