[Thursday] Airship in Newport

[Ernie]

I have a piece skin from the Akron. It may have been from the accident at Lakehurst in 1932 since it crashed at sea in 1933.
My Dad had it and collected such things. 

I also remember him telling me about seeing the Hindenburg cruising along the CT shoreline on its tragic last flight. 
He also told me that the Hindenburg cruised at an altitude of less than its length. (aprox 800 ft) It must have been incredible seeing these monsters float overhead. 

In one of the links below maximum altitude is mentioned. Around 3,000 for the American helium filled ships. The limit was the altitude at which the airships helium and atmospheric pressure the same. At that point the gas bags would vent to prevent them rupturing. I would suspect the German air ships had a lower maximum altitude due to being filled with hydrogen instead of helium. 

At any rate as Chris mentioned can you imagine working on stuff that far above ground. It also lists that they had one trapeze to take the airplane out of or into the hanger deck. Also one perch. 

The last link references "taking on the aircraft then removing the landing gear and installing a belly tank"


https://www.airships.net/us-navy-rigid-airships/uss-akron-macon/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Macon_(ZRS-5)

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

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/curtiss-wright-f9c-2-sparrowhawk/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F9C_Sparrowhawk

https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2017-4133


     On Saturday, April 4, 2020, 07:40:22 PM EDT, Chris Prata via Thursday <thursday at newsm.org> wrote:  
 
 #yiv0128322593 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}Thanks Len!
I had the great and high privilege to meet a Naval Aviator who soloed in 1928, and was assigned to the Akron as hangar boss. The Dirigible USS Akron flew maritime patrol in the North Atlantic and had 5 biplanes which were retrieved by a central trapeze and transferred to 4 hangar corner hooks while #5 stayed on the trapeze, as I recall him describing it.  Imagine working over that big opening thousands of feet in the air moving planes around by hoist?  He was in his 90's and that was around 15 years ago. I got to hold and look through his original Navy Logbook! He was such a great guy. Living in an old but cozy mobile home on Rt 3 at Mapleroot Trailer Park...
I found these additional videos, well worth watching!  (While not steam powered, I am sure there was wireless gear aboard as well as many parts made in steam powered manufacturing!)
https://youtu.be/VNOusZLO7y4

|  | We had Flying Aircraft Carriers. What Happened?In the first half of the 20th century we had flying aircraft carriers, and they were airships. So what happened? Help me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/...youtu.be |

https://youtu.be/DTGBFY82Gik

|  | Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk Biplane On USS Akron (ZRS-4)National Archives Identifier: 28558 US Navy Dirigible Akron in flight (1930s). Int, dirigible, old-type biplane being hoisted aboard while in flight. AVs, bi...youtu.be |




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