(4) ORIGINAL PIECES OF THE USS SHENANDOAH ZR-1 AIRSHIP + PHOTOS / 1925 CRASH
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(4) ORIGINAL PIECES OF THE USS SHENANDOAH ZR-1 AIRSHIP + PHOTOS / 1925 CRASH :
$134.49
I am selling some items i bought quite a few years back from the marvin krieger collection, which was one of the finest lighter than air collections in the world. you are offerding on four original pieces of the uss shenandoah collected from the crash scene in 1925. the pieces measure approximately 2x2 inches each. also included with the pictures are a couple of 1920\'s snapshots of the shenandoah. on the reverse of one of the photos is a photo of the hangar. also included are four 4x6 copies of photos from the crash scene sent to mr krieger. there is also a 1975 50th anniversary first day cover. i will also include a copy of the notarized document stating that this fabric is from the wreckage of the u.s.s. shenandoah which crashed at ava ohio on september 3,1925. i obtained this piece from mr dewey parks of caldwell ohio, who personally collected it at the scene. mr parks sent mr krieger a manilla envelope full of pieces from the airship. a fine addition to your collection. 5.00 shipping. paypal. good luck. mike
USSShenandoahwas the first of fourUnited States Navyrigidairships. It was constructed during 1922–23 atLakehurst Naval Air Station, and first flew in September 1923. It developed the U.S. Navy\'s experience with rigid airships, and made the first crossing of North America by airship. On the 57th flight,[2]Shenandoahwas torn apart in asquall lineover Ohio in September 1925.[3]
Contents[hide]- 1Design and construction
- 2Service history
- 2.1Early naval service
- 2.2Flight across North America
- 2.3Later naval career
- 3Crash of theShenandoah
- 4Aftermath
- 4.1Looting
- 4.2Inquiry
- 5Memorials
- 6In popular culture
- 7See also
- 8References
- 9Further reading
- 10External links
Shenandoahwas originally designated FA-1, for \"Fleet Airship Number One\" but this was changed to ZR-1. The airship was 680ft (207.26m) long[4]and weighed 36 tons (32658 kg). It had a range of 5,000mi(4,300nmi; 8,000km), and could reach speeds of 70mph (61kn; 110km/h).Shenandoahwas assembled atNaval Air Station Lakehurst, New Jersey in 1922–1923, in Hangar No. 1, the only hangar large enough to accommodate the ship; its parts were fabricated at theNaval Aircraft Factoryin Philadelphia. NAS Lakehurst had served as a base for Navy blimps for some time, butShenandoahwas the first rigid airship to join the fleet.
Mrs.Edwin Denbyready to christen USSShenandoah, October 1923[5]1923 photo of the airship control gondola of the USSShenandoah. Commander McCrary, the ship\'s commander, is shown at the wheel. Called \"Empress of the Clouds\"[6]The design was based onZeppelin bomberL-49(LZ-96), built in 1917.[7][8]L-49was a lightened Type U \"height climber\", designed for altitude at the expense of other qualities. The design was found insufficient and a number of the features of newer Zeppelins were used, as well as some structural improvements.[7]The structure was built from a new alloy of aluminum and copper known asduralumin. Girders were fabricated at the Naval Aircraft Factory.[4]Whether the changes introduced into the original design of L-49 played a part inShenandoah\'s later breakup is a matter of debate. An outer cover of high-quality cotton cloth was sewn, laced or taped to the duralumin frame and painted with aluminumdope.[4]
The gas cells were made ofgoldbeater\'s skins, one of the most gas-impervious materials known at the time.[7]Named for their use in beating and separating gold leaf,[7]goldbeater\'s skins were made from the outer membrane of the large intestines of cattle.[7]The membranes were washed and scraped to remove fat and dirt, and then placed in a solution of water and glycerine in preparation for application to the rubberized cotton fabric providing the strength of the gas cells.[7]The membranes were wrung out by hand to remove the water-glycerine storage solution and then rubber-cemented to the cotton fabric and finally given a light coat of varnish.[7]The 20 gas cells within the airframe were filled to about 85% of capacity at normal barometric pressure.[9]Each gas cell had a spring-loaded relief valve and manual valves operated from the control car.[4]
As the first rigid airship to useheliumrather thanhydrogen,Shenandoahhad a significant edge in safety over previous airships. Helium was relatively scarce at the time, and theShenandoahused much of the world\'s reserves just to fill its 2,100,000 cubic feet (59,000m3) volume.[4]Los Angeles— the next rigid airship to enter Navy service, originally built byLuftschiffbau Zeppelinin Germany asLZ 126— was at first filled with the helium fromShenandoahuntil more could be procured.
