From the Mailbag

MAIL CALL

We have posted some of the most interesting questions sent to us by visitors to this website.
We are not currently accepting any questions.

All questions were answered by NLHS Historian, Rick Zitarosa.

The Officers, Trustees and General Membership of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society are legally
prohibited from giving endorsements, appraisals and authenticating artifacts pertaining to the Hindenburg,
Graf Zeppelin and all other US Navy and foreign airships.Any inquiries concerning the above will not be answered.

MAIL Call has become so popular we have had to add additional pages.

From: Edward Packard

My father, Edward B. Packard, who died in 1970, was a Navy blimp pilot in WWI, stationed at Lakehurst, assigned to anti-submarine warfare duty. Unfortunately, my brother and I never inquired about his service as much as we wish we had. We know only that during WWI his blimp collapsed and that he and his crewman drifted for some time in a life raft before being picked up by a Chilean freighter. I also recall that he made a flight from Montauk to Key West, which may have been the longest ever undertaken at that time. The C.O. of Lakehurst at the time was George Gillespie, who married my mother’s oldest sister, who died in the great flu epidemic of 1918.

I wonder if you have any records, contemporary writings, etc. at the museum that would cast further light on Navy blimp operations during WWI and how I might gain access to them.

Lakehurst did not become an active Naval Air Station until 1921 and many of the World War One era Navy blimp personnel had already left the service. I do have some information on Navy LTA operations during the “Great War” period and can confirm that Edward Burtt Packard appears received his training at Akron (the original hangar compound of the Naval Air Training Station, Akron (actually Wingfoot Lake, Suffield OH) is still in use today as headquarters for Goodyear Airship Operations. He was designated Spherical Balloon Pilot (SBP)#496 on March 20, 1918 and Naval Aviator #882 (Dirigibles)on July 25, 1918. He served at NAS Cape May, NJ and Rockaway, NY.

George Samuel Gillespie graduated the US Naval Academy in 1912 and was designated “Naval Aviator” #32 on May 19,1916. He did duty with “Kite” (towed) balloons aboard the cruiser USS SAN DIEGO but it does not appear that he ever qualified as a “Heavier Than Air” (airplane) of “Lighter Than Air” (dirigible or airship) pilot. There is no record of him ever serving at Lakehurst, but he was Commander of the Naval Air Station at Cape May, NJ in December 1917.

From: Hamp Miller

What ever happened to the Hindenburg’s engines

As the wreckage was dismantled and gathered together, the engines were set aside and shipped back to Germany to be evaluated and stripped for usable spare parts. Contrary to some of the rumors that have come out over the years, there was no “secret conspiracy” by the surviving German crewmen to suppress or destroy anything concerning the power plant installation. ( Though the engines were considered “proprietary technology” there was little about them that American personnel…particularly US Navy and Goodyear Co. people closely associated witht he Zeppelin…did not already know about them.)

The Daimler-Benz LOF-6 engines used by the HINDENBURG and her later sister ship LZ-130 GRAF ZEPPELIN (launched in 1938) were modified versions of the Daimler DB-603 high-speed diesel developed for fast motor torpedo boats then being placed in service by the German Navy. Airship engines were different from airplane engines in that they had multiple requirements of reasonably high horsepower, good power-to-weight ratio, the ability to be self-reversing in the absence of reversible-pitch propellers which hadn’t been developed yet, low fuel consumption at cruising speeds and TBO (“time between overhauls”) of 1000 hours or more, making them suitable for use on long journeys. The Daimlers had their share of troubles in the beginning, particularly uneven cooling, unacceptably high carbon buildups in the cyliner heads and a tendency to “smoke” at high power settings, but this was overcome in time ( a lot being accomplished thru the use of special high-grade Royal Dutch Shell fuel oil as well as coal-based synthetic “Kogasyn-2” oil manufactured in Germany.)

An interesting side note is that when the United States developed PT Boats for use in World War II, one of the principle power plants used was the Allison V-1710 engine originally developed as a replacementfor the “original equipment German Maybach motors on the US Navy airships AKRON and MACON.)

From: David Vieira

Please send me information of how Clarence Terhune, a 19 year old, was able to enter Hangar 1 in the NAS Lakhurst undetected and stowaway in the Graf Zeppelin (LZ-127) for its return ride to Germany on Sunday, October 28, 1928. Any information about this event will be appreciated.

There isn’t much to say that wasn’t covered in the NEW YORK TIMES. Terhune was something of a celebrity for his flight. After this, extra precautions were taken to guard against stowaways; the (very)few stowaways that made it past the guards found were kept under virtual “house arrest” during the flight, put to work cleaning toilets, peeling vegatables etc. in addition to what has been referred to as being given “singing lessons” by members of the crew (presumably a bit of physical abuse to remember the event by.)Since the extra weight of a stowaway could impair the ship’s ability to carry fuel, ballast and provisions it was considered a threat to the ship’s safety and those aboard to have a stowaway compromising their careful weight distribution calculations. (180 pounds of human being equalls 30 gallons of gasoline or about 22 gallons of drinking water/water ballast which could be critical on a long flight.)

From: David Riethmeier  

I see that the civilian ground crew had an ID badge. Did the naval ground crew have one?

Navy personnel wore their uniforms and were assigned to groups headed by Chief Petty Officers under the overall direction of the Ground Handling Officer and the Commander of the Air Station, so there was no neeed for them to wear ID badges.

Government officials and observers had badges that said “Official” press members had badges saying “press” and civilian ground crew had badges marked “ground crew” and these were all pin-backed celluloid badges bearing the signature of base Commander C.E. Rosendahl.

Any BRASS or metal “Hindenburg Ground Crew” badges you may see out there are 1980’s era fakes that were common items at flea markets and air shows for a number of years.

From: Chuck Norman

My name is Chuck Norman and I was attached to Airship Test & Development (AT&D) in Lakehurst, NJ from January 1958 to March 1960. In late 1959, we received the first ZPG3-W Airship, BU# 144243, from Goodyear for testing. I was an AE2 and a crew member of that Airship. In early February of 1960, while on Temporary Duty at South Weymouth, MA, the Airship was lost due to a freak accident on the ground. I was a docking mule driver, on the starboard side as we were attempting to place the blimp into the hanger due to inclement weather. We were about halfway in when gust of wind, estimated at 50 mph, hit the ship broadside, causing the port side docking mule to be tipped on it’s side, snapping their cable. In an attempt to stop the bag from hitting the side of the hanger, I immediately drove my mule at a 45 degree angle towards the port side and attempted to maintain tension on the cable while the tractor driver tried to back the mooring mast back outside. The combination of the mooring mast moving backwards and my cable tension, trying to keep the envelope from hitting the side, caused my docking mule to begin to be tipped, front to back. When I was tipped, to what I perceived to be approximately a 45 degree angle front to back, I fired the emergency cable cutter to keep from being tipped all the way over. With my cable cut, the wind drove the last 5 feet of the tail into the corner of the hanger and the bag just simply ripped and collapsed. Thank God no one was injured, but the world’s largest blimp, at the time, was destroyed. This was the FIRST ZPG3-W to be lost. The one that crashed in July of 1960, killing 18, was actually the second to be lost.

The “243” was “badly damaged” but NOT (believe it or not) lost.

A spare envelope was sent up from Lakehurst with a crew from O&R and they re-rigged and inflated the ship (minus the internal radar antennae and topside radome) and flew the ship back to Lakehurst in May. The pilot for the return trip, George Allen (still around and living in Florida) decided to do a couple of “touch and go” landings to celebrate their return to Lakehurst. After his second one, word came from the tower to LAND IMMEDIATELY. The CO and XO met him once the ship was masted and told George ” EASY! That ship was slapped together just enough to get it back here in one piece! “

The whole thing was mainly a PR move. Airships were winding down, O&R was facing closure. They could have easily sent the car, fins, etc back to Lakehurst by barge/overland transportation. The new envelope was a porous piece of garbage and it leaked like a sieve. The ship was then docked all the way in the back of Hangar One near the East doors.

After the loss of the “242” the remaining 3W’s were officially grounded. A lot of suspicion pointed to the 2-ply Cotton envelope. 146296 was fitted with a Dacron envelope, as was sister “297.” ( One envelope log I have seen says that the “296” arrived new from the factory with a Dacron bag.) The Dacron bags were eventually cleared to return to service, though only the “297” appears to have flown again….approximately May of 1961.

Around October (according to the envelope log I’ve seen) they finally determined that they weren’t going to do anything more with the “243” and she was deflated.

In a twist of irony, the cotton envelope of the “243” was kept in storage until 1976…ostensibly to be used as an exhibit in ongoing litigation regarding a lawsuit by the widows of the “242.” The car of the “243” remained at Lakehurst until 1988; it is now laying in pieces at Davis Monthan Air Base, pending a restoration which will probably never happen. “296” and “297” were but up by 1964 with their excellent Dacron envelopes(which were made into paint tarps.)

In the end, “243” was the FIRST ZPG-3W to be seriously wrecked, the SECOND removed from service and now, nearly 50 years later, the only one that remains in any form.

From: Richard Mathews

Is there a twin to “Hanger One” at the former Moffett Naval Air Staion at Lakehurst???

Lakehurst Hangar #1 is rather unique in layout/appearance (a British-influenced design for a two-bay rigid airship construction/operation hangar with counterweighted rolling doors at each end.)

Hangar #1 at Moffett Field is longer but not as wide. It is, however, far better-streamlined (elipsoid, with minimal protrusions.)

Moffett Field Hangars #2 and #3 are identical twins of Lakehurst wooden arch hangars #5 and #6.

From: Ryan Short

I run a website at www.doolittleraid.com and have been interested in various aspects of research related to the Navy blimp L-8, which brought out parts for the B-25s after the USS Hornet left San Fransisco. The L-8 was the former Goodyear Airship Ranger, and later served as the America.

Do you know of a set of drawings for the L-series blimps that might be suitable for designing a model off of them? What would I need to do to obtain them? If not, do you know of another resource I should check with on this subject?

The one “identity” that a blimp usually carried was the number on the control car; the envelope (bag) could sometimes be changed many times over the life of an airship.

L8 started life as an L-ship, the car was heavily modified by Goodyear for use as the AMERICA in the 1969-82 period. Today, the car is restored in its original L=type configuration and sits on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, FL.

There was actually an L-ship model manufactured some years ago (L2) and plans for an L-ship can be found in the book US NAVY AIRSHIPS by James R. Shock (Atlantix Publications, 1993,2008.)

From: Donald Layton

I have read that during a celebration at Lakehurst, LT Al Williams took off from inside Hangar One through the open doors at the other end. Do you have info as to the date and the type of airplane?

I have CD’s of lectures that I give – Airships, Past, Present and Future; Count von Zeppelin’s Passenger Airships; USS Macon – The U. S. Navy’s Last Rigid Airship; and The Great Airships of the Great War.. I would like to donate copies to the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society.

It was NAS Lakehurst’s first-ever Air Show, the “Air Carnival” of May 31, 1924. Highlights of the day included the USS SHENANDOAH moored to the 160-foot “high mast” and a brief flight by the ship in the afternoon, flights by free (spherical) and kite (tethered) balloons, Navy blimp J-1, an overflight/simulated dogfight by Army DeHavilland biplanes and a “special aerial demonstration” by LT Alford Williams flying a Vought VE-7. As a highlight of the show, Williams flew the VE-7 right through Hangar #1. ( The Air Station log simply states that “LT WILLIAMS did special stunts” there exists a photo of his plane emerging from the west end of hangar one, contrary to rumor this is apparently the ONLY TIME anybody ever flew an airplane thru Hangar #1.)

We look forward to any and all donations of archival material, they can be sent via our “snail mail” address PO Box 328 Lakehurst NJ 08733.

From: Hanson and Margo Pickerl

I’m doing a project on the Hindenburg – more specifically trying to prove that the US was responsible for the disaster because we would not sell helium to Germany for their commerical airships. Can you direct me to information on this? Would the text of the Helium Control Act of 1927 be beneficial?

Helium was considered a stratetic resource and was thus subject to the Helium Control Act.

You must take into account that Germany indeed WANTED helium, but they were not crazy about the idea of PAYING for it. (Since the advent of National Socialism, the German economy was strictly internalized and foreign exchange was limited.)

After the R101 disaster, there was strong sentiment that helium might be made available to Britain. (As it was, they did not continue their program for economic reasons.)

Good ship that she was, the GRAF ZEPPELIN was not capable of transoceanic flight using helium, being too small among other things. Dr. Hugo Eckener realized that if the British (or anybody else) were to fly passengers across the oceans with helium, they would have a commercial advantage from the standpoint of being able to advertise safety, even if their airships were not on par with German built ships.

Thus, the LZ129 HINDENBURG design was substituted for the hydrogen LZ128 design in 1930-31.

The Germans WERE NOT AFRAID of using hydrogen and regarded it as a CONVENIENCE rather than a necessity. To obtain helium would have required special transport/shipping/storage/reserves between the American port of Galveston, TX and Friedrichshafen/Frankfurt, witn annual expenses averaging over $150,000, while hydrogen gas was a cheap byproduct of various industrial processes available anywhere in the world.

Eckener was HOPING that helium might become available through some type of “seamless” building/operating arrangement involving German Zeppslins and British, Dutch, Spanish and U.S. operators. However, Germany NEVER MADE A FORMAL APPLICATION TO THE U.S. GOVERNMENT for the use of helium until AFTER the HINDENBURG disaster. Up until that point, they had the market to themselves along with a near-perfect safety record without going for the extra expense.

Had their been any real “competition” from another (helium) passenger airship operation, things might have been expedited. By the time the Germans found the need for helium truly urgent, the international situation was turning and the fact that they would later use the LZ130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II for spy flights in 1939 (inflated with hydrogen) shows that they were indeed willing to stray from their stated insistence that Zeppelins were suited for “peaceful commerce purposes” only.

