A fingernail moon smiled over three Goodyear blimps at dawn Thursday as they hovered over Wingfoot Lake while in a cozy hangar below, their newest sister -- the Spirit of America -- rested for her maiden voyage.

At 8:30 a.m., in front of an estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people at Goodyear's Suffield Township blimp hangar and before millions in a nationwide television audience, the newest blimp of the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. fleet was christened.

Performing the christening was Letitia Driscoll, the mother of New York Police Department Officer Stephen Driscoll, who was killed in the south tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

``I love the sky,'' said Mrs. Driscoll, a retired public school lunchroom worker from Lake Carmel, N.Y., in comments to the crowd. ``When I look at the sky, I think about Stephen and remember those who perished.... After today, I will have another beautiful memory -- Stephen and the Goodyear airship the Spirit of America soaring amongst the angels.''

The christening of the ship was broadcast live on NBC's Today show and the event was also shown on The Early Show on CBS.

After the newest member of Goodyear's fleet of blimps rose into the air at 9:35 a.m., to a roar of applause, cheers and waving flags, it and three others -- the Spirit of Goodyear, the Stars & = [100.0]Stripes and the Eagle -- flew in formation around Wingfoot Lake as blimp fans snapped pictures and shot video of the event.

Goodyear said it was the first time since the 1960s that four Goodyear blimps had flown together.

Blimp lovers

One of the first to hop the bus before dawn Thursday to see the Fantastic Four of blimps, Jim Francis, 53, of Cuyahoga Falls remembered being a kid at his grandparents' farm in Portage County and seeing the blimp as his grandpa plowed the fields.

The blimp turned down, tipping itself at him and then rose in the air, he said.

``We thought it was coming after us,'' he recalled.

``When you hear its motor running, you know it's a blimp,'' he said.

And then, Francis, an Ohio Turnpike Commission employee, did his impression of a blimp for a total stranger.

``It sounds like this,'' he said. Then he repeated these words -- ``mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes, mashed potatoes'' and said that is how a blimp sounds. Like saying mashed potatoes.

He said both his father, Dan Francis, and his grandfather, Frank Francis, worked for Goodyear.

Goodyear provided the 30 charter buses at Tri-County Plaza on Canton Road to shuttle blimp watchers, as parking wasn't available near the blimp hangar.

The newest blimp will replace Eagle, which is retiring.

The scene at the blimp hangar was pure Americana.

Flags and smiling children were everywhere.

Erwine Middle School science teacher Jim Trogdon brought 50 of his students out to see the blimp take off.

But one of the biggest blimp fans there may have been Christy Dieffenbaugher, 20, of Massillon. She and fellow University of Akron student Nick Hamilton, 19, of Coventry Township drove in the dark so they'd get shuttled to the blimp hangar by dawn.

``I am obsessed with the blimp,'' said Dieffenbaugher, who is studying to be a high school math teacher.

``Every time I see it, I start screaming and I run outside,'' she said. ``It makes me think of home.''

Hamilton has a thing for blimps, as well.

Just the other day, Hamilton said, he saw a blimp while visiting his grandparents' house in Coventry Township.

So he did what all good blimp people do. He ran home, got his camera, drove after the blimp for several miles and took its picture.

``It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling,'' said Hamilton, a chemical engineering major.

The two students are so into blimps they discovered a blimp barn while searching the Internet and are planning a trip to Michigan to see it someday.

Nanci Cochrane of Tallmadge searched for words to describe her feelings about blimps.

``It is mystical,'' she said.

Parents proud

Fallen NYPD Officer Stephen Driscoll was born on July 4, 1963, his mother said at the christening.

``I see the christening of the airship Spirit of America as a sign,'' she said in an emotional whisper to the crowd.

``I wanted very much to come here because to me, life begins at a christening. It is the beginning of the rest of your life.''

She said after her son died, she was devastated but eventually decided ``I would force myself to get up and take care of business. And I found strength I never knew I had. I also learned that I can laugh and cry at the same time.''

Her husband, Patrick, a retired railroad conductor, said his son served as a Navy Seabee and joined the NYPD nine years before he was killed.

``He was with the emergency service unit -- they go after the real bad guys,'' the father said. ``I am proud to say my son died doing the job he loved.''

Looking back, he said, the tragedy of Sept. 11 was in a sense a ``blessing in disguise.''

``It brought people together,'' he said.

Just as the blimps did on Thursday morning.

After the christening, the four blimps flew over the Goodyear complex and made a lunchtime lap around downtown Akron. They brought smiles from Cascade Plaza to Exchange Street, looking like four synchronized swimmers as they glided across the skyline going up and down and up and down.

The blimps have a busy weekend schedule.

The four will be flying over Pittsburgh and Youngstown today.

On Saturday, they will fly over Columbus and then soar over Canton and Akron later in the day.

On Sunday, the blimps will fly over Cleveland and Detroit.

Five blimps plied Akron sky in 1969

In September 1969, five Goodyear blimps flew over Akron. At the time, they were the world's only operational blimps, according to reports. And it was the first and last time they flew together.

The old Mayflower and the old Columbia were dismantled shortly after their flight that late summer day. They were joined by the new Mayflower, new Columbia and the new America.

It was dubbed a one-of-a-kind event. And it remains so.

Until Thursday, it was the last time at least four Goodyear blimps flew together, confirmed Howard Tolley, Goodyear public relations director from 1960 to 1991.

-- ANDREA MISKO

Blimp blessing

This is what Letitia Driscoll read as she christened the Spirit of America on Thursday:

Godspeed to all who fly in thee and all who gaze upon thee.

And may sunlight and moonlight always guide thee safely home.

With deep reverence for freedom and liberty.

And fond memories of those we hold dear.

November 10 Alpha -- I christen thee the Spirit of America.

For more information about the Goodyear blimps, go to www.goodyearblimp.com.