LTA Research Resources
compiled by F. Marc de Piolenc
To suggest resources not listed here, or to correct errors, please leave a comment below.
| Libraries & Special Collections | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name/Collection | Address/Telephone | Description |
| Embry-Riddle University Library | Daytona Beach, FL 32014 (904) 239-6931 |
|
| Northrop University Library— Pacific Aeronautical Collection |
5800 W. Arbor Vitae St. Los Angeles, CA 90045 (213) 641-3470 |
Documentation on West Coast aeronautical activity, including LTA. Photographs. |
| National Air and Space Museum Library | Smithsonian Institution-A157203 Washington, DC 20560 |
In addition to its collection of books and documents, NASM also has an extensive graphic archive, much of it digitized. |
| University of Akron Arnstein Collection |
The University of Akron University Libraries Polsky Building 225 South Main Street, Room LL10 Akron, OH 44325-1702 Tel: (330) 972-7670 Fax: (330) 972-6170 email: jvmiller@uakron.edu http://www.uakron.edu/archival/arnstein/arnstein.htm |
Papers of the late Dr. Karl Arnstein of Goodyear-Zeppelin Corp. Papers have been listed; the lists and some photographs are available on the University’s Web site. See Internet Resources for on-line access and use information. |
| University of Texas | The University of Texas at Dallas Special Collections Department P.O. Box 830643 Richardson, Texas 75083-0643 Phone: 972-883-2570 Dr. Erik D. Carlson, Department Head for Special Collections (carlson@utdallas.edu) |
Papers of the late VAdm Charles Rosendahl and the late author Douglas M. Robinson were donated to UT. |
| Zeppelin Archive
(Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH) |
c/o Zeppelin Museum Seestraße 22 D-88045 Friedrichsafen Germany Contact: Barbara Weibel (waibel@zeppelin-museum.de) Phone: 0049 7541 3801 70 Fax: 0049 7541 3786 249 |
Housed in the same building as the Zeppelin museum, this is a Zeppelin/LTA archive with about 500 linear meters of papers, 7,000 plan sheets and about 17,000 photographs. Another large collection, of books, is housed with the Zeppelin Company archives. Hours are Tuesday to Thursday 9-12 am and 1-5 pm, but an appointment is required. |
| Museums | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Address | Description |
| Zeppelin Museum Friedrichshafen | Seestraße 2288045 Friedrichshafen
Germany Tel: +49 / 7541 / 3801-0 Fax: +49 / 7541 / 3801-81 e-mail:zeppelin@zeppelin-museum.de |
The Zeppelin museum. Open May-October Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm; November-April Tuesday-Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm |
| Aeronauticum, Nordholz
Deutsches Luftschiff- und Marinefliegermuseum |
Peter-Strasser-Platz 3, 27637 Nordholz
Postfach 68, 27633 Nordholz Telephone: 04741-941074 0700-AERONAUTICUM Email: info@aeronauticum.de, |
Located at the site of a former military airship base; collaborator of the Heinz Urban museum at Meersburg mentioned elsewhere in these pages. Has custody of the archives of the now-defunct Marine Luftschiffer Kameradschaft. 1 March-30 June and 1 Sept-31 October: M-Sat: 1300-1700 Sun and holidays: 1000-1800 1 July-31 Aug: daily 1000-1800 26 Dec-10 Jan: daily 1100-1700 Other times: open for groups by appointment |
| New England Air Museum | Bradley International Airport
Hartford, Connecticut USA |
…a true gem and a little treasure of LTA stuff. They have displays and materials on the Hindenburg, various balloons, a CM-5 engine nacelle (French WWI airship used by US), a large model of the R-100, a Packard engine designed for the Shenandoah, and the K-28 control car undergoing restoration. [Airship-List] |
| Point Sur Lighthouse | Big Sur, California
USA |
Lighthouse has a nice display of Macon material, model, diagrams of where it lies, a short video and overall is worth the trip. |
| Maritime Museum of Monterey Stanton Center |
Monterey, California
USA |
..has a good little area on the Macon, including some recovered artifacts, models, and multiple videos which include interviews with Gordon Wiley, son of CDR Wiley. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. [Airship-List] |
| Moffett Field | Moffett Field
(near Sunnyvale, California) USA |
The hangar looks great. You can sometimes gain entrance through the small museum. This museum is a real treasure. Carol Henderson and her docents have assembled the most impressive museum I have ever seen. It truly rivals any professionally run museum such as Smithsonian ones. [Airship-List] |
| Deutsches Museum | Museuminsel 1
D-80538 München Tel: (089) 2 17 91 Answering machine: (089) 2 17 94 33 |
Covers all fields of technology, but reported by Siegfried Geist to have “a worthwhile section devoted to LTA.” Open daily (except holidays) from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. |
| Stadt Gersthofen Ballonmuseum | Bahnhofstraße 10
86368 Gersthofen Tel: (0821)2491 135 or 101 |
