1920's AIRSHIP PICS OF USS SHENENDOAH, Etc.

[Fletch]

my muddled/unclear point was that the great creative minds that developed the airship could have sat back and realized that the amount of resources it would take to go into the airship would not really balance out with the small amount of passengers and speed. therefore realizing that it might not be worth the use and/or waste of materials and go back to the drawing board and come up with something a little more economical...

You're right. Dr. Claude Dornier, who was Count von Zeppelin's right-hand man for many years and whose airship experience helped him in pioneering metal-framed HTA craft, wrote that Zeppelin himself knew very well that there were things airships couldn't do. He saw a role delivering fast cargo and passengers by giant flying boat - a craft he called Flugschiff (flightship), as opposed to Luftschiff (airship). This was Dornier's impetus to build the 12-engine Do X in the late 20s.

The Flugschiff idea didn't amount to much - mostly because engine technology was too far behind to give such a big plane any range or speed. But the ambition was plainly to give the Zeppelins a run for their money in transatlantic passenger service. Unfortunately a serviceable plane didn't come along until the eve of WW2, and afterwards, everything was different...

 

[Fletch]

my muddled/unclear point was that the great creative minds that developed the airship could have sat back and realized that the amount of resources it would take to go into the airship would not really balance out with the small amount of passengers and speed. therefore realizing that it might not be worth the use and/or waste of materials and go back to the drawing board and come up with something a little more economical...

You're right. Dr. Claude Dornier, who was Count von Zeppelin's right-hand man for many years and whose airship experience helped him in pioneering metal-framed HTA craft, wrote that Zeppelin himself knew very well that there were things airships couldn't do. He saw a role delivering fast cargo and passengers by giant flying boat - a craft he called Flugschiff (flightship), as opposed to Luftschiff (airship). This was Dornier's impetus to build the 12-engine Do X in the late 20s.

The flightship idea didn't amount to much - mostly because engine technology was too far behind to give such a big plane any range or speed. But the ambition was plainly to give the Zeppelins a run for their money in transatlantic passenger service. Unfortunately a serviceable plane didn't come along until the eve of WW2, and afterwards, everything was different...

 

[SamMarlowPI]

I didn't know that. thank you for the info

 

[kampkatz]

About 15 years ago I met a retired USN rigid airship pilot. We flew together in his fixed wing plane a few times as he shared stories of flying the airships from the 40's to the 70's. The Navy still uses a few for specified duties.

 

[Story]

My understanding about why these airships disappeared is partly due to the images of The Hindenburg blowing up some years later, but also because they were too big to house for cheap, too slow, and the overall design was just unstable --which probably had a lot to do with the building techniques and materials used.

Check out this plot - http://www.thebookden.com/zrs1.html

As I understand it, the cumulative negative publicity from the USN airships' crashes snowballed with the Hindenburg spectacle - that big hydrogen blast being the nail in the coffin, far outweighing the physical loss or limitations.

The strategic potential was recognized, particularly in light of those who remembered epic tales like the supply mission into Africa
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE3D81039E133A25750C1A96E9C946395D6CF

 

[RondoHatton]

Aerial photos

Many years ago visiting the Pima Cpunty, Arizona Air Museum, I came across some scout volunteers burning "trash". Upon further inspection, the "trash" consisted of hundreds of circa pre-WWII aerial photos of the southwest U.S.! Burned for consolodation of storage space I was told - as if there was not enough space in all the airframes on the lot! They gasped as I pointed out the melted silver puddling in the bottom, from the volumes of B&W prints destroyed - that was valuable to them, not the wonderful snapshots of history going down the memory hole. Somewhere I have a few pages saved from the flames...

 

[cookie]

Hindenburg

Check out this plot - http://www.thebookden.com/zrs1.html

As I understand it, the cumulative negative publicity from the USN airships' crashes snowballed with the Hindenburg spectacle - that big hydrogen blast being the nail in the coffin, far outweighing the physical loss or limitations.

