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General Mills worked on several airship proposals for the CIA.
Starting with the LTA proposal of 1956;
This lead to the "Small Plastic Airship" of 1957;
This was a design for a field inflatable, two-man airship. It also had some very particular mission requirements, like being flown unpowered for part of its flight and maneuvering close to the ground while dropping 2/3rds of its payload.
www.cia.gov
It seems that the original intent of this design was expanded somewhat as the project progressed;
As something of an outgrowth of the above General Mills offered an unsolicited proposal for a "Low-Altitude Airship". This design was intended to be flown remotely, at low altitude, and deliver a package of up to 25lbs.
While this proposal was unsolicited, General Mills believed the military desired such a capability. That might be related to this;
Starting with the LTA proposal of 1956;
This lead to the "Small Plastic Airship" of 1957;
This was a design for a field inflatable, two-man airship. It also had some very particular mission requirements, like being flown unpowered for part of its flight and maneuvering close to the ground while dropping 2/3rds of its payload.
CONTRACT (SANITIZED) | CIA FOIA (foia.cia.gov)
It seems that the original intent of this design was expanded somewhat as the project progressed;
As something of an outgrowth of the above General Mills offered an unsolicited proposal for a "Low-Altitude Airship". This design was intended to be flown remotely, at low altitude, and deliver a package of up to 25lbs.
While this proposal was unsolicited, General Mills believed the military desired such a capability. That might be related to this;