From: Howard Wilk

A few years ago my daughter and I visited your Society, Hangar No. One, and the site of the Hindenburg disaster. For her school’s science fair she displayed some photos and information, and we built an “airship” that was a Lego “gondola” with electric motor and propeller, suspended underneath a weather balloon inflated with helium. We were sure to keep it tethered in the school auditorium!

The New York Times had an article July 5, 2008 “Why Fly When You Can Float” > in which it is stated, “Today’s airships fly with helium, as did the Hindenburg until the United States imposed an embargo on what was then a fairly valuable > commodity. Hence, the Hindenburg had to start using inflammable hydrogen on its flights.”

I have always believed that the Hindenburg had never been inflated with helium. I sent a note to the New York Times, but they haven’t published a correction, perhaps because I didn’t cite any sources. Your Mail Call page addresses the hydrogen v. helium question, and I’d just send it along to the Times, but they might respond that the page does not unequivocally state that the ship had never been inflated with helium.

HINDENBURG was designed to be inflated with helium, but there were legislative hurdles (the Helium Control Act of 1927) as well as economic realities (Helium was produced in the United States and it would have been an expensive proposition……logistically as well as economically….the ship sufficient reserve quanties to service the ship at its German home base, its Rio base, etc. “Rule of Thumb” called for a standing reserve of 10% lifting gas at each port.) And being older and smaller, the GRAF ZEPPELIN would not have sufficient lift use helium for intercontinental service at all.

One clincher to all this….NOBODY ELSE was flying passengers in rigid airships, the Germans had NO COMPETITION and with foreign exchange reserves being critical (due to banking restrictions and the artificial currency on the new Reich) so there was little urgency for the Zeppelin people to actively pursue the helium option. They had been flying with hydrogen for over 30 years, they had been hit by lightning, shot at, etc. and their safety record with passengers was clean…until the HINDENBURG. As it was expected that Germany would take the lead in any future commercial operations worldwide (there were business interests in the US, UK, Spain and Holland who were paying a lot of attention to passenger Zeppelin service) there was the realistic expectation that American helium might just become available as part of the “seamless” international service that the Zeppelin Co. hoped to spearhead by 1940-45.

Germany never actually FORMALLY REQUESTED helium until after the HINDENBURG disaster…and then the International situation regading Nazi Germany’s behavior and gathering war clouds in Europe precluded amendment of the Helium Control Act to accomodate any German requests for helium.

From: Bill Devine 

What caused the USS Los Angeles to go vertical at her mooring mast?

August 25, 1927 was a HOT day at Lakehurst. LOS ANGELES had been taken out of the hangar for the first time in two-and-a-half months and had about 70% inflation on her gas cells with a rather light fuel load with the intention of making a high altitude trial flight to 10,000 feet. The “head stand” of the LOS ANGELES was caused by rather sudden wind shift which brought a large mass of cool air from the ocean (15 miles away) that came directly at the stern of the ship, giving it more buoyancy without having a chance for the ship to veer into the wind.

From: Fred Bordoff 

I just read the mail from Norman Blagbrough re: the engines on the ZP1 airship. I too was a crew member 1960-1962 aboard ZPG-2 #141561. If memory serves me the engines on that ship were Pratt & Whitney R1300 seven cylinder radial inboards. The biggest problem we had with those engines was oil consumption, about 20 gallons for an 8 hour flight. Please let me know if I am right.

Your memory serves you well, sir. They were the R-1300’s, adapted (as was most of the hardware, electronics, instruments and avionics)from Heavier Than Air (HTA) use. Considering the length and low-speed nature of some of the flights, everything performed fairly well as a package. The ZPG-2’s/ZPG-2W’s were second only to the K-ships in great “all around” performance and legendary reliability, but they did generate their share of comments for the proverbial “wish list.”

The engines performed better than anybody had a right to expect, especially on endurance flights of up to 264 hours, but they leaked oil, they had to be “gunned” periodically to prevent carbon fouling and the internal/external engine/gearbox/propeller drive system was complicated and tempermental.

Still, they were among the best airships that ever flew, and the “561” was perhaps the best of them all.

From: Dick Gray AFCM (ret)

I was stationed at NEL in 1956 & 1957. Was attached to HTA, & thought I remembered our Hanger being called Hanger 4? It was down behind Hanger 3, on East field. East field was not utilized then, we taxied to West Field for everything. I flew on the NAS R4-D, 50789. Pappy Burns was a pilot in those days. Used to take all the leftover box lunch items he could get to BOQ to eat later. He knew every building & smell on the East coast, and was dun to fly with.

I was an ADAN & AD3 back in those days. We flew out during the big fire in 1956, and hauled “gear” to NV. for “Operation Plumbob”, and hauled it back as the blimps “expired”!!.

“Hangar Four” as it is known is an old (in fact the oldest) airship hangar in the Navy, originally built at NAS Hampton Roads in 1917 and moved to Lakehurst in 1931. It sits near the Main Gate as you drive in, off to the right.

The hangars you speak of are a pair of twin corrugated metal hangars next to Hangar #1, behind Hangars 2 &3 facing South toward the old HTA Runways. These were built in 1933, they originally faced the old Rigid Airship mooring circle area in front of Hangar #1; they were relocated and “turned” when Hangars 2 &3 were built early in World War II.

From: Jim Frawley

Two questions, When did the Navy Parachute school close at Lakehurst. Finally, I attended the Jump school in the 70’s and were any records kept or completion certificated maintained so that I could get a copy of my training

The Parachute Rigger School became part of the Naval Air Technical Training Center (NATTC) and as the Aircrew Survival Equipmentman School it was absorbed into the functions of the NATTC Command at NAEC (Naval Air Engineering Station) Lakehurst after Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurt was disestablished on March 10, 1977.

There were jump classes held as late as 1981. All records are part of the operational history of the Naval Air Technical Training Center command.

From:

I remember seeing a picture when I was a child of an airship ( I think that it was the Shenandoah) attempting a docking at a mooring mast on the roof of the Empire State Building in New York City. The craft was photographed in a vertical position. The attempt was abandoned although the mooring mast is still an integral part of the building. Do you have a copy of that photo?

The USS LOS ANGELES (ZR-3) did a famous “head stand” on the Lakehurst mooring mast on August 25, 1927. This was captured in a series of photographs which were originally “classified” but which have been extensively published over the years, the first time around 1938.

The Empire State Building mooring mast was built and fully equipped, but it was mostly a “gimmick” and neither the Navy nor German Zeppelin operators ever seriously entertained the risky proposition of docking one of their precious rigid airships to the skyscraper.

A small commercial advertising blimp did make an exploratory approach to the top of the ESB in 1932, but it did not moor and at any rate the mooring fittings were not really compatible.

From: Ben Sonstein

I saw a reference to your organization in a recent article in my local newspaper and hope you might answer some questions left long unresolved regarding a visit of the Graf Zeppelin to the Philadelphia area in 1935. The event figures into a short story I’ve written, and the information resulting from the answers could significantly deepen the writing. I understand these questions might be outside your purview. If so, perhaps you can suggest other possible resources from which to seek answers.

My understanding is that the Graf Zeppelin passed directly over the city of Philadelphia during one of its trans-oceanic trips during 1935, probably in Autumn. I checked copies of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Ledger (I think) but found no record of anything that qualified. My assumption is that the zeppelin was mooring at Lakehurst and either made a pass over Philly en route to or from Lakehurst or made a special trip from Lakehurst and passed over the city before returning to Jersey. Do you have any record of such an event?

Regarding that same trip, do you know when the German National Socialist government added swastikas to the tailfins of its airships? Did the Graf Zeppelin have swastikas displayed there, like the Hindenburg? Were there swastikas on the fins at the time the Graf Zeppelin overflew Philadelphia in 1935?

Concerning a different airship and a different event, I have been told the Hindenburg flew over Cape May, NJ during 1937. I was told during the summer of 1937; however that would be impossible. Do you have record of the Hindenburg flying over Cape May either during the summer of 1936 or before its destruction in May 1937? Would the Hindenburg have sported the Nazi flag then?

GRAF ZEPPELIN did not come to the United States after 1933 (when she came as part of a Friedrichshafen-Rio-Opa Locka-Akron-Friedrichshafen “Triangle Flight” bearing the new swastika on her tail fins…port side.)\

GRAF ZEPPELIN only came to the U.S. FIVE times in her 590 flights and 144 ocean crossings (first arrival, 1928, to and from Lakehurst in 1929, a 1930 “triangle flight” which included her last visit to Lakehurst and the 1933 flight which visited Akron and Chicago and headed directly Eastward without visiting Lakehurst at all.)

From 1932 onward, the ship held down the South American route which had held promise for the Zeppelin Co and its successor organization DZR (Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei) and the next U.S. visits by a German Zeppelin were all done by the HINDENBURG on her 10 round trips in 1936, as well as the October 9, 1936 “millionaire’s flight” which took 75 financial, industrial and military leaders on a 10-hour demonstration flight over the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic States.

From: Norman Blagbrough

As an aircrew member of ZW-1 then ZP-1 (1959-1961) I knew the engines were inboard. Recently a fellow volunteer at DVHAA asked “who made the engines on the blimps”. OK, who made the engines used in the 2’s and 3’s we flew?

Engines on the “Nan” ships were 700 Hp. Wright aircraft engines mounted in sealed-off “nacelles” within the car driving the props thru gear boxes, interconnecting clutch transmissions and shafting.

The transmission system was reputed to be tempermental and expensive to maintain, but they were good ships nonetheless.

For the ZPG3W’s, the Navy reverted to engines mounted completely outside the car.

From: Susan Malinowsky

I am looking for information about the construction of the Hindenberg – in particular the ship-to-ship and ship-to-shore communications. Do you have an idea of where to find this? Also a question if you know. Which branch of service was sent in to guard the crash site?

The communications systems of the ship consisted of shortwave and longwave transmitters/receivers manufactured by Telefunken A.G. There were radio operators on duty throughout the flight with principle duties involving receiving of weather reports (very important, since they deliberately “chased” storms to find the best weather/wind conditions also transmitting ordinary business traffic to and from the ship, radiograms to and from the passengers and position reports between company headquarters and the Air Ministry in Germany and the landing field at Lakehurst (North American flights) or Rio de Janiero-Santa Cruz (South American flights.) The ship’s call letters were ” D-E-K-K-A.”

During landing maneuvers, signals were exchanged with the ground crew using flag and blinker light signals.

At the time the HINDENBURG was lost, guarding of the wreckage was carried out mostly by Navy bluejeckets and Marines. Coast Guardsmen from Cape May were loaned to Lakehurst for a few days for initial security duties, there were also some FBI and New Jersey State Police personnel present at various times.

 

From: James T Lynch

Just recently I completed a 6000 km road trip from my hometown in São Paulo to the Amazon region of Brazil with a group of 11 other men in six off-road vehicles. One of the objectives of the trip was to visit an abandoned Air Force Base in the state of Amapa, just south of Brazil’s border with French Guiana and 18 km west of the Atlantic Ocean (2.077356 degrees north Lat.; 50.857866 degrees west Long.). The Base was under the control of the Allied forces from 1943 to 1945. We understand that this base was used to help supply the North African theater with men and equipment. The base was decommissioned by the Brazilian military some time in the late 1950s.

We had heard that before the Allies left the base of they buried aircraft and other equipment. The question that arose in our minds was why they would go to the effort of burying airplanes. If the airplane was in flying condition, why didn’t they fly the aircraft back to the United States? If on the other hand, the aircraft was not in flying order, and repairs were not feasible, why didn’t they just leave the aircraft where it stood? Our objective was to find out if in fact the rumor that the aircraft had been buried was true, and if so, try to find out why this had happened.

We were able to locate what remained of the base by speaking to people in the nearby village. They not only told us where the Air Force Base was located but also confirmed that many years before airplanes jeeps and other equipment, which had been buried were dug up; the aluminum was sold off as scrap, and whatever else was still functional, was taken by the Village people. When we located the base we found large holes dug in the terrain around the airfield and piles of metal scrap dumped around the holes. Most of the material that we found had been parts of vehicles, but we did find pieces that were clearly identifiable as being aircraft components. What really surprised us was that we found a blimp docking tower still standing out in a field.

With the confirmation of the rumors about the buried equipment, and our surprising discovery of the existence of a blimp docking tower, we’ve decided to dig deeper into history to try to understand why the Allies would have gone to the immense effort of burying airplanes in the Amazon, rather than just letting them deteriorate where they stood. Also, we are curious to understand what the Allies used blimps for in the Amazon.

Can anyone shed light on these questions?

From 1943-1945, Navy blimps dispatched for operating in the Brazilian Sea Frontier had a large headquarters at Recife (in an area used formerly by the GRAF ZEPPELIN) used the former German Zeppelin hangar at Santa Cruz as their main operation/maintenance headquarters and had mooring mast/operational detachments a Amapa, and several other remote/coastal locations in Brazil for the purposes of Anti Submarine Warfare, Air-Sea Rescue, patrol, etc.

U.S. Navy airship presence got rather extensive in Brazil to the point that the Brazilian Air Force actually established a detachment of officers and men to take Lighter Than Air training, the idea being that the airships and equipment sent to Brazil would be “lendleased.” However, with the coming of VE Day, these plans quickly ended.

Standard Navy patrol blimps of the period were the K-type (“K” ships) and all of them were flown from bases in the contenental U.S. to the Brazilian Theatre of Operations. By the end of the war, wear and tear in the harsh operating environment (particularly in terms of UV rays and their effect on the rubberized fabric envelopes of the ships) and other general operation incidents left a few of the ships wrecked, cannibalized for spare parts or in marginal condition. Some parts were left in Brazil, as the U.S. Navy airship inventory quickly shrank from a high-point of 144 operational airships in 1944 down to just 18 Fleet operational ships in commission by late 1945.

