The Good Year Blimp “Valiant” NC-11A. Built in 1929, it was wrecked when it ran into a mountainside near Piedmont AL on November 22 (or 20), 1930. No one was injured. The car and fins were used to build the “Columbia”, which lifted off in Akron OH in 1931. It encountered devastating winds while attempting to land at Queens Airport in New York on February 12, 1932. The mechanic on board died when the aircraft shifted and dropped him 50 feet into a gravel pit. The pilot survived.
The reason I mention all this is the noting of the 1930 census in the Chamber puff piece on the back. Because of the Great Depression, there was a great political need to find out the extent of unemployment, so the results were hurried out. I doubt if the Chamber of Commerce of St. Pete would have had the information quoted before the second quarter of 1931. This picture was taken in the summer of 1930 (can’t tell from the vegetation, since the picture was hand colored at the printing plant, and, by gum, it’s always summer in St. Pete, I’ve heard) and, by the time this card was published, the blimp was long gone.
Uncle Bob's Pix 