Tuesday, November 13, 2012

America's Rigid Airships: The USS Shanandoah

From Wikipedia.  I listed the six US airships on November 7th.

The Shenandoah was the first of four US Navy rigid airships built 1922-23 at the Lakeland Naval Air Station.  The Shenandoah made the first North American crossing by an airship and crashed on its 57th flight.

It was big, at 680 feet long and weighed 36 tons and a range of 5,000 miles and crew of 25.  The design was based on the German Zeppelin bomber L-49.  Armament consisted of six .30 caliber Lewis machine guns and eight 500 pound bombs.

It was the first airship to use helium instead of hydrogen.  The USS Patoka AO-9 fleet oiler was modified to become the Navy's first Airship Tender and had a strong mooring tower installed.

On September 3, 1925, the Shenandoah was caught in a storm and updrafted too high where it was torn apart and crashed to the ground, killing 14.

Today, there is a small private museum in Ava, Ohio.  An elementary, junior high and high school near the crash site have athletic teams called the Zeps.  A truck stop fifteen miles from the crash site at Old Washington Road )north of I-70 and US-40 was named the Shenandoah Plaza, but it is now closed and scheduled to be torn down.

I'll be going by this area on my upcoming trip on the National Road and may check it out.

I Always Like Watching Dirigibles Or Blimps Or Whatever You Call Them.  --Cooter

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