The Brazilian operation was a credible success for Navy LTA because so much was established using the barest minimum facilities, far from from and the regular “supply chain.” (Helium, in particular, had to be shipped in by cylinders, a cumbersome and expensive process; hot temperature conditions sometimes required wetting the blimps down with fire hoses to keep the helium cool so it wouldn’t expand and automatically valve off as they sat on their mooring masts on the field, very little other shelter being available as their was only one airship hangar available in the whole region and that was routinely used for maintenance/repair rather than operational support.)

From: Brad Overmoe   

I’m doing some research on the hindenburg and found your site. I have a cover that i’m try to determine if its genuine. it has a date stamp of June 23, 1936 from New York. And a receiving date stamp of June 27, 1936 in Landau(pfalz) if the spelling there is correct. Can you confirm if the Hindenburg did in fact fly on these dates from NY to Germany. any info or links to other sites would be appreciated.

The HINDENBURG’s 23rd flight was a return flight (Eastbound) which departed Lakehurst on the morning of June 24 1936 and landed at Frankfurt on the afternoon of June 26. Dr. Hugo Eckener was in command, there was about 400 lbs of mail aboard for the trip.

Mail is generally the most VERIFIABLE souvenir you can have from the Zeppelin era. The HINDENBURG carried tens of thousands of pieces of mail in its 14 months of service and consequently, these are not terribly valuable or expensive, though some flights have mail that is worth more than others (the last flight, from which only a few pieces of mail survived, for instance, as well as the 1936 flights over the Olympic Stadium with special postmark.)

From: Charles Gillett 

Why was there an embargo by the US on helium at the time of the disaster? Just curious.

The Helium Control Act of 1927 had been created to safeguard scarce U.S. helium supplies for domestic use priority, particularly in the Navy’s rigid airships.

The Germans would have liked to have had helium for the HINDENBURG and she was in fact designed to accomodate helium or hydrogen, but the exteme expense, reduced lifting capacity and logistics/transport difficulty (a standing reserve of at least 10% was necessary on each end of the operation for realistic supply needs) caused the Germans to stop short of formally requesting helium.

In other words, the desirability of helium was known, the Germans would have surely liked to use it, but they frowned at the expense, had little fear of using hydrogen themselves and remember that they had the commercial airship market to themselves at this point so unless an American or British operation started carrying passengers with “safe helium” there really was no urgency of competition.

Helium finally DID become an urgent priority for the Germans after the HINDENBURG burned; while negotiations were going on, Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia and it pretty much destroyed any chances of the Helium Control Act being amended on behalf on an increasingly-warlike Nazi Germany.

From: ??   

Did the Hindenburgh come to Hartford, Ct. in the 1930’s.? I remember going out in the school yard with our class to view an airship. Was this the airship?

Hartford was usually along the way of the HINDENBURG’s westbound trips, especially if she made landfall around Newfoundland/Maine and then came south along the Atlantic Seaboard (which she did on her last flight.) Navy dirigibles SHENANDOAH, LOS ANGELES, AKRON and MACON all appeared over the Hartford, CT area at one time or another between 1923 and 1933.

From: Dennis

My Grandmother bought a ticket for the final flight of the Hindenburg. At the last minute she was told she had been ” bumped ” off to make room for another more important passenger. That bit of class distinktion saved her life. It was so close to departure that she couldn’t contact my Grandfather and father here in the United States. They were on there way to Lakehurst to pick her up when they were turned back by police. For two hours they thought she had died. Then they found out she wasn’t on the passenger list. Her name was : Elizabeth Doerr Tippenreiter. Do you have any idea where I can look or who to contact to find out if a list of Ticket Buyers for that last flight, or a bumped passenger list, still exists? I have tryed everything I can think of except contact whatever company owned the Hindenburg. Do you possibly know who they were? Maybe they still have some typy of business. Anything would be helpful.

To our knowledge, nobody was “bumped” from the last flight of the HINDENBURG. The Zeppelin was capable of carrying 72 passengers and there were in fact only 36 passengers aboard on the last flight so there was plenty of room. (There were 61 crew aboard, including many who were in training for a new sister-ship to be launched in the fall.)

The return trip to Germany from Lakehurst would have been different, as a major event, the Coronation of King George VI was only a week away (May 12, 1937) in London. Consequently the HINDENBURG was booked solid for the return trip, set to depart Lakehurst around 1130pm. on May 6. This of course did not occur due to the accident which destroyed the airship and took the lives of 13 passengers, 22 crewmen and one civilian Lakehurst ground handler.

From: Jim Lambert  

Who was the prime contractor who built the Shenadoah,Akron and Macon?PS,this is a great site.

SHENANDOAH (ZR-1) was built by the Naval Aircraft Factory, Philadelphia with most of the duralumin metal framework coming from the Aluminum Co of America, gas valves and gas cells from the Goodyear aeronautical division and motors manufactured by Packard.

AKRON (ZRS4) and MACON (ZRS5) were built by the Goodyear-Zeppelin firm in Akron, Ohio. This was a new venture launched in 1924 using German engineers and patents from the original Luftschiffbau Zeppelin firm in Germany transplanted into a wholly-owned American subsidy of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co (many workers and engineers from the original Goodyear Aeronautical Department transferred to Goodyear-Zeppelin as well, the company later became known as Goodyear Aircraft Corp. and still later as Goodyear Aerospace Corp, Loral Air Defense Systems Corp and is currently known as Lockheed-Martin Defense Systems, Inc.)

Dozens of subcontractors produced various parts and subassemblies for the AKRON and MACON. For example, German Zeppelin subsidiary Maybach Motors built the engines, Roebling made much of the wire and cable used in the ships, Tappan made the galley stove, the original propellers came from Hartzell Propeller Co, etc.

From: Tom Mitchell

In October 1924 the USS Shenandoah made a cross country trip from Lakhurst to California. It came via way of Texas. Could you please tell me the route it took and stops if any. Thank You

SHENANDOAH left Lakehurst on October 7, 1924 and flew slightly over 9000 miles in 235 flight hours around the rim of the country and back.

Stops were made at Fort Worth and San Diego both outbound and return and the turnaround point was at Fort Lewis, Washington.

The outbound trip took the dirigible over Washington DC, down the eastern seaboard and across Mississippi, Alabama, etc, into Texas. In order to conserve helium, the ship was required to fly through the mountain passes across the Continental Divide rather than over them. There were no aviation beacons or aviation maps…the most reliable form of navigation was to follow the “Iron Compass” of known major railroad lines with aid from a dog-eared copy of a Railroad Atlas.

Originally, it had been hoped to use the previaling westerly winds to make the return flight non stop from San Diego to Lakehurst but the ship balked and stalled in the air near the California-Arizona border as they flew her 12-degrees nose up with full speed on the engines and 18,000 pounds of fuel on board. Four fuel tanks had to be dropped as emergency ballast and so the SHENANDOAH ended up having to once again stop at Fort Worth to take on fuel and helium.

The final leg up and across the central plains was easy, the ship proceeding via Wheeling, Youngstown and across Pennsylvania and on to Lakehurst.

The flight was quite a triumph (the only dark side was that despite helium conservation measures they valved or vented over 600,000 cubic feet of helium….nearly a quarter of the ship’s total volume and representing several months’ production capacity from the Bureau of Mines’ single operating helium extraction plant at Fort Worth.

From: Wayne Granger 

My father left me a small section of what he told me is a section of the metal frame of the Hindenburg.It’s “Z” shaped with the top and bottom section about 5″ in length and the diagonal section 61/2 to 7″. It apparantly was painted green. The top part of the “Z” has a cloth or canvas covering wrapped around it held in place with a piece of rope or string. There is no sign of any fire or heat damage on this part. Can you suggest how I can verify the authenticity of this remnant. I will gladly provide pictures and a more detailed description to anyone you can suggest. Thanks in advance for your help.

The original color of the protective varnish on the girders was a cobalt blue. Exposure to the fire (and age) caused the varnish to turn dark greenish black. The girders are built of duralumin, triangular in section with latticework. There are lightening holes in the latticework. The rivets often display a * shape on the rivet head, the result of a distinctive characteristic of the riveting tool.

From: Bill Weckel   

I’m researching the Los Angeles as part of the first step of building a scale model of her. I’m having a tough time finding basic specs on the web, and was wondering if you have any information as to her length, height, etc…  Any help you might provide would be greatly appreciated!

LOS ANGELES,(ZR-3) as completed, was built by the Luftschiffbau-Zeppelin works as LZ126. As completed,on her builder’s trials in Germany, the airship measeured 658 feet long, 91 -feet-4 inches in diameter and she had a fully streamlined profile for a nominal gas volume of 2,470,000 cubic feet, a useful lift (with hydrogen) of 101,430lbs with five Maybach VLI engines of 400 hp. each giving an original top speed of 79mph.

These numbers were considerably different in her “American” period of service (1924-1932.)

(Note: for subsequent U.S. Navy service with HELIUM, water-recovery apparatus and upgraded Maybach engines and propellers, see below.)

For FULL SPECS on the LOS ANGELES see the book UP SHIP! US NAVY RIGID AIRSHIPS 1919-1935 by Douglas Robinson and Charles Keller (Naval Institute Press, 1982)

FROM: Chris Buhler of Salt Lake City, UT
I was wondering if any mail that was carried by the Hindenburg carries any importance. I have seen a letter addressed to Warsaw, Poland from Phoenix, AZ that is stamped with a first flight insignia on the envelope. In addition, the letter has many old stamps affixed to it that are from places like Great Britain and some Eastern Bloc countries I cannot read very well. It is in very good condition and it is unopened. Could you please e-mail me with a response? It would be greatly appreciated.

HINDENBURG carried tens of thousands of letters, parcels and cards during her transatlantic trips of 1935-37. They ranged from greetings and souvenir envelopes/postcards to time-sensitive contracts, blueprints, still and motion picture films and bank documents, and these were sometimes routed to and from all over the world. Postmarks and return addresses are often the most important clues as to “who-what-where-when” as well as the adressee.

You may wish to contact THE ZEPPELIN COLLECTOR’S CLUB in Chicago for further specification/information.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jill McQuown of Cordova, TN
I stumbled across your site while doing a little more background on the LZ-129, although I think I have the history pretty well down pat. I didn’t realize about the extravagent menus, that is interesting and I suppose to be expected.

It may be of some small interest to you that I have carbon copies (did they call them that in 1936?), some on onion skin paper, but mostly typed on heavy (now yellowed) paper, of documents issued by Navy officials at NAS Lakehurst throughout 1936 up to the day before the fateful crash in May, 1937. Most of these documents have hand written across the top “Copy to Capt. Walker”.

My father is a retired Colonel, U.S.M.C. In 1965, he was the Marine C.O. at NAS Lakehurst. In the attics of one of the barracks, he found a folder containing cc’s of documents originally given to the *then* Marine C.O or the 1st Sgt. of the Marine Battalion. Since no one seemed interested in them, he kept them for himself. And he’s been hauling them around ever since.In 2001, he told me he had them and he sent them to me. Prior to that point, I had no idea he had such things in his possession. I was five years old when we lived at Lakehurst.

A point of interest might be the “house” we lived in on the base was the former waiting station for the arriving passengers of the Hindenburg. It was apparently later converted to base housing. I remember it was an odd “house” with a long front hallway running the length of the place and my bedroom was one of the small rooms along the front hall. Presumably these were offices or storage rooms back then. The “waiting room” must have been our living room at the far right end (if you are facing the front of the house) as it was the largest room in the place. When I lived there, a glassed-in sun porch was at the left end, which is where my two brothers slept. I believe they added a dining room (I had my 6th birthday party there) and a kitchen behind the living room. A 5-year old barely remembers things like that, so that may be coloured in my recollection. But I remember standing out in the front yard; looking cattycorner across the street, there was a large, grassy field off to my right and beyond that, I could see airplane hangers. When I see footage of the crash, this is where the Hindenburg went down. And the reporters and people were milling around in “my” front yard.

Anyway, I have these documents. My father asked me to have them appraised. So I contacted the curator of a local museum and was referred to Christie’s (the NY auction house). They in turn referred me to a man in Florida who allegedly is a documents expert. He also has the reputation for being well versed on the LZ-129. I received a reply from him that he had never seen any official documents pertaining to the Hindenburg from the AMERICAN side; only from the German. I painstakingly photo copied the documents and sent them to him for review. The reply I received was short and sweet: he’d be happy to provide me with an estimate which would provide me with the history, the provenance if you will, and an estimated value, for a mere $2,750.00 USD. This told me the collection is worth at least $2,750 to him; after consulting with my father I said thank you very much, but no thank you.

The collection contains about 100 memos, duty rosters, a lost and found list, information on allowing press to observe and record the landings, hand-drawn diagrams of the hanger, hand written authorization for students from the local Casey Jones flight school to attend and assist at a landing and then the official copy of the typed memo authorizing the same; things like that.

The first is a 26, February, 1936 in a memo from C. E. Rosendahl, Commander, U.S. Navy. This one states: “The Secretary of the Navy has authorized the use of the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, and its facilities, as the U.S. terminal for a series of about a dozen round trips between Germany and the U.S., by the German airship LZ-129, on a basis of no expense to the U.S. Government.”. (If my scanner was working with this Windows XP opsys I’d planned to scan it and send a copy to you.)

Anyway, I thought you might be interested to know I have this collection. If interested, when I can get my scanner up and running I’ll send you a few samples for your site. The National Aerospace Museum at the Smithsonian has expressed interest in my donating this for their archives. However, this collection is not available for donation or sale at this time. But I noticed you had a copy of a German document regarding the plans; figured you might like an American one. My fathers intent, after hauling it around for 30 years, was for me to sell the collection. But I think the history, particularly given the fact that we lived in that “house” when he was stationed at Lakehurst, is far more interesting. I think I’ll hang onto it.

