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The Cameron Skystar or DP series is a family of
hot-air airships designed and built in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
by
Cameron Balloons
Cameron Balloons is a company established in 1971 in Bristol, England, by Don Cameron to manufacture hot air balloons. Cameron had previously, with others, constructed ten hot air balloons under the name Omega. Production was in the baseme ...
for recreational and advertising use.
The first DP series airship flew in 1986.
In the 1990 World Hot-air airships the DP series won 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
Design and development
The airship has an aluminium gondola with room for a pilot and a passenger,
except the smaller DP-50 which only has room for a pilot.
The four variants (DP60, DP70, DP80 and DP90) have envelope sizes from 1700m
3 to 2548m
3.
The DP-50, DP-60 and DP-70 use a 570cc Konig Model SD engine, with a Konig 3-bladed propeller in a shroud as standard.
The DP80 and DP90 use a
Rotax 582UL
The Rotax 582 is a two-stroke, two-cylinder, rotary intake valve, oil-in-fuel or oil injection pump, liquid-cooled, gear reduction-drive aircraft engine manufactured by BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co. KG. It is for use in non-certified aircraft operating ...
piston engine with a three-bladed pusher propeller in a shroud. The Konig can also be used on the larger airships and the Rotax on the DP-60 and DP-70 as an option.
Each airship is also fitted with two propane tanks for the buoyancy burners.
Variants
;Cameron DP-50
:The DP-50 has a 50000 cu ft envelope.
;Cameron DP-60
:The DP-60 has a 60000 cu ft envelope
and is 30.48m (100ft) long.
;Cameron DP-70
:The DP-70 has a 70000 cu ft envelope
and is 32.31m (106ft) long.
;Cameron DP-80
:The DP-80 has an 80000 cu ft envelope
and is 33.838m (111ft) long.
;Cameron DP-90
:The DP-90 has a 90000 cu ft envelope
and is 35.05m (115ft) long.
Specification (DP-90)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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Airships
Balloons (aeronautics)
Airships of the United Kingdom