Sky Ships: A History of the Airship in the United States Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)William Althoff, has written a comprehensive history of US Navy airships from the first blimp, DN-1, to the termination of all airship activities in 1962. When writing this history, the author had access to numerous sources including letters, interviews and tape-recorded information from former airship officers. For example, Appendix D is a copy of the Confidential 1959 letter from Captain Marion H. Eppes (former Commander of Fleet Airship Wing One) to the Chief of Naval Operations giving his recommendations for airships in the Navy.The result is a well documented, well written account of a weapons system that due to politics and budget considerations never realized its true potential.
Chapter 1 describes the establishment of Lakehurst Air Station with emphasis on the design and construction of Hangar 1. Lakehurst was designed for the construction and operation of rigid airships with one airship ZR-1 (USS Shenandoah) to be built at Lakehurst and a second rigid airship, ZR-2 to be purchase from Britain. ZR-2 crashed in Britain without being delivered.
The chapter on the Shenandoah foretells future problems for navy rigid airships stating ".... hostage to the airship's own propaganda and obsessed with public acceptance ....the navy `brass' continued to expect too much from their large airships, and far too soon." The Shenandoah's short life ended with its 1925 destruction in storm over Ohio. While the Shenandoah did little to develop the rigid airship as a weapon system, the author notes that "....the program had taken its first, faltering steps, Personnel had been trained, valuable experience accumulated ...."
The navy received ZR-3 (USS Los Angeles) from Germany in 1924 as war reparations. It was treaty limited to civilian usage and couldn't be used with the fleet to develop an airship scouting doctrine. Chapter 3 gives an excellent account of this airship's career in experimentation and training. It was instrumental in developing the low mooring mast, and in developing a system for recovering and launching airplanes from an airship. Budget problems resulted in the Los Angeles being deactivated in 1932.
Althoff's has written a succinct review of the navy's program to develop a fleet-type rigid airship. The navy contracted with Goodyear Zeppelin Corp. for two high-performance, fleet-type rigid airships ZR-4 (USS Akron) and ZR-5 (USS Macon). ZR-4 was christened in August 1931. The Akron's 1932 performances with the fleet were at best a qualified success and a doctrine for its effective use wasn't developed. Much time was devoted to public demands to see the Akron. Upon encountering a severe storm at sea in April 1933, the Akron was lost. The Macon, christened in March 1933, became proficient in launching and recovering her five scouting airplanes. The Macon developed the concept of the airship as an aircraft carrier and by mid 1934 became highly effective using her aircraft for long range, wide area scouting. Unfortunately, failure to complete repair of a damage fin resulted in the Macon's loss in February 1935 thereby ending the navy's rigid airship program.
The text notes that the navy responsibilities included supporting civilian rigid airship development in the United States. The navy supported domestic rigid airship programs by making the Lakehurst facilities available to Germany's commercial rigid airships as German and the United States companies were to jointly develop a commercial transatlantic airship service. Few people realize that the Hindenburg in 1936 provided scheduled nonstop air travel to Europe twenty years before the DC-7 began nonstop flights to London. With the Hindenburg crash in May 1937, rigid airship activity ceased at Lakehurst and the deactivated Los Angeles was dismantled in 1939.
The book's narration of the navy's W.W.II blimp program is excellent. The text notes that navy blimp activities prior to W.W.II were at best marginal. However, with the delivery of blimp K-2 in 1938, the navy had a long-range patrol and convoy escort which became the prototype for the successful W.W.II K-type blimp. When the Japanese struck at Pearl Harbor, the navy had but ten blimps of all types to patrol the entire East Coast and only one air station --Lakehurst. By March 1944 the navy had 119 blimps with air stations on the West Coast and with East Coast air stations extending to Recifi, Brazil. The installation of airborne radar and the Magnetic Airborne Detector (MAD) increased the escort effectiveness of blimps. Airship development continued with the delivery in 1944 of the new M-type blimps having a useful load of 11,900 pounds and a still air range of 2100 nautical miles. During W.W.II, blimps safely escorted 50,000 ships in areas of known enemy submarine activity. Thirty-eight airships were lost and seventy-seven personnel killed. Enemy action accounted for one fatality with personnel error responsible for most losses.
This book provides an excellent narration of the navy's postwar airship programs. Following severe downsizing after W.W.II, the airship program added advanced blimp types ZS2G, ZPG-2 and ZPG-3 plus further modernization's of the K-type. A basic Airborne Early Warning (AEW) blimp emerged in the 1950s from a modification of the ZPG-2 and ZPG-3 types. This is a fascinating period in navy airship history which is well told by this book. In March 1957 a ZPG-2 set an unrefueled endurance record of 264:20 hours--11 full days aloft. In July 1958 another ZPG-2 reached the air force's ice station T-3, less than 800 miles from the North pole covering 6200 miles with two refueling.
However, as the book notes "From the earliest years, the navy had failed to recognize the airship as a special type....requiring attention by officers qualified in and familiar with it and its peculiar problems." Faced with budget limitations and having little political or naval brass support, on 24 September 1962 deflation of the last operational navy airship began and the navy's airship program ended after 57 years.
Though published over ten years ago this book is still well worth reading by both the serious aviation historian and the aviation buff.

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