Sounds like an interesting piece of history in your posession. The historical collection of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society has some (but certainly not all) such documents.

It would be interesting to know which house you lived in (Quarters X,Y,Z, etc.) because I believe the house you are speaking of is actually quarters “M” located just behind the tennis courts off Stevens Circle. Originally, it was a support/machinery bulding located under the old “high” or tower type mooring mast used by the early rigid airships SHENANDOAH and LOS ANGELES (but not used by the HINDENBURG.) The house was moved from its original to its present location in 1943. It is an odd-sided, long white wooden house.

We have no information that this (or any other building out on the field) was used as a “waiting area” for HINDENBURG passengers, to our knowledge; passengers were assembled together in Hangar #1 and driven out to and from the ship by car and bus.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

One further note on your documents and the person who was willing to take them off your hands for $2750.

There are many unscrupulous collectors out there posing as appraisers and “historians” who in fact would bilk or steal just about anything from anyone, people who know (as the old saying goes) “the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Depending on the number and correspondence characteristics of your material, it could be worth as much or more than what this person offered. Carbon-on-onionskin copies, for instance, were fairly common reproductions in the old days before photocopiers….the important things would be the information therein, etc.

Most of the official correspondence from the Navy’s imvolvement in the airship era ended up in the National Archives; copies ended up in the hands of dozens of individuals who were “interested” at one time or another, ranging from Commander (later Vice Admiral) Rosendahl to Chief (later Lt. Commander) Tobin (who I believe is one of the more colorful inhabitants of the house you once lived in) to some people who got hold of it for the sake of having and then forgot about it.

The significance of the items mentioned in the correspondence being of course relevant, you might be able to set up a nice website with the right accompanying photoraphs to go along with your “text.”

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

 

FROM: William Holt of Wimberley, TX
What information if any do you have about Col. Percy E. Van Nostrand of the Army Air Corps. He was my aunt’s husband. His wings included an airship. He died of a heart attack in 1937 on his way to take command of March Field. I have a gold & inlaid red enamel swastika lapel pin that was probably presented to him by the German airship contingency when the USA and Germany were collaborating on the development of the dirigible. I am interested in acquiring documentation in regards to his military records and accomplishments; or you might be able to direct me to another source.

A new book just appeared with information on your uncle. It is entitled UA ARMY AIRSHIPS 1908-1937 by James R. Shock, published by Atlantis Publications, PO Box 800, Edgewater, FL.

I got one of the first copies courtesey of the author and publisher, enjoyed it very much and loaned it out to a fellow researcher, otherwise I could quote you the biography of Van Norstrand verbatum.

If you are unable to get hold of a copy of Shock’s book, perhaps I can pass you the information when I receive my copy back in a few weeks,

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Steven Wallach
My father travelled on the Hindenburg from Germany to Lakehurst on trip # 3, departing Frankfurt on June 19, 1936. I am trying to locate information re: the food/menu served onboard during these trips. Any information you have would be appreciated.

The Menu available on the Zeppelin HINDENBURG was probably the finest cuisine ever available to air travellers. The Four cooks were supervised by a Chief Cook, almost all of them having previously worked aboard the older GRAF ZEPPELIN and trained in the the kitchens of some of the finest hotels in Europe, including the Kurgarten Hotel (an affilliate of the Zeppelin Company, located near the building works at Friedrichshafen-am-Bodensee and considered at the time to be the finest hotel in southern Germany.) Cooking staff (all male) worked in an all-electric galley down on “B” deck and Steward service was available in all but the wee hours of the morning.

Breakfast invariably consisted of fresh-baked rolls, jam, marmelade, butter; eggs boiled in the shell (preferred by the Germans) friend or poached (for the American palate) Frankfurt sausage, ham, cheese, salami, fruit, coffee, tea, milk, etc.

The menu for lunch on Monday, August 17, 1936 reads:
Strong Broth Theodor Fattened Duckling, Bavarian Style with Champagne Cabbage Savory Potatoes and Madiera Gravy Pears, Convent Style Mocha

Dinner consisted of:
Cream Soup Hamilton Venison Cutlets Beauval with Berny Potatoes Grilled Sole with Parsley Butter Mushrooms and Cream Sauce Mixed Cheeses

Some 250 bottles of wine and champagne were carried on each crossing, and several hundred bottles of beer and mineral water.

(Information from the book “LZ-129 HINDENBURG ” by Dr. Douglas Robinson, Arco Publishers 1964.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Patricia Saupe
My father who passed away in 1970, was at the wreck of the Shenandoah and took 11 pictures of it, which I have and would be glad to give you copies of for your collection if you would credit them to his name. He was born and raised around the Toledo area. He was not in the Navy but both his sons were – one in Korea and one in Viet-nam.

Thank you for your generous offer to share copies of photos from the family collection with NLHS. As the SHENANDOAH was built and based at Lakehurst, the ship and her history are very siginificant to us.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Whit Mullen
I am interested in what might be available concerning personnel serving in LTA at Lakehurst from the late 20’s to post WWII. Can I research this via the Internet?

All the logbooks, personnel records, etc. regarding Naval Aviation from this period are generally found in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

If you have a question about a specific person/persons, however, we are often able to help with the archival material we have on hand (though this is by no means always complete.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
Followup from Whit Mullen
I am interested in Chief Boatswain William A. Buckley. Any thoughts?

Bill Buckley took Lighter-than-Air training at NAS Lakehurst in the Spring of 1925; he MAY have flown aboard the SHENANOAH that summer, but was most closely associated with service aboard LOS ANGELES, AKRON and MACON.

Naval Aviator #3223, he was a Warrant Officer at the time he got his “wings” on May 1, 1925. He was commissioned as a LIEUTENANT, USN on March 1, 1943 (apparently a stalwart participant in Navy LTA, including being present at Lakehurst at the time of the HINDENBURG disaster) and he served at NAS Moffett Field 1944-45 (I think he had a Squadron command of his own by the end of the war, but will have to look up Rosendahl’s unpublished history to be sure.)

Buckley was apparently the “real thing” with experience in rigid airships, balloons and “blimps” and a (highly) valuable member of the LTA program by the time World War II came along.

Dick Smith interviewed him for his book THE AIRSHIPS AKRON AND MACON; FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIERS OF THE US NAVY (1964) in the early sixties, so I assume he made a respectable age but will have to dig a bit deeper when I get a chance.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Allen Vick
I am aware that the Shenandoah left Lakehurst Aug 14, 1925 for Newport where she moored to the Patoka Aug 15. I have a postcard cancelled Aug 16 at Newport. The message on that card is as follows: Greetings- Here is a message from the air. Dropped from the Shenandoah! Am still doing duty on the tender. Best Wishes, Jack Darby  My question is: Was someone named Jack Darby a crew member on the Shenandoah for this flight, or a crew member on the Patoka? The last name is handwritten, but I think Darby is how its spelled. When he says “still doing duty on the tender” I first thought he was a Patoka crew member, but then the sentence “Message from the air” and “Dropped from the Shenandoah! ” wouldn’t seem right. The picture side of the card is a photo of the Los Angeles over the sea at Mayaguez, PR. Any information you can provide will certainly be appreciated.

The PATOKA being designated “Fleet Airship Tender” and having no record or recall of any Jack Darby assigned to Lighter-than-Air at the time, it is probably safe to say he was stationed aboard PATOKA. While LOS ANGELES, AKRON and MACON did occasionally carry souvenir cards on their flights (usually given a special cancellation aboard the airship) SHENANDOAH carried very few pieces and if the card is actually stamped with a “USS SHENANDOAH” cancellation it would be quite a rare and interesting item.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jason
I am a sophmore in high school, and I am doing a report on the Hindenburg for my English Project. Could you please send me information such as pamplets, newpapers, articles, or any information?

The scope of what you ask is outside the capabilities of most except for all but maybe the largest University libraries/archives, or such places as the National Archives or National Air & Space Museum at the Smithsonian. Please take note that almost all the things you are asking for require search of rare archival material and even copies and reprints usually require payment of a fee.

For fairly good general information on HINDENBURG, you can see our website at “www.nlhs.com.” Furthermore, books such as HINDENBURG by Rick Archbold (1993) or GRAF ZEPPELIN & HINDENBURG; GOLDEN AGE OF THE GREAT PASSENGER AIRSHIPS by Harold Dick and Douglas Robinson(1987) provide considerable useful background material.

As an archival facility dedicated to preserving the history of Naval Air Station, Lakehurst and aviation activities there, we are happy to host visiting researchers, point them in the right direction in their research, and even answer specific detailed questions about various aspects of the subject.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Rob Taggart
What happened to the ship after the tradegy? Do you have any pieces of the structural framework from the ship?

The burned-out wreckage of the HINDENBURG was sold as scrap and melted down at foundries in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and (possibly) Cleveland, Ohio. Hundreds of pieces were obtained as souvenirs and many exist today, including items in the historical collection of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, where they are displayed on various special occasions.

Rick Zitarosa
Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:  Stuart
My late Grandmother gave me a Piece of the Hindenburg. Apparently, my Grandfather was stationed at the Navy base there and helped in the aftermath.

I was trying to corroborate the story and was wondering if there are still records as to who was on duty at the time and who was stationed at the navy base? If so who could I contact to get this information?

The base record on personel no longer exists allthough we do know many of the key players who were at the historic event. The piece of the Hindenburg you hold should be verified as such. Many people contact us thinking that they have a relic from the ship. Send us a picture and we will take a look.

Ron montgomery NLHS

FROM:  M.E. Denison of Chimacum, Washington
Please advise me where on the web can I locate the date that the Los Angeles flew over the City of Los Angeles.. Our family watched this great ship pass over head and am now trying to establish the year we had the pleasure of seeing it..

My brother and I are putting together our family history for our grandchildren. I will shortly be 81 and my brother will 78 very soon.. I served in the U.S. Navy and my brother served in the Army Air Corps. during WW II

Rigid airship LOS ANGELES never did fly over its namesake city and never flew west of Fort Worth or the Western side of the Panama Canal.

SHENANDOAH visited California on a transcontinental trip in 1924, AKRON was there in May, 1932 and the MACON was based at Moffett Field late 1933-Feb.1935.

Germany’s GRAF ZEPPELIN (an enlarged sister of the LOS ANGELES, which was also built by the Zeppelin Co.) was a media sensation when she docked at Mines Field, Los Angeles (now LAX Airport) following the trans-Pacific leg of her 1929 round-the-world cruise in August of that year.

Rick Zitarosa
Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
I have an object that is supposedly a piece of the wreckage of the Hindenberg.This was given to me by my Grandfather who was an air warden in the Lakehurst area at the time of the Hindenberg disaster.Would you have any information on how I could confirm this?

If you send us a clear closeup picture of the item we may be able to ID it for you.

RON MONTGOMERY, NLHS

FROM: Debra of Montreal, Canada
I would like some info on this airship (USS Shenandoah), if you can. was there ever any awards given out after the crash of this airship would be the year 26. thank you And if you can not help would the US Navy have records of this

Many of the SHENANDOAH survivors received letters of commendation in their files, but that was about it. Of course, a few of the participants became national celebrities (particularly the Senior Surviving Officer, LCdr. Rosendahl)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Debra of Montreal Canada
I require some info on a brassplaque that i have in my possession, which was found in a scrap pile. It is from AD29 , about 7in triangle in shape , written in Latin is perfect service for what seems to be engenginers dept. Can you help me or direct me to the correct persons?

AD29 was a DESTROYER TENDER, not an airship. (The US Navy had several vessels named SHENANDOAH over the years.)

Rick Zitarosa,   Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

The AD Stands for AUXIPIARY SHIP DESTROYER. The 26 means it was the 26 Ship of that type commisioned by the Navy. It is not an award but a keepsake or souvener that you would be bable to buy in the ship’s store. Eveny ship has and sells them. They are made of brass or painted plaster.

RON Montgomery, NLHS

 

FROM: Emma Davies
I was looking into your website and was wondering if you had any information on any long term changes bought about after the Hindenburg disaster.

As a result of the HINDENBURG disaster, the even the Germans insisted that passengers could not be carried using hydrogen gas for lift. The United States was the only country (at that time) which posessed non-flammable helium gas and rigorous negotiations took place between the two countries, but Germany was soon making unfriendly advances against its European neighbors and the United States decided against providing non-flammable lifting gas for German airships.

The original GRAF ZEPPELIN and its namesake sister, LZ130 ( sister ship of the HINDENBURG intended for helium inflation) were unable to continue commercial operations using hydrogen. The older ship was laid up in June of 1937, the new ship flew a year later (using hydrogen for demonstration flights but carrying no passengers.)

Both the old and the new GRAF ZEPPELINs were dismantled in March-April, 1940 as they were judged to be militarily useless. The Zeppelin factory and most facilities for Zeppelin airships were subsequently destroyed by Allied bombing raids during the Second World War; having switched to rocket, airplane and tank production, they were a legitimate military target.

By the end of the Second World War the performance capabilities of large multi-engined airplanes had increased to the point where very little enthusiasm could be found for building the giant rigid airships again in America or Germany.

The appearance of modern jet transports like the Boeing 707 by 1960 almost completely destroyed the chances of a large passenger-carrying rigid airship, except for possible tourist service…and the startup costs would be enormous.

Smaller blimps (pressure airships, non-rigid airships) were extensively used by the US NAVY during the Second World War and up thru 1962 for patrol, rescue and maritime anti-submarine work. Blimps continue to thrive as sightseeing and advertising vehicles today; more blimps are in service in the world today than at any time in nearly fifty years….all of them helium-inflated or hot-air inflated machines.

