The “Tin Blimp” Was A Neither Tin Nor A Blimp: The Detroit ZMC-2 Story

The Detroit ZMC-2, nicknamed the 'tin blimp' by the press, was actually built from Alclad aluminum sheeting — not tin — and was technically neither a blimp nor a Zeppelin, but a new category: a metalclad airship. Conceived by Ralph Upton and backed by Henry Ford, it flew 725 incident-free flights between 1929 and 1939 for the US Navy. Its monocoque aluminum hull used 3.5 million rivets and held helium better than fabric rivals. Unique features included eight equally-spaced tail fins and a very low fineness ratio making it highly maneuverable. Despite proving the concept, the Great Depression killed funding for larger successors, and the ZMC-2 was scrapped for aluminum in 1941. It remains the only metalclad airship ever to fly, and the author speculates that modern lightweight alloys could make a revival viable.