Shenandoahwas powered by 300hp (220kW), eight-cylinderPackardgasoline engines. Six engines were originally installed, but in 1924 one engine (aft of the control car) was removed. The first frame ofShenandoahwas erected by 24 June 1922; on 20 August 1923, the completed airship was floated free of the ground. Helium cost $55 per thousand cubic feet at the time, and was considered too expensive to simply vent to the atmosphere to compensate for the weight of fuel consumed by the gasoline engines.[2]Neutral buoyancy was preserved by installing condensers to capture the water vapor in the engine exhaust.[2]
Service historyEarly naval serviceChristening ceremonies for USSShenandoah(ZR-1).Flight test run, steep angle docking atSt. Louison 2 October 1923.After docking at St. Louis, Commander McCrary stepped out to meet Admiral Moffet and Mayor Kiel; shown still inside the Control Car are Anton Heinen (German test pilot and consultant in the construction of the ZR1) and Cmdr Ralph D. Weyerbacher (design/build).Shenandoah\'s damaged bow following the January stormShenandoahfirst flew on 4 September 1923. It was christened on 10 October 1923 by Mrs. Edwin Denby, wife of the Secretary of the Navy, and commissioned on the same day withCommanderFrank R. McCrary in command. Mrs. Denby named the airship after her home in theShenandoah Valleyof Virginia, and the wordshenandoahwas then believed to be a Native American word meaning \"daughter of stars\".[10]
Shenandoahwas designed for fleet reconnaissance work of the type carried out by German naval airships in World War I. Her precommissioning trials included long-range flights during September and early October 1923, to test her airworthiness in rain, fog and poor visibility. On 27 October,Shenandoahcelebrated Navy Day with a flight down the Shenandoah Valley and returned to Lakehurst that night by way of Washington and Baltimore, where crowds gathered to see the new airship in the beams of searchlights.
At this time,Rear AdmiralWilliam A. Moffett— Chief of theBureau of Aeronauticsand staunch advocate of the airship— was discussing the possibility of usingShenandoahto explore the Arctic. He felt such a program would produce valuable weather data, as well as experience in cold-weather operations. With its endurance and ability to fly at low speeds, the airship was thought to be well-suited to such work.PresidentCalvin Coolidgeapproved Moffett\'s proposal, butShenandoah\'s upper tail fin covering ripped during a gale on 16 January 1924, and the sudden roll tore her away from the Lakehurst mast, ripping out her mooring winches, deflating the first helium cell and puncturing the second.[3]Zeppelin test pilot Anton Heinen rode out the storm for several hours and landed safely while the airship was being blown backwards.[11]Extensive repairs were needed, and the Arctic expedition was scrapped.
Shenandoah\'s repairs were completed in May, and the summer of 1924 was devoted to work with its engines and radio equipment to prepare for fleet duty. In August 1924 it reported for duty with the Scouting Fleet and took part in tactical exercises.Shenandoahsucceeded in discovering the \"enemy\" force as planned but lost contact with it in foul weather. Technical difficulties and lack of support facilities in the fleet forced it to depart the operating area ahead of time to return to Lakehurst. Although this marred the exercises as far as airship reconnaissance went, it emphasized the need for advanced bases and maintenance ships if lighter-than-air craft were to take any part in operations of this kind.
Flight across North AmericaShenandoahmoored to the oilerPatokaIn July 1924, the oilerPatokaput in atNorfolk Naval Shipyardfor extensive modifications to become the Navy\'s first airship tender. An experimental mooring mast 125ft (38m) above the water was constructed; additional accommodations both for the crew ofShenandoahand for the men who would handle and supply the airship were added; facilities for the helium, gasoline, and other supplies necessary forShenandoahwere built, as well as handling and stowage facilities for three seaplanes.Shenandoahengaged in a short series of mooring experiments withPatokato determine the practicality of mobile fleet support of scouting airships. The first successful mooring was made on 8 August.[2]During October 1924,Shenandoahflew from Lakehurst to California and on toWashington Stateto test newly erected mooring masts. This was the first flight of a rigid airship across North America.
Later naval career1925 began with nearly six months of maintenance and ground test work.Shenandoahdid not take to the air until 26 June, when it began preparations for summer operations with the fleet. In July and August, it again operated with the Scouting Fleet, successfully performing scouting tasks and being towed byPatokawhile moored to that ship\'s mast.[citation needed]
Crash of theShenandoahOverview of Crash Site No. 1The wreck of theShenandoahCrash Site No. 3The front section of the wreck. Crash site No. 3On 2 September 1925,Shenandoahdeparted Lakehurst on a promotional flight to theMidwestthat would include flyovers of 40 cities and visits tostate fairs. Testing of a new mooring mast atDearborn, Michigan, was included in the schedule. While passing through an area of thunderstorms and turbulence overOhioearly in the morning of 3 September, during its 57th flight,[2]the airship was caught in a violent updraft that carried it beyond the pressure limits of its gas bags. It was torn apart in the turbulence and crashed in several pieces nearCaldwell, Ohio. Fourteen crew members, including CommanderZachary Lansdowne, were killed. This included every member of the crew of the control cabin (except for Lieutenant Anderson, who escaped before it detached from the ship); two men who fell through holes in the hull; and several mechanics who fell with the engines. There were twenty-nine survivors, who succeeded in riding three sections of the airship to earth. The largest group was eighteen men who made it out of the stern after it rolled into a valley. Four others survived a crash landing of the central section. The remaining seven were in the bow section which Commander (later Vice Admiral)Charles E. Rosendahlnavigated as a free balloon. In this group was Anderson who— until he was roped in by the others— straddled the catwalk over a hole.