Rick Zitarosa,  Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Bob Williams
As a member of the MAPS Air Museum at the Akron Canton Airport we are interested in acquiring a piece of the USS Akron. Can you help us?

Pieces of the AKRON (and most of the big rigid airships) are rare, much-sought-after collector’s items today. As both AKRON and sistership MACON were lost at sea in deep water when each ship was less than two years in commission, the only pieces generally available of them are materials removed and set aside during construction, or repairs in their brief service lives. Authentic outer fabric covering or structural duralumin from the actually completed, FLYING airship is the rarest find of all.

“Services” such as E-Bay, while providing the most convenient venue to obtain such items, have only served to drive up the price of such items by creating bidding frenzies. Serious historians consider such items to be treasured momentoes not to be parted with, while there is faction of COLLECTORS posing as historians who know “the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

If you do end up paying a large amount for a piece, make sure it comes with some type of authentication.

Rick Zitarosa,   Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Steve McClain
I recently inheirited a letter opener that is inscribed “made of duralumin used in the airship “AKRON” the letter opener is 8 inches long by 1 1/8 inches wide at the widest point.Sorry but have no pictures at this time. where would i go to have this piece authenticated, as i live in augusta, ga.any help or info you can give me will be appreciated. worth, history etc..

I don’t need to see the item. IT’s made from the scrap metal from when they made the ship. Here in the states we see them often. They were sold to visitors at the base. You have a nice piece of history.

RON Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: James Lemieux
I have two items from the Hindenberg disaster that my father collected when he was there and helped rescue people. One is a titaneum alloy wrench and the other is a propaganda flyer. I want to know how much these items are selling for on the collectors’ market. Do you have this info. ?

We do not give prices on LTA items. Try looking on E-Bay.

RON Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Alex Roussell
I grew up there in Lakehurst, my grandfather (which I never knew) was LCR Leo E Gentile. He was stationed at NAS Lakehurst, and Moffett Field as an airship pilot. I am trying to gather information on his life and career so that i might come closer to knowing who he was. I would greatly appreciate any leads or information that you could give me about him.

From the nearest I recall, Leo took rigid airship training around 1930, making his first flight time aboard the LOS ANGELES. If I’m not mistaken, he was a rudderman (I will have to look all of this up.) He served aboard the AKRON and transferred to the MACON detail in early 1933, going on to make most of the MACON’s flights, including her last flight when she crashed in the Pacific. He gets several mentions in the MACON chapters of John Toland’s book THE GREAT DIRIGIBLES; THEIR TRIUMPHS AND DISASTERS (first published as SHIPS IN THE SKY in 1957 and still available under its newer title today.)

Apparently, Leo was pretty good at his job because he ended up a commissioned officer during World War II. He was a civilian employee at NAS Lakehurst after retiring from the Navy and I actually remember seeing his obituary (about 1974) stating that he had been very much involved in activities at Admiral Farragut Academy in Pine Beach (just recently razed.)

Now…having told you what I remember off the top of my head, I’ll do a little more digging and see what else I can come up with.

Rick Zitarosa,  Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Bill Blaurock of Seattle, WA
I live in Seattle and have a small piece if what I was told as a child is a piece of the USS Akron that washed up on a beach years ago.. looking at the pictures on your web site I think its is fair to say if it isnt a piece of the Akron its from one of the sister ships.. I have no Idea if it has any value besides the historic value But I plan on being In Lakehurst in late may or early April and was wounding if there is any intrest in seeing this small chunk of history.

As the AKRON ended up on the bottom of the ocean, very few pieces of her are actually in anybody’s posession.

The ship went down early on the morning of April 4, 1933 and there was a big (for its day) air sea search to try and locate survivors. There was some floating debris and then bodies started popping up everywhere over 50 square miles of ocean after about a week. The three living and one dead man rescued in the storm were landed at Brooklyn by the Coast Guard cutter TUCKER.

On April 18, the fishing trawler OLYMPIA accidentally snagged the wreckage with its nets and cables. Submarine rescue vessel USS FALCON went to the scene, divers went down and evaluated the twisted wreckage and some of it was hauled ashore and laid out for inspection at Lakehurst. The wreckage was then scrapped with the provision that NONE of it be used for souvenirs (though a box girder was given to the Smithsonian) and as far as I know such orders were pretty well adhered to.

Your piece, if authentic, is pretty rare. There wasn’t much wood used aboard the airship (just about everything was cotton, linen or duralumin. Pieces like this are wonderful for public display (especially if accompanied by one or more good-sized photos of the airship.)

Rick Zitarosa,  Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Joe Callo
I am the US editor for Who’s Who in Naval History, which will be published in approximately one year. I am seeking information in addition to that included in the “Charles E. Rosendahl Manuscript” item in your website. What I am looking for is a more complete biography, something that includes, for example, a more complete list of duty assignments with beginning/end dates for the assignments and dates of his promotions.

There is a fairly extensive biography of Rosendahl under the heading for the Charles E. Rosendahl Collection at the University of Texas at Dallas archives website.
Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Marino DiLeo
I was a member of Helicoptor Unit II . HU2, There is no info on this squardron which was based there for a number of years. I was a Aircrew member and plane captain 1955-1957. Marino L.DiLeo ADR2, and i was TAD to five different ships and one being the USS Intrepid. I am the NY rep for the Former Crew Members Assoc.

I am sorry for the delay in answering your letter. HU-2 and sister squadron HU-4 played an important part of NAS Lakehursts history in the post war years. I am presently working up a squadron history section for our web page . If you have any information you would like to share please forward it to us at our web address

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Peter Philip
Last weekend when cleaning out my recently deceased father’s dresser I happened upon an envelope containing a swatch of fabric labeled “Shenandoah”. I’d forgotten about this and vaguely recall that dad had collected it in his aviation happy youth.

My brother and sister and I would like it to be in the hands of an organizat ion that has an appreciation of it. Ideally it would be displayed. If you are interested in having its being donated please let me know.

As the historical arm of the birthplace and operational home of the SHENANDOAH, Navy Lakehurst Historical Society treasures the donations of such items from individuals who wish to share them for display and historic preservation.

As the Navy is allotting space for a new, expanded “Heritage Center” in Historic Hangar #1 (they don’t like to use the word “Museum” for some reason) pieces of the old ZR1 SHENANDOAH will be right at home, as one of big upcoming displays is going to feature the significance of this airship not only in the pioneering of rigid airship construction on the United States but also how the ship contributed to the founding of the helium industry (which uses enormous amounts of the gas for medical, scientific and industrial purposes today) as well as the pioneering use of heat-treated duralumin metal aircraft structure and the development of sophisticated aviation weather forecasting techniques.

SHENANOAH was a very important airship and we would be honored to have you help us commemorate her importance.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Diana Kennedy
I have photos that were thought to be originals taken of the Hindenburg burning and other airships left by my Grandfather. I came across you website and noticed you have a few of the same photos. I am wondering about the history of the photos. We have always believed that my Grandfather had taken them. I now doubt this is the case and would like to find out how they were obatined.

There were dozens of photos taken and distributed at the time of the HINDENBURG disaster, hundreds (maybe thousands) of them available on the Air Station and in the Lakehurst area over the years with some claiming to be ” copyrighted” and some not.

If your grandfather’s photo is a small snapshot, chances are that he might have caught the image himself (there were probably a hundred spectators who caught various angles of the fire, both professional and amateur photographers among them.)

If it’s an 8×10 or 5×7, chances are that the photos were obtained from some source. Any writing on the back of the photo would perhaps be some indication.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Chris Restle of Madison Wisconsin
I�m a writer living in Madison Wisconsin, and have a question for you. I am trying to find out if there is some plausibility to a transatlantic airship flight in the mid-1920�s. I�m writing a novel which (I hope) includes a commercial airship flight from Lakehurst (or some other site in the general vicinity)and landing in mainland Europe (ideally Paris, but anyplace nearby would work). Most of the books I�ve found are really more focused on the 1930�s Graf Zeppelin & Hindenburg, etc. I�m trying to find any details on the ships, how long the flight would have lasted, average speed, even what they would eat on board. ANY information would be most welcome (and of course, I�d mention any help I received in the acknowledgements of the book).

Rigid airships had crossed the Atlantic as early as 1919 when the British R-34 made a round trip demonstration crossing between England and Mineola, Long Island.

In 1924, the German-built LZ-126 flew from Friedrichshafen, Germany to Lakehurst on her delivery flight to become ZR-3 USS LOS ANGELES of the U.S. Navy. The GRAF ZEPPELIN (LZ-127) made the first transatlantic flights carrying paying passengers in 1928 (she also flew around the world in 1929.)

GRAF ZEPPELIN was an enlarged version of the LZ126, but the earlier ship featured fully modern electric galley and Pullman-like accomodations for 20 passengers under the guise that, though she was being built for the U.S. Navy, she should be of “nonmilitary” design….a necessary concession in order to get the British and French governments to OK a special contract for her construction at a time when it had been decided that all airship building facilities in Germany should be razed.

There were various schemes for transoceanic commercial flights by rigid airships, not only in Germany, but in the US, where Goodyear and the American Investigation Corporation (with Franklin D. Roosevelt as a prominent member and investor) seemed to have the most promise.

However, in the end only Germany would establish transatlantic service by airship.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Dick Bochynski
I am beginning to research an Airship I believe was named the Reliant and flew from the Lakehurst Station in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I believe it was manufactured by Goodyear and I have been told it was lost of the coast of New England. Do you have any information about such an Airship?

FROM: Gene Lucadamo
Where can I find info on a Navy airship crash in the early 60’s off Barnegat Light, NJ? I remember witnessing this, but can’t find a document. Guessing about 1963

“Reliance” was a suggested “class name” for the ZPG-2W airborne early warning airships; the name was never officially adopted, but has been attributed over the years (more or less UNOFFICIALLY) as the name of a (bigger variant) ZPG-3W type blimp, one of four built by Goodyear Aircraft Corp and flown by the Navy from 1958-1961.

The first of the four, (Navy Serial # 144242) was lost off the coast of New Jersey on July 6, 1960 when it crashed into the ocean while out on patrol; the airship fell into the sea and only 3 of the 21 men aboard got out alive. Navy personnel contended that a defective seam in the envelope (the gas bag) of the airship had ripped open in flight; the bag had exhibited wrinkling and severe leakage problems. Goodyear contended that the pilot had allowed internal pressure to go too low, whereby the ship buckled and “dove in” and that the seam only opened upon impact (though one survivor who was in his bunk in the upper section of the control car SWORE that he saw daylight through the “skydome” belly inspection window AS THE SHIP WAS GOING DOWN….bear in mind that daylight inside an airship bag is a very bad thing to have! )

Widows sued, Goodyear went to court and actually managed to win the argument, but one man who flew that ship a lot sums up the general opinion that the “242” envelope was “a porous piece of garbage.”

Whether Goodyear sold the Navy a bad airship or the Navy just maintained and flew it improperly soon became a moot point; less than a year later, the order was given that Navy Lighter Than Air Operations be discontinued; the big “3W’s” did very little flying after the “242” accident, and, though two Navy airships continued in R&D service thru August of 1962, these were of the smaller (and well proven) ZPG-2 type patrol ships.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Ed Manuel
In the early 1950s I was a helicopter pilot stationed at NAS Lakehurst with Helicopter Utility Squadron two [HU2]. We occupied one of the blimp hangers (hanger #3 perhaps?), and furnished all utility helicopters to the Atlantic Fleet. At that time I would guess that HU2 was the major activity at NAS Lakehurst. There were still a few blimps around. On the relatively rare occassions when one was flying, I used to joke with my crewman that I would land on top of one if he would get out and tie-down the helicopter. None ever would! In what was the squadron ready room we had a plaque on the wall designating members of what was called the “Pelican Club”, a listing of all pilots & crew who had performed rescues at sea (plane guard, etc.). Some years later HU2 left Lakehurst. I always wondered if they took the plaque with them, because I would like a close-up photograph of that plaque. Do you suppose any of your members might somehow know where that plaque might be now?

I am sorry to say that the plaque you described did not remaim at NAS. We are well aware of the important part you and your squadron played in the early development of Naval Helicopter Aviation . We are in the process of establishing a heritage center where your squadron history and exploits will be displayed.

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Mitchell Nelson
I am doing some research into the Los Angeles (ZR-3) construction, with an eye toward building a large scale model of the airship. Do you know where I could get my hands on a set of blueprints of the craft?

The National Archives in Washington has the most complete collection of historical technical material pertaining to the rigid airship era; I would also recommend the Charles E. Rosendahl collection at the University of Texas, Dallas.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: June Long
I would like to know where in Ohio the ship went down. All I can find in my search is that it was in the state .

Part of the SHENANDOAH wreckage came down at Ava, while the nose section of the ship free ballooned for over an hour and finally came down at Sharon, about twelve miles away.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Sheldon Cohen of Joshua,TX
I am trying to start a project on LTA history in the Fort Worth Texas area. I have not been able to find good information on where the docking area (mooring mast) in the Ft.Worth area. I have not been able to find even a photograph electronic or published showing any of the airships in Ft.Worth. The other tie to the area is Cleburne , TX. is where Rosendahl graduated high school and his parents lived during his service. I found a short piece stating he made a low pass 800ft over his parents home during one of his trips to Ft.Worth. Any information would be helpful in my investigating.

See the January, 1925 issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC featuring Junius B. Wood’s article SEEING AMERICA FROM THE SHENANDOAH and it has a photo of the SHENANDOAH over the Fort Worth mast a night. The mast was located on the site of the Bureau of Mines Helium Plant. SHENANDOAH used it twice, LOS ANGELES used it once (to visit the American Legion convention in 1928.) Since Rosendahl was not in command for the LOS ANGELES’ Fort Worth flight (he was in Germany with Eckener at the time) he probably overfllew his parents’ home when he took the AKRON on its West Coast trip of May, 1932.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
I have two (2) Emblems salvaged from the crash site by a Navy recruit. Each has a rendition of the Hindenburg overlaid by a swastika. One slightly burned, the other in perfect condition. Would like to sell to interested party.

