The Cameron D-96 was the first hot air

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

, a powered, steerable

lighter-than-air A lifting gas or lighter-than-air gas is a gas that has a density lower than normal atmospheric gases and rises above them as a result. It is required for aerostats to create buoyancy, particularly in lighter-than-air aircraft, which include free ...

craft carrying two or three crew marrying the elongated

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter or card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one of three shapes: a rhombus, a sho ...

of an

with the externally localized heat source of a modern

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

. It was designed and built in the UK and first flown in 1973.

Design and development

Cameron Balloons had been producing

s for five years when they designed the world's first hot air airship or

thermal airship A thermal airship is an airship that generates buoyancy by heating air in a large chamber or envelope. The lower density of interior hot air compared to cool ambient air causes an upward force on the envelope. This is very similar to a hot air b ...

. This, the D-96, has much in common with the balloons, being a

non-rigid airship A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hyd ...

, covered in a

nylon Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic. Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from petr ...

fabric and with a

propane Propane () is a three- carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...

burner to feed hot air into the envelope from a

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hul ...

suspended below it. However, it has the elongated body shape of conventional

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. It ...

and

hydrogen Hydrogen is the chemical element with the symbol H and atomic number 1. Hydrogen is the lightest element. At standard conditions hydrogen is a gas of diatomic molecules having the formula . It is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxi ...

filled airships, airscrew propulsion and stabilizing tailfins. With a length to maximum diameter ratio of only about 2.5, the envelope is fatter than that of many airships. The D-96 is powered a 1.6 L

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post- ...

engine, modified to run on propane so that engine and burner use the same fuel. Mounted at the rear of the gondola, this drives a large diameter, partly shrouded propeller. This gondola carries propane fuel and a double burner, the pilot and up to two passengers. Hot air is guided into the envelope by a small, funnel-like extension above the burners. On 4 January 1973 Don Cameron and Teddy Hall demonstrated the first D-96, registration ''G-BAMK'', at the Icicle meeting at

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timbered ...

. Some records state that this first flight was made on 7 January or over the weekend of 6–7 January. After some initial testing, Cameron's attention returned to balloon manufacture but interest in the airship was revived in 1976 by an order from the U.S.A. The early flights had revealed some directional stability problems, addressed by progressively increasing the number of tailfins. The instabilities were finally cured by a four-finned,

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

arrangement, with the fins inflated by air from the propeller

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term slip ...

, fed from an intake with a tongue-like scoop through a passage along the keel. A

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse ya ...

, operated from the gondola by cable, was added to the lower fin. At the same time the gondola suspension was improved so that it no longer distorted the envelope. Originally the D-96 had an envelope capacity of 96,000 cu ft (2,718 m³), as indicated by its name, but during 1978 the envelope was lengthened, increasing the volume by about 7%. This new envelope was used on subsequent production D-96s.

Operational history

16 D-96s had been built by January 1984 for customers across Europe, in Australia, Canada, U.S.A and Japan; of these, eight appeared on the UK civil aircraft register, though they are all deregistered in 2012. One of these is now on the 2010 French register; another D-96, not previously on the UK register is registered in Spain.

Specifications (1984 version)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1984-1985, last= Taylor, first= John W. R. , year=1984, publisher= Jane's Publishing Co., location= London, isbn=0710608012, pages=734–5 {{cite book , title=European registers handbook 2010 , last= Partington , first=Dave , year=2010, publisher= Air Britain (Historians) Ltd, isbn=978-0-85130-425-0 {{cite journal , date=11 June 1977 , title= The balloon makers, journal=

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be ...

, volume=111 , issue=3561 , pages=710 , url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1977%20-%201804.html {{cite web , url=http://www.bbac.org/pdfs/BBAC_Sporting_Handbook_v5.pdf, title=British balloon and airship club handbook - Other notable flights, page=20 , access-date=1 September 2012 {{cite web , url=http://www.icicle.org.uk/index.php?page=history, title=Icicle history , access-date=1 September 2012 {{cite web , url=http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=60&pagetype=65&appid=1&mode=summary&aircrafttype=Cameron%20D-96&dereg=true&dataindex=1, title=D-96 on CAA register , access-date=1 September 2012 http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1419/srg_acp_bas08-01.pdf {{cite web, url=http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1419/srg_acp_bas08-01.pdf, title=CAA technical data sheet, access-date=1 September 2012, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523204229/http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/1419/srg_acp_bas08-01.pdf#, archive-date=2012-05-23, url-status=dead

External links

Cameron D-96 image
Airships Balloons (aeronautics)