Expert: Mark Smith - 1/13/2009

Question
what was the fastest blimp ever recorded? what was the largest blimp recorded?  
what are the main problem with blimps? how have blimps go? how have blimps
evolved? what type of gas do blimps run on? i am doing a project and would be
grateful if you could answer these questions.

Answer
Hello Andrew.
I can answer your first two questions easily enough, but for the other four it would be better if you took a look at www.modern-airships.info which has planty of technical information and some useful links.
The air speed record for a non-rigid airship is 69 mph set in 2004.
The largest were the four airships of the ZPG-3W series built for the US Navy in 1958. They were 403 ft long and had a volume of 1,516,300 cu ft.
All airships since the late 1930s use helium for lift.