While we welcome (and encourage) donations of historical artifacts to our collection, Navy Lakehurst Historical Society does not usually get involved in appraisals/sales, etc. and we usually (as a rule) direct such inquiries/offers to such venues as E-Bay.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
I am interested in meeting someone with the society who can guide me in the process of certification/verification of artifacts in my procession.How is the process accomplished? What are the fees? Is written certification provided? If so, by whom? Does anyone in Germany (manufacturers, historians) get involved? It would benefit both your organization and myself, if the items can get certified before the May 6 2003 ceremony. Please provide me with a name and phone number of someone who can point me in the right direction.

Sometimes we can tell what something is (or isn’t) just by you telling us what it is, what it says, sending a picture, etc.

As a rule, the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society does not do appraisals or set prices; we are, however, always willing to help with serious verifications for purposes of education and historic preservation. We look forward to hearing further from you.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: John Aley
What was the first ever flight by an airship?

Henri Gifard’s steam-powered dirigible of 1852 is generally credited with being the first POWERED airship flight, while the battery-powered LA FRANCE of 1884 was actually able to fly into a slight wind….until the batteries ran out.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Bruce Eaton
I was born at Lakehurst in 1937 while my father was stationed there. I have in my possession a photograph of the Hindenberg taken during a visit in 1936 by my father (LCdr. Arthur H. Eaton U.S.N. Ret.). It is approx. 6×12 and shows the swastika and the Olympic rings. Would this photo be of any interest to the society? I don’t want it to just disappear when I pass on and am willing to donate it if there is a place to display it and an interest.

A personal connection to a photo or artifact means a lot and the fact that you would be kind enough to share this with our society is very much appreciated.

At present, we are working on getting own, real, honest-to-goodness “Museum/Heritage Center” in Hangar One. When we finally get through all the red tape, this, hopefully, will be a permanent display and repository site for our photographs and archival materials. At present, we do several displays and host several events a year where our photos and historic items are showcased (the Navy has been kind enough to give us secure storage space on base.)

I hope your photo can join our collection soon and that you can drop by and see the place you were born.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Charles Markantes  of Tarrytown NY
Last November 2002, I visited the restored light house at Tarrytown, NY. Much to my amazement, on one of the walls was a BW photograph of a Germany airship, flying over the Hudson River at Tarrytown, with the Palisades in the background. It was emblazoned with large swastikas on it’s vertical fins. Question: how would I determine if it was a Graf Zeppelin or Hindenburg?

GRAF ZEPPELIN featured a long passenger gondola forward and had five engine gondolas. HINDENBURG had a small, streamlined control car (passenger accomodations up in the hull) and four engine gondolas. GRAF ZEPPELIN only visited the U.S. one more time AFTER swastikas were applied, and the swastikas were originally on the port side of the vertical fins only (round circle swastika, whole fin painted scarlet red) while the starbord side featured black, white and red horizontal stripes on the vertical fins.

HINDENBURG’s had swastika flags on both sides of her vertical fins, the rectangular flags taking up about one-third of the fin surface. (This scheme was later applied to the old GRAF ZEPPELIN as well as the LZ130, which appeared in 1938.)

Originally, with typical fanatacism run amok that characterized the buffoons running the Third Reich, they proposed that the swastikas be painted 100 feet high right on the sides of the airships! ( The Zeppelin Co, was able to successfully dissuade this by pointing out that such large dark colors on the sides of the airship would attract unwelcome ultraviolet rays and cause uneven heating of the lifting gas in sunny weather.)

Many Americans found the emblems to be offensive very early on; by 1937, a tide of resentment was growing. While HINDENBURG burned that year, I think it must be considered that by 1938, with German aggressions in Eastern Europe and the Munich Crisis, German Zeppelins landing at a Naval Air Station like Lakehurst would have been a very awkward situation, and the events of ’38 effectively killed any chance of the Germans getting non-flammable helium for their airship operations.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jim Pogue of Memphis, TN
I am trying to learn the international radio callsign of the Hindenburg. It is probably four or five letters, beginning with the letter “D.” Any ideas?

HINDENBURG’s call letters were ” D-E-K-K-A”

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Bill Wenzel
I would like information on the size and composition of the propellers on the Shenandoah. Were they of a laminated wood construction with metal covered tips?

SHENANDOAH (ZR1) had two-bladed, wooden-laminate propellers (mahogany, walnut and ash, as I recall) with brass on the tips and edges. The foremost(#6) and rearmost(#1 centerline) engines and two rear lateral engines drove props 17 feet 6 inches across; these four engines all had simple reduction gearing and the lateral engines (#2 & #3) were fitted with reversing gear as well. A second pair of lateral engines forward (#4 & #5) had direct, ungeared drive to smaller propellers 11 feet 6 inches across.

Engines 1, 2, 4 & 6 turned left-handed, 3 & 5 turned right-handed. #6 was removed during the overhaul period following the January 16, 1924 “breakaway flight” partly to save weight and make room for the introduction of a galley, heavier radio equipment and water recovery apparatus on engines #1, #4 and #5.

ANOTHER reason for the removal of the sixth engine had been the quiet recommendation from the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics who, on review of the design, had determined that with the type of low-altitude flying being contemplated for the ship (with a relatively inexperienced crew) that she should not be regularly flown at speeds in excess of 50 knots.

With the engine removed at the rear of the control car, it was a lot quieter up in the pilot cabin area, the tiny gas-fired galley meant that hot coffee, soup and beans could be turned out for the crew and the new radio/RDF gear became the “most powerful ever used on any aircraft” (1924) but these additions came at a cost of increased weight and with the addition of the heavy (but necessary) water recovery units the “lift and trim” trials of May 22, 1924 were a bit of a shock for Lakehurst personnel. Despite removal of the heavy Packard, its fuel lines, etc, the SHENANDOAH’s useful lift had dropped from an already-disappointing 53,600 lbs down to only 47,500 lbs!!

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: John Jester
First, great website!!   Second, any word on when security might let up a bit for tours of Hangar One and the Hindenburg crash site?

I am sorry to say that we do not know when we will be able to start the tours again . Keep checking the website when we do start again it will be posted .

Ron Montgomery, NLHS (January 17, 2003)

FROM: Ed Fusco
Were those giant fins on dirigibles such as the Akron, Macon and other airships operated by cables, hydraulic or electrical or some sort of reduction gears? Also what was their average fuel capacity?

The moveable surfaces at the trailing edges of the fins (the rudders and elevators) were operated by cables attached to chain sprockets on the wheels in the control car. On the AKRON/MACON there were some two thousand pulleys and sheaves to guide the control cables, along with the appropriate slack adjusters, counter-balancing springs, etc.

British R101 and the later HINDENBURG and LZ130 GRAF ZEPPELIN(II) had servo-assisted control (developed with the original GRAF ZEPPELIN in the early 1930’s) and this also incorporated a fairly reliable auto-pilot steering feature….though the elevator control remained “hands on.”

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Craig Newson
I am an enginering student in England and I have been asigned the task of comprising a report on the Hindenburg disaster. I have been on your site and found it to be extremely well set up and incredably informative. However being an engineer I would like to know the scientific reasons why the Hindenburg caught fire, for example was it a collision that caused it or another reason. Any information that you could give me on this would be most helpful.

See the book “GRAF ZEPPELIN & HINDENBURG; THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE GREAT PASSENGER AIRSHIPS” by Harold Dick and Douglas Robinson (Smithsonian, 1988) for good coverage as to the most widely accepted theories concerning the loss of the HINDENBURG.

In the 1990′, a NASA hydrogen engineer, Addison Bain, put forth a theory that the outer skin of the airship was coated with a highly-flammable doping compound and that this was responsible for the fire. While this is a possibility as well, the Bain theory refuses to acknowledge that inflammable hydrogen gas had any part in the disaster.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Mike
I’ve recently come across a lapel pin that is in question. It is about 1 3/4″ diameter, slightly bowed, “Hindenburg” around the top, “Landing Crew-Lakehurst” around the bottom, an airship centered, with a double-ring circle across it. At the bottom of this double-ring circle is a 4 triangle crest. The dual tail of the airship appears to have double swastikas. If you have any information, or possibly a picture of the pins that have been issued, or used, in connection with the Hindenburg, I would be most grateful.

The only authentic landing crew buttons were celluloid and bearing the signature of Commander Rosendahl, the Commanding Officer of the Base. They did not contain an outline or any likeness of an airship.

The pin you have (probably metal or brass) is apparently one of many novelty reproductions that have showed up at collectible/trading shows over the years.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

• .

 

FROM: Karen Welsh-Rubinstein
I have a piece of flat rubber…silver on one side…black on the other, about 12″ x 12″. My parents’ neighbor had a bigger sheet of it in his garage that he said he got from his uncle who worked at the Lakehurst airfield and was present when the Hindenburg went down. He said it was a piece of the Hindenburg…and I’ve been holding onto it now for about 30 years. I don’t know if a photo would really help identify it…I work and live only about 45 minutes from Lakehurst…and I wonder if I could bring the piece down for someone to verify.

Sounds like what you have is not a piece of the HINDENBURG but rather a piece of rubberized envelope fabric from a US Navy blimp or balloon; these pieces used to be fairly common souvenirs from Lakehurst and ended up being used for everything from tents to drop cloths and boat covers. Silver on one side, black on the other, they were most usually made of rubberized cotton fabric, though big developments were made in the 1940’s and 1950’s in the use of rubberized fortisan-Rayon (which was found to dangerously deteriorate from exposure to moisture and sunlight) and rubberized Dacron (very light, very durable, still extensively used today.)

Most of the Navy’s blimp and balloon bags were manufactured by Goodyear (under various sub-corporate identities including Goodyear-Zeppelin in the 1920’s and 1930’s, Goodyear Aircraft Corp. in the 1940’s thru early 60’s and later Goodyear Aerospace Corp, which was eventually rolled into the Loral Systems Division/ Lockheed Martin Corp.) Most of the bags were manufactured at Goodyear’s Akron, Ohio facilities. B.F. Goodrich and Dunlop also made blimp envelopes at various times over the years, as did an outfit called General Development Corp. down in Elkton, MD ( started by a former Goodyear employee who proved he could manufacture an equal/superior product at substantially lower cost and still turn a profit! )

So even if your piece ISN’T part of the HINDENBURG (which, by the way, would be thin cotton fabric off-white on one side, coated with silver “dope” on the other side and if verified to be so would be QUITE valuable today) you do, at least, have a really interesting “show and tell” piece and you can really amaze your after-dinner guests by telling them that, when carefully packed and folded, your average GOODYEAR blimp fits into a box about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle (Navy blimps were generally bigger.)

Visit one of our Society Meetings or displays sometime and bring your piece of Lighter-than-Air History along. We look forward to seeing you!

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Dorothy Caless of Sarasota Florida
Please tell me the date that the Shenandoah flew over Westford, Massachusetts. I have a photo that states that it was l935, and I don’t think that this is correct. I also have three photos of the Los Angeles over the same area, and I would like to know when that zeppelin was there, if possible. (I know it’s been a long time ago, but…I would like to give these photos to the museum in Westford, but…want the information to be correct.)

The U.S. Navy rigid airship USS SHENANDOAH (ZR-1) made a 14-hour flight from Lakehurst to Boston and back on November 11, 1923 and was again over New England on a flight to the National Governor’s Conference at Bar Harbor, Maine (July 3-5, 1925.) The airship was lost in a storm over Ohio two months later. On the occasion of the 1923 flight, the ship had a #6 engine mounted in a position at the rear of the forward (control) gondola and the marking “ZR-1” on each side of the nose; for the 1925 flight, the sixth engine had long-since been removed and the nose was was devoid of designation and aluminum-doped cotton fabric somewhat “shinier” than the rest of the fabric on the ship (the SHENANDOAH had undergone “nose surgery” and other alterations following a January 1924 mooring accident.)

LOS ANGELES (ZR-3) was in service from 1924-1932 and made literally dozens of flights up and down the Eastern Seaboard on training and experimental missions. Her very first trip over the Boston area happened on October 15, 1924 as the ship headed for Lakehurst on the final stretch of her 5,000 mile delivery flight from Germany (one of the first transatlantic flights ever made by any kind of aircraft and only the second time the Atlantic had been flown from east to west.) She is relatively easy to identify from photos on that particular occasion because she carried no “U.S. Navy” or star-in-circle markings.

Various other subtle details, such as different types and mountings of exhaust water-recovery condensers for the five engine gondolas, a large “loop” antennae for the VHF radio gear which ran along the forward part of the hull and crossed under the nose like a giant chin-strap (mounted around 1930) an airplane “trapeze” (in place 1929-1932) and a second star-in-circle emblem on each side of the forward part of the ship with chrome-yellow control car and rear engine gondola as well as a HIDEOUS 100-foot chrome yellow star on the nose (“test visibility” markings, worn during the last few months the ship was actually flown Feb-June, 1932 ) can all give little clues by which we can date a photo of this luckiest of airships in the U.S. Navy rigid airship program.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

From: Chris Bell of Atlanta Georgia
Hi, I noticed that a crewman on LZ2127 and LZ2129 died in December, in Germany. Would you know of any other survivors of the Graf and/or Hindenburg and how I could contact them? How about Richard Kollmer or Werner Franz? I have a book on the ships that I would like to have signed. Thank you very much

Neither the LZ127 GRAF ZEPPELIN or the subsequent LZ130 GRAF ZEPPELIN II (which flew 1938-39) were lost or destroyed in any type of accident; both ships were dismantled at Frankfurt in March-April, 1940 and then their hangars were dynamited.