Five floors of ballooning history, technology and artifacts. Videos of current aerostatics activity, and a special exhibit on balloons as a decorative theme. Open Weds 2-6 pm; San, Sun and holidays 10 am to 6 pm. |
| Zeppelin-Museum
Meersburg am Bodensee |
Schloßplatz 8
D-88709 Meersburg am Bodensee Germany Tel: 07532 7909 After hours: 07532 41042 |
Small private museum run by Heinz Urban, specializing in technical Zeppelin artifacts. Collection includes a spark transmitter from a naval Zeppelin, the complete bomb-release panel of LZ6 and many other technical items. Open March through mid-November daily, 10 am to 6 pm. Guided tours by appointment. |
| Albert-Sammt-Zeppelin-Museum | Hauptstraße
D-97996 Niederstetten Germany |
Small museum honoring a commercial Zeppelin officer of local birth who rose from helmsman in 1924 to command of LZ130. Multimedia presentation on Zeps. |
| Zeppelin-Museum
Zeppelinheim (near Frankfurt/Main) |
Zeppelin-Museum Zeppelinheim Kapitän-Lehmann-Straße 2 63263 Zeppelinheim Germany |
A small Zeppelin museum housed in a municipal building in a Frankfurt suburb, near the airport. When I was there in ‘80, the Curator was an old Zeppelin-Reederei Maschinist. |
| Tønder Zeppelin Museum |
Manfred Petersen
Museerne iTønder Kongevej 55, DK-6270 Tønder Tel:. (0045) 74 72 26 57 * (0045) 40 59 62 41 |
This is the old “Tondern” Zeppelin base. |
| Central Museum of Aviation & Cosmonautics | Krasnoarmeyskaya 14
Moscow Russia |
|
| NAS Richmond Museum
c/o Ford U. Ross |
11020 SW 15th Manor
Davie, FL 33324 USA |
Display commemorating Navy blimp ASW activity in World War II |
| Soukup & Thomas Balloon Museum |
700 N. Main St.
Mitchell, SD 57301 Tel: (605) 996-2311 Fax: (605) 996-2218 Museum Director, Becky Pope : beckyp@btigate.com |
|
| Museum of Flight | East Fortune Airfield
North Berwick East Lothian. EH39 5LF Scotland Tel: 062 088308 or 0131 225 7534 |
Models of the R100 and R34, plus the Lion Rampant Standard which adorned the front of the R34. There is also a plaque commemorating R34’s [transatlantic] flight to be seen [East Lothian was the point of departure]. Several other LTA items are featured, including film excerpts, handouts and bits of Zeppelin frame. [Ian Paterson] |
| Organizations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Address | Description |
| Association of Balloon & Airship Constructors (ABAC) |
P.O. Box 3841
City of Industry, California 91744 email: abac@archivale.com |
Publishes quarterly Aerostation (now part of LTAI’s Airshipworld
journal) |
| Airship Heritage Trust | c/o Shuttleworth College
Old Warden Park Biggleswade, Bedfordshire SG 18 9EA UK Tel: +44 (0)1767 627195 |
Charitable organisation with a large collection of airship artefacts and photographs relating to the British Airship Programme from its early days at 1980’s. |
| The Airship Association [UK] |
The SecretaryThe Airship Association
6 Kings Road, Cheriton Folkestone, Kent CT20 3LG England. Email: info@airship-association.org |
Premier UK-based LTA association. Publishes the quarterly magazine Airship. |
| Balloon Federation of America | Box 400
Indianola, IA 50125 Tel: (515) 961-8809 Fax: (515) 961-3537 |
Publishes bimonthly Balloon Life |
| The Bombard Society | 6727 Currant Street
McLean, VA 22101 |
Association of upmarket hot-air ballon operators. |
| Experimental Balloon and Airship Association |
Brian Boland
PO Box 51 Post Mills Airport Post Mills, VT 05058 |
Free membership for anyone interested in experimental balloons or airships |
| Fédération Française de l’Aérostation | 3 bis, square Antoine Arnauld 75016 Paris France |
|
| LTA Society | Box 6191
Johannesburg 2000 Republic of South Africa |
|
| Japan Bouyant Flight Association
Kyoritsu Kenkyru |
402 Hitotsumatsu Bldg 1
2-3-14 Shiba Daimon, Minato-ku Tokyo Japan 33-433-2541 |
|
| The Lighter Than Air Society | 1436 Triplett Blvd
Akron, OH 44306 Tel: (847) 384-0215 (Robert Hunter) fax: (330) 668-1105 (Attn: E. Brothers) |
Publishes Buoyant Flight |
| National Balloon Racing Association | Rt 11, Box 97
Statesville, NC 28677 (740) 876-1237 |
|
| Naval Airship Association | 901 Pillow Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23454 (757) 481-1563 |
Publishes newsletter The Noon Balloon |
| Scandinavian LTA Society | Drevkarlsstigen 2-4
Sollentuna S-191 53 Sweden |
|
| Zeppelin Kameradschaft | Kapitän-Lehmann Str. 2
Zeppelinheim 6078 Germany |
|
| Internet Resources | |
|---|---|
| World Wide Web (WWW) Sites | |
| Name | Description |
| Association of Balloon and Airship Constructors |
Direct access to the 1600+ item Library List of LTA technical documents available as reprints. LL can also be downloaded in ASCII or PDF format. Links to other LTA organizations. |
| AIRSHIP - The Home Page for Lighter-Than-Air Craft |
Hosted at the University of Colorado’s Web server by John Dziadecki, this is truly the central reference for LTA on the Web. |
