Airship crashes

[Eyersey1234]

Excluding airships shot down in wartime what airship crashes have happened? The 3 I know about are the R38 in 1921 (River Humber), R101 in 1930 (France) and the Hindenburg in 1938

[Eric Mc]

There were loads. In fact, most of the major large airships built finished their lives in some sort of accident. The exceptions would be the Graf Zeppelin which survived its career and was scrapped and the R100 which was scrapped before it even entered commercial service. The USS Los Angeles also survived its service career to make it to the scrap yard.

A quick off the top of the head list of large airships lost in accidents would be -

Mayfly
R38
USS Shanendoah
USS Akron
USS Macon
Italia
Norge
R101
Hindenburg

The Hindenburg accident was actually 1937, not 1938.

[lost in espace]

Phew I thought this was something about the big one at Cardington crashing!

[768]

Eric Mc said:

USS Shanendoah

FWIW (just about nothing) I think it's spelt Shenandoah.

Like the low pause JVM garbage collector.

[Riley Blue]

As with Japanese aircraft, Google is your friend. It led me to this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airship_acci...

[Scotty2]

Graf 2 was also dismantled, one of the few not to "crash".

Edit to add: MIght be easier to list the Airships that did not crash...

Cannot recommend the Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen enough, and indeed all the museums in that area including the Dornier one.

Edited by Scotty2 on Saturday 4th November 15:40

[Eric Mc]

768 said:

Eric Mc said:

USS Shanendoah

FWIW (just about nothing) I think it's spelt Shenandoah.

Like the low pause JVM garbage collector.

Yes, not a word I use often in daily conversation - although I love the song.

[Eric Mc]

By the way, I'm not a fan of answering someone's query with "look it up in Wiki". That's the internet equivalent of "go ask your mother" - and a tad rude.

[CanAm]

Purely by chance, I saw the Lightship blimp in Germany the day before it crashed. There was a fire in the Gondola and the pilot managed to get low enough for the three passengers to jump out, which caused the blimp to rear upwards, but as he was bravely manning the controls he was sadly unable to escape and perished.

[Riley Blue]

I would agree had the OP started a discussion, however it was a request for a list of data (airship crashes) and I think there are better places to find it than in a forum.

[Wacky Racer]

Hindenburg crash:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fURATK5Yt30

[Sylvaforever]

I hate to what a non "off the top of the head" answer would be Eric

[Eric Mc]

Riley Blue said:

I would agree had the OP started a discussion, however it was a request for a list of data (airship crashes) and I think there are better places to find it than in a forum.

It's the same as people asking a question amongst mates in a pub and one of the mates telling him to go to the local library.

[Eric Mc]

Sylvaforever said:

I hate to what a non "off the top of the head" answer would be Eric

I have always been interested in airship history. At one point they seemed like the future of air travel - but they were fatally flawed in so many areas.

[Equus]

Eric Mc said:

It's the same as people asking a question amongst mates in a pub and one of the mates telling him to go to the local library.

Except that, this being an internet forum, we're already sitting in the 'local library'.

[Eyersey1234]

Thanks guys. I saw on a TV programme a while ago they are still making airships in Germany but fill them with helium now not hydrogen as it's a safer gas.

[Tango13]

There's a chapter on the R101 in this...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Worlds-Worst-Aircraft-Jam...

[Simpo Two]

Scotty2 said:

Graf 2 was also dismantled, one of the few not to "crash".

Edit to add: MIght be easier to list the Airships that did not crash...

R100: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R100

NB The Norge didn't crash, but was hastily dismantled in Alaska to stop it blowing away.

Edited by Simpo Two on Saturday 4th November 17:35

[Riley Blue]

Equus said:

Eric Mc said:

It's the same as people asking a question amongst mates in a pub and one of the mates telling him to go to the local library.

Except that, this being an internet forum, we're already sitting in the 'local library'.

If I was in a pub and a mate asked that I'd get out my phone and Google it for an instant answer.

[Eyersey1234]

Eric Mc said:

Sylvaforever said:

I hate to what a non "off the top of the head" answer would be Eric

I have always been interested in airship history. At one point they seemed like the future of air travel - but they were fatally flawed in so many areas.

Was there any advantage to airships over normal planes?