Several different kinds of US Navy airships, circa 1930, ZMC-2 is at far right

The Aircraft Development Corporation ZMC-2 was the first and only rigid metal skinned airship ever built. It was first flown in 1929, and flew safely for over ten years. As a sub-scale test vehicle, it was considered to be very successful, but the company that built it did not weather the Great Depression well, and by the time a successor might have been built, there was little interest in pursuing it. The US-Navy classified it as a blimp.

The ZMC-2 was nicknamed the "Tin Bubble" and was also sometimes called a "tinship". It was not made of tin, but of duraluminum, an aluminum alloy. It had roughly a teardrop-shape, and had eight small stabilizer fins , four of which had rudders.

It was scrapped in 1941 for its metal content, especially for its aluminum. Other blimps did go on to serve in the World War 2 however, specializing in protecting convoys.

See also

• List of airships of the United States Navy

External links

• Lakehurst: International Airport (a picture of the ZMC-2 is near the bottom of the page)
• ZMC-2 in hangar, under the nose of the Hindenburg (large version of picture above)
• The ZMC-2 shown here on a flight over Washington, DC
• This has a short history of the ZMC-2 along with pictures of construction and flights of the ZMC-2