| The Airship Association (UK) |
Announces AA meetings and other LTA activities, esp. in Britain, plus membership and subscription information. It has many links to other LTA resources. |
| Airship & Blimp Resources |
Maintained by a young Swiss studying in the USA, it has many links to other LTA resources, including photo archives. |
| Balloon Technology Database | NASA-funded database of balloon technology, with 2300 documents indexed as of 1997. Check the “Balloon Technology” box before beginning your search. |
| Promotions Dirigeables | Web site of Paris-based LTA organization. Pages are bilingual (English/French). |
| Lighter-Than-Air Technical Committee, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |
Announces LTA TC activities. Note that permission may be required for attendance by other than TC members; email first. |
| Lighter-Than-Air Society [USA] |
LTA organization with a primary emphasis on LTA history. Web page has membership information, announcements and an email link. |
| Naval Airship Association | Organization of former US Navy airshipmen dedicated to preserving the memory of USN airship anti-submarine activity in WW II. Helps maintain the LTA exhibits at the Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida. Page has announcements and membership information. |
| University of Akron Archival Services |
Information on how to use the University’s archival services. U. of Akron is the custodian of the Karl Arnstein Papers. |
| Alan Gross (Airship Al) | Independent consultant and lighter-than-air archivist. |
| Email Lists | |
| Airship-List-Server | World-wide discussion group about airships sponsored by the [UK] Airship Association. To subscribe, send email to the address at left with the words subscribe airship-list in the message body. |
| LTA-builder | The emphasis in this list is on airships. To subscribe, send an email message with the word subscribe in the subject line |
| Balloon Mailing List | Hosts discussion of balloons, both gas and hot-air. To subscribe, send a message to the address at left with subscribe balloon [your email address] in the body of the message. |
| AirshipList | To subscribe, send a blank message to AirshipList-subscribe@yahoogroups.com |
| Indexes and Bibliographies | ||
|---|---|---|
| Source/Order Number | Title & Description | |
| Kent O’Grady
36 Martinglen Way NE Calgary, Alberta T3J 3H9 Canada email: kogrady@cadvision.com |
Index of Buoyant Flight Bulletin – Lighter Than Air Society 260 pp. Cost: $23.00 US for orders from the USA $28.00 CDN for orders within Canada $30.00 CDN for orders from any other country-surface $45.00 CDN for orders from any other country-airmail |
|
| Index of Dirigible – Airship Heritage Trust
23 pp. Cost: $4.50 US for orders from the USA $8.00 CDN for orders from any other country-surface $14.00 CDN for orders from any other country-airmail |
||
| ABAC – Acq. #126 | Index of Daniel Guggenheim Airship Institute Report file. This is a different body of work from the papers that appeared in the DGAI’s three Publications. Now if we only knew where to get our hands on the reports themselves… | |
| ABAC – Acq. #301 | LTA Society Preliminary Inventory [this is a list of what LTAS donated to the University of Akron, which appears to have retained the Arnstein papers and donated the books to a county library] | |
| ABAC – Acq. #439 | Index of LTA Articles in Military Review | |
| ABAC—Acq. #1427 | Bibliography of LTA Articles in the US Naval Institute Proceedings 1912-60 | |
| ABAC – Acq. #463 | David Taylor Model Basin tests of airship models | |
| ABAC – Acq. #713 | BuAer Technical Notes, 1916-1924. Another obscure report series. | |
| ABAC – Acq. #802 | Index of Aerostation through Volume 7 Number 3 [current volume is 22]. Kent O’Grady (see above) is preparing an up-to-date index. | |
| ABAC – Acq. #946 | Index of Airship #s 51-65 (Mar 81-Sep 84) | |
| ABAC – Acq. #1409 | Index of US Army Air Corps LTA Information Circulars | |
Hey very nice blog!!….I’m an instant fan, I have bookmarked you and I’ll be checking back on a regular….See ya
Comment by MrBarns — February 2, 2010 @ 7:55 pm
Thanks!
Comment by piolenc — February 2, 2010 @ 9:57 pm
Hi Marc!
Please feel free to include my website on your list: http://www.airshipal.com. I am an independent consultant and lighter-than-air archivist. Thanks.
Alan
Comment by Alan Gross (AirshipAl) — April 28, 2010 @ 3:07 am
Your links to the Airship Association require updating.
New web site is http://www.airship-association.org
Info enquiries no longer go to Mike Rentell (as you have listed, so his name should be deleted) but to info@airship-association.org
Thanks again for making the link and changes etc..
All best,
Arnold
Comment by Arnold Nayler — April 28, 2010 @ 11:17 am
Thanks for all corrections and emendations. I will incorporate them in the post as soon as time allows.
Comment by piolenc — May 1, 2010 @ 6:04 am