TheShenandoahCrash Sites are located in the hillsides ofNoble County. Site No. 1, inBuffalo Township, surrounded the Gamary farmhouse, which lay beneath the initial break-up. An early fieldstone and a second, recent granite marker identify where Commander Lansdowne\'s body was found. Site No. 2 (where the stern came to rest) is a half-mile southwest of Site No. 1 acrossInterstate 77inNoble Township. The rough outline of the stern is marked with a series of concrete blocks, and a sign marking the site is visible from the freeway. Site No. 3 is approximately six miles southwest inSharon Townshipat the northern edge ofState Route 78on the part of the old Nichols farm where the nose of theShenandoah\'s bow was secured to trees. Although the trees have been cut down, a semi-circular gravel drive surrounds their stumps and a small granite marker commemorates the crash. The Nichols house was later destroyed by fire.[12]
Two schools of thought developed about the cause of the crash. One theory is that the gas cells over-expanded as the ship rose, due to Lansdowne’s decision to remove the 10 automatic release valves, and that the expanding cells damaged the framework of the airship and led to its structural failure.[citation needed]
Aftermath[edit]LootingThe crash site attracted thousands of visitors in its first few days. Within five hours of the crash more than a thousand people had arrived to strip the hulk of anything they could carry. On Saturday, 5 September 1925, theSt. Petersburg Timesof Florida reported that the site of the crash had quickly been looted by locals, describing the frame as being \"[laid] carrion to the whims of souvenir seekers\".[13]Among the items believed to have been taken were the vessel\'s logbook and itsbarograph, both of which were considered critical to understanding how the crash had happened. Also looted were many of the ship\'s 20 deflated silken gas cells, each worth several thousand dollars, most of them unbroken but ripped from the framework before the arrival of armed military personnel. Looting was so extensive that it was initially believed even the bodies of the dead had been stripped of their personal effects, and that operatives from the Department of Justice were being sent to investigate. That this was happening was soon denied by those publicly involved in the incident, however. Still, a local farmer on whose property part of the vessel\'s wreckage lay began charging the throngs of visitors to enter the crash site at a rate of $1 (equivalent to about $13.60 in 2015) for each automobile and 25¢ per pedestrian as well as 10¢ for a drink of water.[13]:2
On 17 September theMilwaukee Sentinelreported that 20 Department of Justice operatives had indeed been summoned to the site and that they along with an unspecified number of federal and state prohibition agents had visited private homes to collect four truck loads of wreckage along with personal grips of several crew members and a cap believed to have belonged to Commander Lansdowne.[14]Lansdowne\'s Annapolis class ring had also been thought to have been taken from his hand by looters as it was not then recovered-it was found by chance in June 1937 near the crash site # 1.[15]No one was charged with any crime.
InquiryOfficial inquiry brought to light the fact that the fatal flight had been made under protest by Commander Lansdowne (a native ofGreenville, Ohio), who had warned the Navy Department of the violent weather conditions that were common to that area of Ohio in late summer. His pleas for a cancellation of the flight only caused a temporary postponement: his superiors were keen to publicize airship technology and justify the huge cost of the airship to the taxpayers. So, as Lansdowne\'s widow consistently maintained at the inquiry, publicity rather than prudence won the day.[16]This event was the trigger forArmyColonelBilly Mitchellto heavily criticize the leadership of both the Army and the Navy, leading directly tohis court-martialfor insubordination and the end of his military career. Heinen, according to theDaily Telegraph, placed the mechanical fault for the disaster on the removal of eight of the craft\'s 18 safety valves, saying that without them he would not have flown on her \"for a million dollars\". These valves had been removed in order to better preserve the vessel\'s helium, which at that time was considered a limited global resource of great rarity and strategic military importance— without these valves, the helium contained in the rising gas bags had expanded too quickly for the bags\' valves\' design capacity, causing the bags to tear apart the hull as they ruptured (of course, the helium which had been contained in these bags became lost into the upper atmosphere).[17]
After the disaster, airship hulls were strengthened, control cabins were built into the keels rather than suspended from cables, and engine power was increased. More attention was also paid to weather forecasting.[18]
MemorialsSee also:Cathedral of the AirSeveral memorials remain near the crash site. There is another memorial at Moffett Field, California, and a small private museum inAva, Ohio.[19]
The Noble Local School District— which services the area whereShenandoahcrashed— has named its elementary, junior high, and high schools afterShenandoah. Their sports teams are named \"The Zeps,\" an abbreviation of \"Zeppelin.\"[20]A truck stop located about 15mi (24km) away inOld Washington, Ohiowas named Shenandoah Plaza after the airship. The truck stop has since closed and has been torn down.[21]
In popular cultureThe crash of theShenandoahwas popularized by the songThe Wreck of the Shendandoahwhich was written byVernon Dalhartand Carson Robison[22]It was issued as a record with Vernon Dalhart performing it
(4) ORIGINAL PIECES OF THE USS SHENANDOAH ZR-1 AIRSHIP + PHOTOS / 1925 CRASH :
$134.49