The strategic potential was recognized, particularly in light of those who remembered epic tales like the supply mission into Africa
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F0CE3D81039E133A25750C1A96E9C946395D6CF

I don't know what gets me with these airships. Is it the footage of the loss of the Hindenburg and the movie of it? I have remained fascinated since childhood with them. Thanks for the pix.:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Fletch]

Many years ago visiting the Pima County, Arizona Air Museum, I came across some scout volunteers burning "trash". Upon further inspection, the "trash" consisted of hundreds of circa pre-WWII aerial photos of the southwest U.S.!

You'd be surprised how narrow a view some institutions have of what constitutes "history." Especially if it's from a time, such as the years before WWII, that people always wanted to forget.

Or maybe you wouldn't be surprised, come to think of it...

 

[Story]

Many years ago visiting the Pima Cpunty, Arizona Air Museum, I came across some scout volunteers burning "trash". Upon further inspection, the "trash" consisted of hundreds of circa pre-WWII aerial photos of the southwest U.S.!

 

[eniksleestack]

Many years ago visiting the Pima Cpunty, Arizona Air Museum, I came across some scout volunteers burning "trash". Upon further inspection, the "trash" consisted of hundreds of circa pre-WWII aerial photos of the southwest U.S.! Burned for consolodation of storage space I was told - as if there was not enough space in all the airframes on the lot! They gasped as I pointed out the melted silver puddling in the bottom, from the volumes of B&W prints destroyed - that was valuable to them, not the wonderful snapshots of history going down the memory hole. Somewhere I have a few pages saved from the flames...

What a beautiful, sad little story. Like a Raymond Carver short story.

 

[Mojave Jack]

There was an nearly identical hanger to the Moffett Field hanger at the South Weymouth Naval Air Station Massachusetts. Note the Connies on the ramp.

The superstructure has been removed, but the buildings that run along the sides at the bottom were still being used. You can still see the buildings that formed the foundation of the original hanger in this photo, one the far right. The smaller hanger than spans it at one end still held two or three P-3 Orions.

On my first visit I had to walk through the building on the side closest to the water tower to get to the weather station in the building on the other side. The space between is so huge that I was shocked to learn that they had been connected. I have a bad photocopy of a photograph of the inside of that hanger when the Navy was preparing for a hurricane in the 1960s. The hanger is chock full of all kinds of aircraft, including Cougars and a number of others. It was astounding how many conventional aircraft fit into that space.

Story, I suspect that twin-engined biplane is one of the early bombers, either a Curtiss or a Keystone. There are numerous variations, starting with the Keystone B-1 and ending with the Keystone B-6, and with the Curtiss B-2 mixed in. They're very similar, and it would be tough to tell from this photo. The biplane bomber era really ended with the introduction of the Douglas B-7 in 1930, a duralumin gull wing design.

 

[Story]

Story, I suspect that twin-engined biplane is one of the early bombers, either a Curtiss or a Keystone. There are numerous variations, starting with the Keystone B-1 and ending with the Keystone B-6, and with the Curtiss B-2 mixed in. They're very similar, and it would be tough to tell from this photo. The biplane bomber era really ended with the introduction of the Douglas B-7 in 1930, a duralumin gull wing design.

Good call

B-2 Condor

Keystone B-6

 

[Ecuador Jim]

WHAT!!!!

The Hangar itself still exists. She was built at Moffett Field somewhere around 1932. It is sitting in Mountain View, CA and was built by the Navy for the USS Macon, Akron and Shenandoah. It is actually endangered at this point as the Navy is wanting to take her down. She's affectionately called Hangar One. October 15th, the Navy announced to take her down. I have a bunch of pictures of her being built.

FG.

This is terrible. I was stationed at Moffett, and specifically with the training squadron for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) VP-31 in Hangar One. I knew Moffett had been decommissioned and turned over to NASA-Ames, but I'd not heard about Hangar One being taken down. There used to be a plaque on the entrance stating the hangar was on the National Listing of Historical Buildings.

I think that means no unilateral decision can be made to raze the building.

More info please...is there a website or something that has more information, and is anyone in the area trying to keep the hangar preserved?