Many surviving crewmen from the HINDENBURG disaster flew on the earlier or the later ship; Alfred Groezinger, 86, who was one of the chefs, passed away in December (his father had flown Zeppelin airships as well.)

There are a (very) few original Zeppeliners left, the best-known being Werner Franz, who had a miraculous escape from the Lakehurst disaster as a 14-year-old cabin boy.

Any chances of contacting any remaining operating/support personnel connected with the Zeppelin era in Germany is best arranged through The Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen. Many connected with the HINDENBURG disaster in particular have been very much concerned about protecting their privacy over the years after decades of requests for interviews, autographs, etc. from a wide variety of venues ranging from legitimate scholars to hacks, quacks, tabloids, speculators and unscrupulous collectors. (Over the years, a good many “old timers” got royally DISGUSTED when they found out that a book, photo or item they had autographed for an “airship fan” was being sold for an inflated price at a trade show or e-bay! )

If you wish to have an item signed (assuming it is something you will keep and treasure and consider it a personal “gift” to your collection ) make sure you state yourself and your intentions very carefully.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
FROM: Claus Mayer
On a tour in the Friedrichshafen Zeppelin Museum, the question came up what happened to the remaining alloy of the Hindenburg. The guide couldn´t answer the question. I remembered having read that the material was later used to construct water planes, but I´m not sure. Could you answer the question?

The scrap metal was trucked to Perth Amboy, NJ; it is said that a lot of it was repurchased by the Germans; some of it ended up in scrap yards as far away as Cincinatti, Ohio and ended up being sold as souvenir material.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Sue Verzella
Greetings. I am a graduate student at Rutgers, with an assignment to research a local military history site. Could you recommend any books for research, or people I could talk to about Lakehurst? Ideally, I would like to visit, but I understand tours are suspended at present. Any help? Thanks.

For further reading, we recommend: NAVAL AIR STATION, LAKEHURST by Kevin Pace, Ronald Montgomery, Rick Zitarosa (‘Arcadia, 2003)

UP SHIP! by Douglas Robinson and Charles Keller (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1982)

GRAF ZEPPELIN and HINDENBURG: GOLDEN AGE OF THE PASSENGER AIRSHIPS by Harold Dick and Douglas Robinson (Smithsonian, 1987)

SKY SHIPS by William Althoff (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1989)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Julius Waters
Hello My name is Jul Waters and I am the trouble shooter for the Air Victory Museum in Medford N.J. We have just acquired a 13 ft. long model of the air ship USS Macon ZRS-5 .. We are thinking of hanging it from the ceiling of the museum. I was wondering if you had any specs on the Macon and also height of the mooring mast as I would like to build one to display it with the Mason hooked to the mast. Any help would be great

The single most valuable reference source on the AKRON/MACON era is the book THE AIRSHIPS AKRON AND MACON; FLYING AIRCRAFT CARRIERS OF THE U.S. NAVY by Richard K. Smith (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1965.)

Also of great help would be the book UP SHIP! by Douglas Robinson and Charles Keller (U.S, Naval Institute Press, 1982)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Paul Stolar of Texas
Mailman just came and the book looks super. The guys did an excellent job on it (even if my picture isn’t in it! LOL). I notice that most literature refers to the hangars as just that: Hanger 1, Hangers 5 &6, etc. yet when I was there in 1960-61, we always referred to them as Dock 1, Docks 5&6, etc. Was this just an enlisted men’s cliche or did we really call them “Docks”? At my age, I need reassurance that I’m not having a senior moment with my memory.

You are correct. General reference among the operating personnel was “Dock.” Glad you enjoyed the book.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
Recently I was at the Ocean Life Center in Gardner’s Basin Atlantic City, NJ. As part of an historical display they had pictures of an airship which they labelled the USS Akron. The caption was ambiguous, and they mentioned the Hindenburg, but they seemed to say that The USS Akron burned within sight of onlookers on the boardwalk at Atlantic City. The pictures seemed to be of a different, much earlier airship, and the accounts I have read of the loss of the USS Akron don’t mention fire, but is it possible that they got one fact straight? Was the Akron within view of Atlantic City when she went down?

There were TWO airships named AKRON and the one you’re speaking of is not the Navy’s USS AKRON of 1931-1933 but rather an airship built by Melvin Vaniman in a hangar near Brigantine Inlet in 1911. Vaniman had been Chief Engineer of journalist Walter Wellman’s 1910 transatlantic airship attempt in a similar ship named AMERICA (which also set out from Atlantic City but was rescued at sea after flying…mostly drifting…about 800 miles. ) Having previously tried in 1907 to fly from Spitzbergen to the North Pole with the ship and having a myriad of technical difficulties, Wellman threw in the towel.

Vaniman, with some financial and engineering help from the fledgling aeronautical department at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., was convinced that he could build a successful airship and fly the Atlantic with it.

An abortive test flight in 1911 revealed that the new AKRON was dangerously leaky; corrective action and mofifications were carried over the winter, but the next test flight, July 2, 1912, saw the airship’s hydrogen burst into flame and she exploded offshore before tens of thousands of horrified onlookers, killing Vaniman and all his crew of five.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Steve
What ever happened to the Black Dog memorial stone? If it is still around will it become an addition to the Heritage Center?

It is rumored to have ended up in Texas, along with a very handsome portrait of this disginguished animal.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Carole Giangrande of Toronto Canada
I am trying to find out how an individual researcher would contact someone at the Lakehurst Naval Station for permission to visit the historic airstrip. I know that the base is closed to public tours at the moment, but I’m wondering if they might accomodate my interest this summer in viewing Hangar 1 and its airship mooring track. I am researching and writing a book to be published in 2004. The book is a novel, and while it does not pertain to the Hindenburg tragedy, airships are part of the historical background of the story and an accurate sense of place is important for the writing. As much as I’ve read on the subject of airships, I don’t think there’s any match for seeing the place that housed them. I’m an American and the author of four previous books. Thank you for any assistance that you can provide.

It is quite possible that tours may resume as early as this fall. Keep an eye on our website for upcoming info.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Ingrid Briles
I am writing a family history, and have just learned that my great grandfathers brother, my great uncle, was at the Hindenburg Disaster. My only living uncle is near 80, and can’t remember all the details. He just remembers that Uncle Harry (Harry Phy) was recognized as a true hero, and appointed to the position of Chief Custom Inspector for the U.S. Custom Service in Philadelphia as a result of his actions. My uncle said there was a huge news story about Uncle Harry at the time. Do you know anything about this?

Unfortunately, a check of our files reveals nothing regarding Harry, but I would suggest you try the archives of the U.S. Customs service.

Rick Zitarosa, Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Thomas Eckerle
I am doing a report on George W. Steele, a native of my town, and his role in the investigation of the Shenandoah crash. I was wondering if you may be able to give me any details you may have concerning the resulting inquiry, or inform me on how I may acquire such information

Steele was Commanding Officer of both the Lakehurst base and the rigid airship LOS ANGELES at the time of the SHENANDOAH disaster. Outside of appearing once at the SHENANDOAH court of inquiry, his participation was rather muted and he did in fact leave the lighter-than-air program 8 months later desiring no further duty in airships.

For information on the SHENANDOAH and the Court of Inquiry, we recommend the book ” UP SHIP; U.S. NAVY RIGID AIRSHIPS 1919-1935″ by Douglas Robinson and Charles Keller (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1982.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jonathan
I have a landing crew pin. I was wandering if you could help. It is 1 3/4″ in diameter and made of brass. It has the Hindenburg, the air ship, a iron cross and Landing Crew, Lakehurst, stamped in the brass with a german style pin on back. Big question is: Can you send me a roaster of the navy ground crew on that terrible day.

Your brass landing crew pin is a NEARLY WORTHLESS REPRODUCTION that has been turned out in the thousands over the last fifteen years.

The real landing crew buttons were numbered, celluloid-faced and bore the signature of “C.E. Rosendahl” the air station Commanding Officer.

A “roaster” (perhaps you mean “roster”) of the ground crew is available today by contacting the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and referring to Air Station log for May 6, 1937.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Dave Lehive
Have a question are there any survivors to the hindenburg still alive?

I was given by my father a picture of the Hindenburg with a signature of Wilhelm Balla who was a steward on the Air ship.

I know its a long shot but I would like to have some authenticity for this signature.

Balla would be an authentic member of the crew, but he has been dead for some years. It most probably is authentic and is certainly a nice keepsake to be passed through family generations.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:

I have a small sample of material with “Souvenir from the United States Naval Air Station Lakehurst New Jersey. Any idea of it’s source?

Sometimes small pieces of discarded airship or balloon fabric were given out to visitors at various “Open House” events. Depending what it looks like (color, material texture, etc) it could be anything from a piece of the outer skin of the LOS ANGELES(usually silver) to a hunk of discarded gas cell fabric (usually beige or yellow) or a piece of a balloon or a blimp (silver on one side, black on the other.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Barb
and
FROM: Jamie
What was the manufacturer’s designation number (hull number) of the USS Los Angeles?

LOS ANGELES was built by the Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, G.M.b.H, Friedrichshafen, Germany. Her construction hull # was LZ-126 (though she was actually the 116th Zeppelin airship to be built.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: John Munger
Would some of the covering material be worth anything, it came off of the hindenburg right after it went down?

Authentic HINDENBURG covering is a valuable historical artifact. Navy Lakehurst Historical Society does not get involved in appraisals, however, and refers all such inquiries to suitable venues such as e-bay.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Ford U Ross
Were the girders in the Los Angeles box shaped or triangular? Someone is trying to sell me a piece of L..A. girder and says it is box shaped. I thought, because the L.A. was built by the Germans, that it used all triangular shaped girders. zccaams

Box Girders were used in Zeppelin airships in certain parts of the structure as early as 1915. On the LZ126/ZR3, most of them were used in the control car area and were rectangular in cross section with lightening holes (similar to the ones seen on the AKRON/MACON.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Mark Fresa
Is this {Hindenburg} piano on display anywhere? Please let me know if I may come see it.

The piano was not aboard the HINDENBURG at the time of its last flight. It was stored in Germany at the time of the outbreak of the Second World War and was presumably lost during the heavy bombings.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Steve Van Vliet
I was recently going through old papers and photos that belonged to my mother. Among the things I found were ten photos that appear to be a the crash of the Shenandoah. I know nothing about the airship and only found your address by browsing the web. I have atached one of the pictures and am interested if you have any interest in the rest. I would gladly donate them to your organization if they would be of use.

We always welcome donations of historical material. They continue to form a very important amount of the background material for our new HERITAGE CENTER being developed in Hangar #1.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

From: George
Other than the film of the explosion, are there other films of the Hindenburg flying over the US in 1936-37 that you know of?

There are many hours of film shot of the HINDENBURG on her 1936 flights. Fox-Movietone newsreel archives are among the places to look.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Rich Andersch
My father worked for The American Smelting and Refining Co. out of Perth Amboy, NJ. He had always told me he was on the salvage crew that picked and cleaned up the wreckage of the airship at Lakehurst after the disaster of May 6,1937. He said all of the wreckage was trucked to Perth Amboy and melted down into scrap at the AFAR plant there. Now I’m seen articles showing and claiming the airship was melted down in Ohio. I of course believe my father regarding who and where the airship was salvaged. Is it possible parts were trucked as far away as Ohio for salvage also? Can you provide me any information on the history of where the airship remains went after the disaster? My father passed away in 1991 at the age of 80.

All the scrap was sent to Perth Amboy; we have heard stories that some of it was loaded on Lehigh Valley RR freights and sent west.

Here it gets interesting, because apparently a Schmeling Bros. Foundry around Cincinnatti got hold of the stuff and instead of scrapping it they apparently sold some of it for souvenirs.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
In some of the information on your website, I noticed that there seems to be two surviving members of the crew – Eugen Bentle and Werner Franz. Do you know if they are still “with us” and do you know if they are open to communication? If so, how would I reach them.

You can try reaching them through the Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen. Be warned, these people have been hounded in recent years by many quacks and disaster fanatics and they tend to guard their privacy.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Howard Minor
Do you know anything about the Quillayute Naval Air base in Washington Northwest of Bremerton where blimps were sent up to look for Japanese submarines in the Pacific coastal areas during 1944?

Blimp operations around the Bremerton/Shelton area consisted of small detachments sent up from the big base at Tillamook, Oregon. Navy Lighter-than-Air operations in this geographical area ceased almost immediately with the V-J day.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM:
Hi, Would like to know who,and when someone flew a airplane thru Hangar #1 at a airshow? What was FltAirWing 30? What was staff-ComFleet Airships-Lant.?

Lt. Alford J. Williams flew a Vought VE-7 through Hangar One as a popular (though unauthorized) stunt during the first Lakehurst Air Show, May 31, 1924. Fleet Air Wing 30 was a large entity involving airplanes as well as airships. Comander, Fleet Airships Atlantic was a high-visibility command involving jurisdiction of all Navy Lighter than Air Operations between Newfoundland and the Florida Keys.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jacob Krygoski
I recently acquired a button made of brass measuring approx 1.75″ dia inscribed with “Hindenburg Landing Crew Lakehurst” and a silhouette of the airship centered. Can you provide me with any background information on this item?

Jacob , the badge you have looks great ! but it is one of the many iteams that are made up . they were made in thE 70s and sold as real items . sorry .

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM:
Can a blimp be considered a dirrigable?

“Dirigible” is a French word, meaning “steerable balloon” and it was a very popular term applied to ALL powered lighter-than-air craft (rigid, semi-rigid, non-rigid) through the 1930’s.

So yes, a blimp can be considered a “dirigible” and the word is interchangable with the more oft used today “airship.”

