U.S.S. Akron (ZRS-4) and U.S.S. Macon (ZRS-5)

[bitchstewie]

Fascinating article or at least new and fascinating to me

https://www.airships.net/us-navy-rigid-airships/us...

[Eric Mc]

I first read about the US Navy airship programme when I was a kid back in the 1960s. It was a very interesting experiment.

[JGR1954]

Thanks for posting this.

I grew-up in the Akron area, and have been in the Goodyear Airdock where the Akron & Macon were built:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/goodyear-airdock.htm

[Whats on Second]

the history of airships is fascinating, both civilian and military craft, the Akron , Macon and Shenandoah all had
their share of triumph, sheer bad luck and tragedy as witnessed by the Akron incident which cost the lives of two sailors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF5_OLJGPQY

maybe airships were ahead of their time and the technology was not quite up to the task, or more likely, they were never really a viable option for mass transport expensive to construct, too slow, uncontrollable in high winds, structurally fragile.

[Simpo Two]

Whats on Second said:

maybe airships were ahead of their time and the technology was not quite up to the task, or more likely, they were never really a viable option for mass transport expensive to construct, too slow, uncontrollable in high winds, structurally fragile.

They're great up to the point when you can make aeroplanes work. Hence why you can't book an Easyjet airship to Malaga etc.

[46and2]

Great article!

[JGR1954]

A propeller from the USS Akron is displayed in the dining hall at BSA Camp Manatoc near Akron, Ohio. I saw it while camping there in the 1960s.

https://live.staticflickr.com/5684/23104542733_e25...

[Hurricane52]

This hangs on my eldest son’s wall. (Sorry about the reflection.)

[LotusOmega375D]

^^^ I remember buying that old American magazine advert from a stall at Portobello market about 20 years ago. It was a chance purchase, because a friend of a friend was a major Zeppelin artefacts enthusiast and I thought he might like it for his memorabilia collection. However, he wasn’t the slightest bit interested, because it wasn’t connected to the Zeppelin company. Not all airships are equal, it seems!