Navy Blimp Spotted Over Point Borough
Blimp has also been spotted over other parts of Ocean County
A Navy blimp that has been seen over Ocean County this week was spotted late Friday morning hovering over Point Pleasant Borough.
Bob "Weatherman" Burger, the Borough's unofficial meterologist, spotted it flying over his Borough home around 11:30 a.m. heading west. His photograph is featured here.
The U.S. Navy's blimp, which calls the Lakehurst portion of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst its home base, was spotted in Toms River on Thursday afternoon near Island Heights. On Wednesday morning, it flew over Lakehurst toward Whiting. Last month, it made an appearance near Lakehurst's baseball field during National Night Out.
If you've seen the blimp recently and were able to snap a photo, share it on Patch!
The blimp's envelope holds 170,000 cubic feet of air and the blimp can travel at speeds up to 45 knots, according to Steve Huett, director of the Navy’s Airship Systems Engineering Team.
While its home base is Lakehurst, the blimp and its crew travel all around the country conducting missions and assisting the Army and the Air Force — which each have larger blimps — in learning about the capabilities of the airship and how those services can put it to use.
The 180-foot blimp was purchased by the Navy in 2006 and has been in use on a number of research operations and assisted in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill cleanup efforts.
More information about the blimp is available in this Manchester Patch article from last October when it was unveiled.
DOCTOR ANDY
5:49 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
A BLIMP HELPING?...HOWS THAT...IT CAN BE SHOT DOWN WITH A CHILDS PEA SHOOTER
sailette
10:56 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
I remember when I was a little girl, during WWII, the blimps patrolled down the Toms River, Barnegat Bay and along the coast. They were magnificent....and, to my knowledge, none were ever shot down with a pea shooter.~~~/)~~~09/14/2012
DOCTOR ANDY
11:01 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
AWWW HOW CUTE
Kenn
1:24 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
It is Baallooon!
DOCTOR ANDY
11:28 am on Saturday, September 15, 2012
A COMPLETE WASTE OF OUR MONEY WHAT THE HELL IS A BLIMO GONNA DO...SUCH OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY WE HAVE HELICOPTERS FOR THAT ...LMAO A BLIMP THAT MAYBE GORS 20 MPH