The GZ-20 was introduced as part of a US$4 million expansion program by Goodyear in 1968 that included the construction of a new GZ-19
Florida-based airship (
Mayflower N1A), replacement of the
California-based GZ-19 with a GZ-20 (
Columbia N3A), adding a third airship to the fleet (GZ-20
America N10A) and constructing a new airship base at
Spring, Texas as home to the new blimp. In 1972, a third GZ-20 was built to be the first Goodyear Blimp stationed outside the United States. Christened
Europa N2A. her structural elements were freighted from the Goodyear factory in
Akron, Ohio to the
Royal Aircraft Establishment in
Cardington, Bedfordshire, England on an
Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy to be erected there but based at a new facility at
Capena,
Italy near Rome. In 1978, the GZ-19 class was retired after the loss of
Mayflower N38A due to a
tornado. In 1979,
Mayflower was replaced by the GZ-20
Enterprise N1A. As of 2017, all three of Goodyear's remaining GZ-20As have been decommissioned. The blimp received a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous operated airship with fourteen years of service. Goodyear Airship Operations started production of
Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airships beginning in 2013 at the cost of approximately US$21 million per airship. Goodyear's first Zeppelin NT first took flight on March 17, 2014. After 14 years in the skies, on February 23, 2014,
Spirit of Goodyear was retired in Pompano Beach after the
2014 Daytona 500. The
Spirit of Goodyear's gondola was donated to the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in
Cleveland, Ohio. On August 10, 2015, the California-based GZ-20, the
Spirit of America, was decommissioned after 13 years of operation. In September 2015,
Spirit of Innovation, the world's only remaining active GZ-20, was relocated to
Carson, California from its former base in
Pompano Beach, Florida. The gondola from
Spirit of America was donated to the Planes of Fame Air Museum in
Chino, California. On March 14, 2017,
Spirit of Innovation was retired and dismantled in the former US Navy blimp hangar at
Tustin, California. The gondola is stored at Goodyear's Wingfoot Lake Airship Base in
Suffield, Ohio. Wingfoot Two, Goodyear's newest Zeppelin NT, has taken over operations in California, but Wingfoot Three, the third Goodyear blimp has been moved to the base, and WT has been relocated to
Pompano Beach, Florida. ==Surviving aircraft==