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The Reference on Airships

Raven Industries / Aerostar

Raven Industries in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and its wholly owned subsidiary Aerostar have been involved in the airship industry for decades. Aerostar mainly produces hot air balloons and cold air inflatables while Raven produces more industrial goods. Raven was co-founded by Ed Yost, one of the pioneers of modern hot air aerostation. Under a grant from the Office of Naval Research Yost develped the first functional, man-carrying and autonomous hot air balloon. Its first flight took place in Bruning, Nebraska on October 10, 1960, which is generally considered the birth date of the modern hot air balloon.

In the early seventies, while Raven Industries was still operating as a single company, one of the first pressurized hot air airships, the STARship was built in cooperation with Kurt Rünzi of Switzerland. More recently, Raven Industries has produced envelopes for manned helium airships including the American Blimp Corporation Lightship and Spector series of airships.

The STARship (Small Thermal Airship by Raven).

For more information please visit the official Aerostar Homepage.