Chapter I: Front Matter

The Story of
THE AIRSHIP
(NON-RIGID)

_A Study of One of America’s Lesser Known Defense Weapons_

BY HUGH ALLEN

AKRON, OHIO, 1943

FIRST PRINTING, FEBRUARY, 1942
SECOND PRINTING, FEBRUARY, 1943
THIRD PRINTING, DECEMBER, 1943

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
THE LAKESIDE PRESS, R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY, CHICAGO AND
CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA

Dedication

To _Admiral William A. Moffett, and the men his leadership inspired—to Landsdowne, McCord and Berry—to Calnan and Dugan and other able juniors, to Maxfield and Hoyt, Hancock and Lawrence of an earlier decade—to the Army’s Hawthorne Gray, and as well to England’s Scott, France’s de Grenadin, Germany’s Lehmann and Goodyear’s Brannigan and Morton—names taken from lighter-than-air’s brief but distinguished casualty list—of men who believed in airships and accepted gallantly the penalty which progress eternally exacts from men—this book is dedicated._

_Not forgetting the living men, the Navy’s Rosendahl, Fulton, Mills, Settle; Goodyear’s Litchfield and Arnstein, and hundreds of others who have carried on with unshaken faith, in the face of great setbacks._

_Much of devotion and courage, of scientific research and engineering achievement has gone into this enterprise—and much has been proved. Today, airships of the non-rigid type are taking on a new responsibility to the nation. If they succeed, they may well bring back the great rigid airships, to act as long range scouts against enemy raid or surprise fleet movement, as fast moving bases and refueling points for fighting airplanes far at sea—and as factors in world commerce in days to come._

_It is this impulse which is driving forward the men who believe in airships—that the sacrifices and efforts of Admiral Moffett and the rest shall not have gone in vain._

Foreword

High admirals of the American fleet faced in 1940 the gravest responsibility in the National Defense the Navy had ever known. Wherever they turned, north, east, south, west, perils lurked. If they swung their binoculars toward Iceland, toward the Caribbean, toward Singapore, Alaska, or the Canal, everywhere waited potential threats against our American way of life, which they must meet with ships and men, with guns and stout hearts. This was not merely national defense, perhaps not even hemisphere defense, it was World War.

Surveying their gigantic task, and moving swiftly to meet it, they found a place in their program for half forgotten craft, long over-shadowed by other arms of the fleet, the non-rigid airship, sometimes called a dirigible, but more often a “blimp.”

Couldn’t the airship be used as a watchdog along the coast, against enemy submarines, in discovering enemy mines—relieve for sterner tasks the destroyers and other craft now wallowing their innards out in those restless shallow waters? Great Britain and France had used airships effectively in this service over the English Channel during the last war.

The areas within their patrol range, a hundred or 200 miles out to sea, within the 100 fathom curve, was a vital one. There steamship lanes converge, great harbors lie, coastwise merchantmen cruise, there is the greatest concentration of military and commercial shipping.

With depth bombs and machine guns the blimps might strike a stout blow of their own, even if they weren’t rated as combat craft. At least they could sound the alarm, call out reinforcements from swift moving shore-based craft, keep the intruder under surveillance. After all the main thing was to find the submarines in those endless miles of water. And in this field the very slowness of the airship, as compared to the airplane, would be an advantage, permit a more thorough search of the ocean’s surface, while its speed as compared to any man-of-war, would enable it to cover more ground within a given 24 hours.

So on the Navy’s recommendation Congress in 1940 approved the building of the airship fleet up to substantial proportions, together with bases from which they might operate along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. That program is now being put into effect and the Goodyear company which had built most of the airships used in the first World War, began again to build ships.

The story of the great rigid airships, the Los Angeles, the Akron, Macon and Graf Zeppelin is fairly well known. That of the smaller non-rigids is less familiar. The larger airships still hold vital commercial and military promise for the future. However, this book will confine itself to the non-rigid airship, with only enough reference to the larger ships to round out the picture.

Every new vehicle of combat or transport has had to fight its way to acceptance against misunderstanding and lack of understanding. Steamships had to prove themselves against sailing ships. Submarines had an uphill battle to establish themselves. The airplane was long on probation, and now the airship is on trial.

This book will tell something about these ships, cite what is claimed for them and what has been reasonably proved they can do, see what progress has been made in performance, and point out what may be expected from them hereafter—not avoiding the moot question of vulnerability.

Lighter-than-air is older by a century than the heavier-than-air branch of aeronautics. Its history is marked by long research and experiment and continued progress. Like every pioneering development it has had its setbacks. But the sincerity of the effort and solid accomplishment made, entitles the project to thoughtful consideration.

Contents

Dedication v
Foreword vii
I. German Submarines in American Waters 1
A little known story from the first World War.
II. British Airships in the First World War 9
The use of non-rigid airships in Europe in 1914-18—as
convoys, and as scouts against mines and U-boats.
III. American Airships in Two Wars 13
Activities in first war, though building of ships, training
of men and erecting of bases had to be done after war broke
out.
IV. The Beginnings of Flight 21
Difference between airships and airplanes—classes of
airships—progress, from Montgolfiers to Santos Dumont to
1914.
V. Effect on Aeronautics of Post-War Reaction 28
Blimps overshadowed by Zeppelins and airplanes—only rigid
airships had anything like continuing program, and they
because of possible commercial value—effect on public
opinion of Lindbergh flight and first arrival of the Graf
Zeppelin.
VI. Airship Improvements Between Wars 32
Helium gas—structural changes—development of mooring
mast—Navy experiments in picking up water ballast from the
ocean.
VII. Adventures of the Goodyear Fleet 45
Reason for starting—adventures—familiarize country with
airships—safety record—evolution of masting technique.
VIII. Results of Fleet Operations 61
Weather information—effect on flying and ground handling
practice—on ship design—created bases, ships and
construction plants which might prove useful in emergency.
IX. Vulnerability of Airships 67
References 72
Index 73