MB powered Airship

[Big_Richard]

Just saw this on discovery channel and was blown away,

current airships can still be fitted with engines sporting KE-jetronic fuel injection, that seriously says something about the reliability of K/KE jet if its still used to this day in vehicles go in the sky..




seems as if MB don't only make road going transportation devices.





and if theres any doubt its an MB, look at that fuel distributor and air metering flap That even looks like a cast iron fuel distributor!

[TJ 450]

Very interesting. It looks like that K-Jet setup is specifically designed for that engine, too.

Tim

[oscar]

I think they copied your former red rocker covers too MT

Any idea if the engine/s are connected mechanically to the props or are they used as generators to power leccy motors on the props?  I thought these blimps would be all electric.

Either way, who'd have thought that kind of FI would be used.

[Big_Richard]

There are 2 petrol engines mounted on this thing, and they are both mounted right next to their respective prop assembleys. I can only assume they are driven via a gearbox.the blade pitch adjustment and prop direction control seems to be electric, cable operated or hydraulic, can't really tell.

[Martin 280s]

Even though the Hindenburg burned out, airships are/were pretty safe. Surprisingly the Non-German operated ones had more accidents and killed more people than the German ones!

1919 American Wingfoot Air Express. Caught fire over downtown Chicago, 2 passengers, one crewmember and 10 people on the ground killed, 2 parachuted to safety.[1]
1921 British R38. Built for US, broke in half and burned after suffering structural failure during high-speed trials over Hull. 44 killed, 5 survivors.
1922 American Roma (ex-Italian T34). Hit power lines in Virginia and caught fire. 34 killed, 11 survivors.
1923 French Dixmude (ex Zeppelin LZ114). Caught in storm over Mediterranean and presumably burned in the air. All of the crew (more than 50) killed. [2]
1925 US Navy USS Shenandoah. Caught in storm over Noble County, Ohio, and broke into several pieces. 14 killed, 29 survivors.
1928 Italian semi-rigid Italia. Crashed on return from successful trip to North Pole. 7 killed, 9 survivors.
1930 British R101. Rushed to completion, dove into ground during rainstorm in France. 48 killed, 6 survivors.
1933 USS Akron. Lost at sea off coast of New Jersey after severe storm. 73 dead, 3 survivors.
1934 Soviet Union W-7 bis.
1935 USS Macon crashed off coast of Point Sur, Monterey, California after sustaining tail damage due to crosswinds. 2 dead, 81 survivors.
1937 German Hindenburg burned on landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey. 35 dead, 62 survivors.
1938 Soviet SSSR-V6 OSOAVIAKhIM - 16 out of 19 crew died after crashing into a mountain 300 km south of Murmansk on a practice flight for an arctic rescue mission.
1960 On 6 July, a US Navy ZPG-3W, crashed into the sea off New Jersey. 18 of the 21 crew were killed.

I remember reading somewhere that the Hindenburg actually safely travelled many thousands of miles before the accident!