“Zeppelin” is a trade name for airships built by the Zeppelin Co, in Germany. From 1900 thru 1940, these were the giant metal-framed rigid airships. In the late 1990’s, a subsidiary firm went back into the airship business building and flying medium-sized non-rigid airships for tourism/advertising flights. So today, you can in all honesty say that you flew in the new Zeppelin and that it was a “non-rigid” airship.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Wayne Mutza
I am researching the Hughes OH-6 helicopter in preparation for an in-depth book devoted to its history. I have two photos presumably taken during the 1980s that show OH-6s outside a large hangar at Lakehurst. Can you tell me why they may have been there, and if these large hangars are still in use?

The photos`s you have were were most likely taken in front of Hanger 5, one of two twin WW II wooden hangers built for the Navy`s Airship program. Sometime in the early 60`s the U.S. Army`s flight activities from Fort Monmonth N.J. moved to the base . The unit has had every type of aircraft in the Army inventory assigned to it . The mission of the unit is to install and flight test new electronic iteams . The unit is still on board providing most of the flight activties on the base.

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Louise
Going through my fathers papers I found a letter from Clara Adams to my father while she was on the first flight of the Hindenburg. It has the original envelope, stamps and cancelation stamp. If you know where I might get this letter appraised I would appreciate the information

Clara Adams was a dedicated Zeppelin traveller in the 1930’s (I think today she would be called a “Zeppelin Junkie”) and she sent and carried hundreds of cards and artifacts from her Zeppelin experiences (many of which she later sold.) It is significant that she sent a check for $100 to the Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei (German Zeppelin Transport Co.) dated May 7, 1937 (the day after the HINDENBURG disaster) for the purpose of booking passage on HINDENBURG’s sister-ship LZ-130(launched in 1938 as the GRAF ZEPPELIN II, which was also inflated with hydrogen and thus never carried paying passengers.)

Would suggest that you keep this wondeful momento for yourself, to be passed down through future generations, or donate it to a repository/museum in your father’s memory. The Navy Lakehurst Historical Society does not get involved with appraisals or pricing.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jim White
You probably get this a lot, but I felt compelled to write you that the Hindenburg tragedy was due to the flammable covering of the dirigible, coupled with burning diesel fuel and wooden interiors. Hydrogen, because it is so much lighter than air, immediately disperses to high altitudes.

Thanks for the input. We have heard much of this over the years. As for myself, I tend to believe the the builders and operators of the ship at the time who leaned towards a gas cell leak or buildup of hydrogen due to poor ventilation as result of the remote location of the gas valves and inadequate forward motion of the ship to ventilate. The atmosphere was highly charged due to thunderstorm activity; a few eyewitnesses clearly described “St.Elmo’s Fire” along the top aft portion of the ship. The German operators knew a hydrogen fire when they saw one; they had lost their share of ships to hydrogen fires.

There are theories that the metal structure was corroded, that a “failure” occurred in the fuel system, etc, but eyewitnesses inside the ship saw the fire definitely comiing from the center of the face of gas cell #4. To me, this is most compelling.

All theories are valuable, of course, and it is enjoyable to openly debate them (unfortunately, there are individuals who get rather hot-headed over the issue.)

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Vince Brannigan of MD
My name is Vincent Brannigan. I am the law professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Maryland. I worked with Gordon Prange on the history of naval technology as an undergraduate and currently teach a course in Fire and Western Culture at the U of Md. Naturally the HINDENBURG is an excellent example. I am looking for any documents concurring approval of the landing of the HINDENBURG at NAS Lakehurst after the switch to hydrogen. Did anyone do a a fire safety analysis? My father, LCDR Francis L. Brannigan USNR(ret) was head of the navy fire schools in Panama and Norfolk during and after the war and has described a variety of “scuttlebutt” relating to this approval. Do you have any documents or references there?

There was no “switch to hydrogen” for the HINDENBURG; she had been designed to fly with helium gas, but it was not available (as per the 1927 Helium Conservation Act requiring approval by the President and various members of the cabinet to permit export of the gas.) So, HINDENBURG was inflated with hydrogen gas, as were all previous Zeppelin-built airships. (Note: some of the features of her helium-configuration were retained, including the fact that manually-operated gas discharge valves remained located down in the middle of the gas exhaust trunks, exhausting as much as 70 feet to the ventilation hoods in the top of the airship.)

The older GRAF ZEPPELIN had been landed and hangared at Lakehurst on four occasions; since 1928, she had established an enviable service record, despite the use inflammable hydrogen gas. U.S. Navy personnel had made many flights aboard the GRAF ZEPPELIN as observers over the years; while they naturally preferred the non-flammable helium used by American airships (and the U.S. Navy’s “Rigid Airship Manual” goes into some detail about the precautions necessary for flying with hydrogen) there was the ironic realization that the Germans seemed to be able to fly safely with hydrogen while we had managed to lose the SHENANDOAH, AKRON and MACON despite having “safe” helium!

And with the MACON gone in 1935 and strong desire to at least have something moving to keep the “state-of-the-art” alive at the increasingly-quiet Lakehurst facility, U.S. Navy rigid airship personnel were quite agreeable to host the HINDENBURG when Dr.Eckener succeeded in obtaining a revocable permit through President Roosevelt to use the base for 10 round-trip demonstration flights May thru October of 1936.

Among the highlights of the 1936 program was an increased number of American Naval observers carried on Zeppelin flights to both North and South America (the American officers taking keen observations on the way the Germans maneuvered in turbulence, thunderstorms and how they generally flew only a ship’s length above the surface.) Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei naturally had to pay fully and in every way for services provided at Lakehurst; while Commander Rosendahl was able to provide some Navy groundcrew as part of their continued “training” the balance of the landing crew increasingly consisted of men and boys hired from nearby towns at a rate of $1 per hour.

While the HINDENBURG was hangared at Lakehurst on two occasions (once to check clearances, another time to enable the entire crew to attend a dinner reception) it was generally developed that the ship would stay on the mast on the field and be fuelled, gassed and “turned” in a mininum of time. In general, the ship was expected to stay on American soil only 6-12 hours before departing again.

There was quite a bit of talk in 1936 about the establishment of a joint German-American airship line (with the Germans offering to supply their “superior designs” and operational experience in exchange for the use of non-flammable helium.) This would have been quite a venture, but it must be remembered that even if the HINDENBURG had not burned the continued operations of swastika-emblazoned German Zeppelins from an American Naval Air Station would have politically impossible by mid-late 1938.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: John Montenigro of Montclair, NJ
I’m building a model railroad, modelling central New Jersey circa 1948. One of the towns on my layout is Lakehurst. I originally chose it because it was a busy railroad hub, but as I learned more about NAS, I decided to re-create a representative portion of the NAS on my layout. Although I have lots of questions, the following are the ones that I’m most curious about right now: How was the helium was stored? Underground tanks? Above ground? How many? What sizes? Located near the hanger, or near the airfiled? Also, was Lakehurst NAS served by a railroad? If so, how can I find a plan of the tracks? What buildings did they go to?

Lakehurst is located right along the old “Southern Division” of the Central Railroad of New Jersey (the route of the “Blue Comet”) and the location of the railroad was a very important factor in the place being chosen as the home of Navy Lighter than Air. Several railroad spurs ran onto the base, most materials to build the hangars and buildings on the base came in by rail. Components to erect the airship SHENANDOAH were mostly delivered by rail from the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia.

With mooring masts and taxiing cars for the big rigid airships riding on rails in and out of the hangar, the base had its own 25-ton Plymouth gas-electric locomotive and a larger Porter side-rod engine for moving the big “stern beam” used by the rigid airships. There is a small engine house behind Hangar #4 in the northeast corner of the base by the main road (this building has been earmarked for demolition recently.)

Various tracks and spurs ran between the six hangars and onto various other portions of the base; with the exception of a recently-reconstructed industrial spur a few hundred feet onto the East Field, there has been no railroad activity of any kind on the base since about 1967 and much of the rail has been removed.

Helium and fuel deliveries came by rail, the helium being shipped initially in cylinders and later in special railroad cars (these cars could each carry over 100,000 cubic feet of gas.) Helium was stored in underground high-pressure flasks across from the base helium plant on Hancock Road (the plant is still there, but all the compressors and purification machinery have been removed and it now houses base security administrative offices.) There was also a 1-million cubic foot gasometer (demolished 1967) and two smaller gasometers which disappeared in the 1940’s. Underground gas lines ran from the helium plant to the hangars and to various mooring sites on the base.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Beth Smith
Where did the flight begin and where did it end? I just spoke with an author of a book that said it went down just outside of Pennsylvania. I’m originally from a small town in Ohio – Byesville, and just 15 miles south is a marker for the Shenandoah. I noticed that a commemorative ceremony is taking place in Ava, Ohio – also a town near my home town.

Assuming you mean the SHENANDOAH’s LAST FLIGHT it began at the mooring mast on the West Field of Naval Air Station, Lakehurst NJ on the afternoon of September 2, 1925. The airship encountered thunderstorms and a severe squall line over Southeastern Ohio early the next morning and broke up in the turbulence, the main portions of the wreckage coming down at Ava and the bow section “free ballooning” for about an hour before coming down near the fairgrounds at Sharon, some twelve miles away. The 14 dead (all of whom died from massive injuries due to impact of falling from great height) were taken to an undertaker in Belle Valley; and, along with the 29 survivng crew members they returned to Lakehurst by rail over the next two days.

Aluminum Co. of America was contracted to remove the remains of the airship and this was done by the end of September, thought tiny bits and pieces or duralimin metal framework missed by the wreckers have been found and positively identified as recently as five years ago.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jack Kelly
I graduated from Rigger school in Dec.1958. While in the school I made the 13,000 free fall jump at the school. Many fotos were taken for use in the base newsleter of Jan.Feb.or so 1959. Since I was sent to Gitmo soon after I left the school,I never saw the pics. Any chance you can help ?? I was a Marine PFC at that time.

We do have in our collection some pictures of the marines at the P.R. School, but for the most part we do not have dates. If you are interested, we just published a book on NAS which has photos from the 50s of the PR School. The book covers the base from 1914 thru the present with 240 photos. It is available from us or any bookstore. If you are interested let me know and I will e-mail you the info.

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Dave Larson
Is a crew list available for the Shenandoah? I am trying to track the career of a US Navy aviator named Ralph E. Davidson or Davison. He was active around 1924.

If I’m correct, the Ralph Davidson you are inquiring about was an early Naval Aviator who was instrumental in the early days of U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, ultimately commanded a carrier himself and he later rose to the rank of Rear Admiral and commander of a Fast Carrier Task Group in the Pacific in 1944-45.

Believe any connection he had with Lighter-than-Air would have been through assignments to BuAer (Bureau of Aeronautics) in Washington.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
We have been receving many questions about Tours of NAES. Please read the update printed below

March 25, 2003 Tour Update

       With the military actions now going on, all military facilities of the US are closed to non-essential civilian activities. Therefore NO TOURS are being given. As soon as we learn restrictions have been lifted we will post it on the NLHS website.

FROM: George Myers of Allentown, PA
I am planning to construct the amt model company kits of the USS Akron, USS Macon and Hindenberg but would like to display them attached the mooring masts at lakehurst.

I know that there were high and low masts in service but the current photographs of them are best sketchy and not of much help in constructing a scale model of both masts.

Could you recommend any source(s) for obtaining photographs of the low and high masts used at lakehurst…if nothing is available from Lakehurst, the Goodyear-Zeppelin facility at Akron masts would do.

I have good construction dimensions and photographs of the Goodyear Akron clamshell hanger…is any drawing information concerning the lakehurst facility available or at least good photographs of the hangers…would like to keep my completed l-t-a kits in them for safe keeping during transport.

Pretty much everything you need to find is in the book AMERICAN AIRSHIP BASES AND FACILITIES by Jim Shock (Atlantis Publications, 1993.)

There were five masts used at Lakehurst for the rigid airships:

The 160-foot tower-type “high mast” (built 1922, dismantled 1934) This had a “machinery house” with fuel/water pumps at its base (since 1943 this odd-shaped house has served as “Quarters M” at the Lakehurst base.)

The 60-foot high wire-braced wooden-pole “stub mast” used by the LOS ANGELES (1927-1931.) This was an old wooden radio mast, quickly modified and adapted for airship use after the LOS ANGELES vertically on her nose at the “high mast,” August 25, 1927. It was easily erected and transported and was used down in Panama when the LOS ANGELES flew there for fleet maneuvers.

The caterpillar-tread, triangular-base, tractor-drawn “crawler mast” originally built for the LOS ANGELES, used once by the GRAF ZEPPELIN and later modified for use by the HINDENBURG (she was supposed to moor to this mast when she burned May 6,1937.) This mast had a “telescopic” top portion gasoline-engined winches and fuel tanks for servicing the airship at the mooring site and was put into service in 1929; it was cut up for scrap in 1940.

With the arrival of the big AKRON, two masts were ordered from the Wellman Engineering Co. of Cleveland, OH. Both were had four sides at the base, riding on standard-gauge railroad trucks on sets of tracks that went through Hangar #1, the tracks being spaced 64.5 feet apart. The first mast was completed in 1931; while fully outfitted with pumps, winches, etc. this mast was FIXED in height at 68 feet and it was not self-propelled, a Plymouth 25-ton gas-electric locomotive being used to haul the mast (and the airship) out of the hangar. A 130-foot wide “stern beam” rolled on the same tracks, carrying the AKRON’s lower fin (the beam was connected to the mooring mast by “spreader gear” so the airship did not have to haul the beam’s 133-ton weight.

The second Wellman mast arrived in 1932; this one had a telescopic head, it was self-propelled (gasoline-electric drive) and fitted with heavier winches, more fuel capacity, etc. The AKRON moored to this mast a few times, but it was mostly used by the MACON while she was based at Lakehurst (she also used an almost-identical mast at her operating base in Sunnyvale, California.) The HINDENBURG also used this mast on all of her 1936 arrivals/departures, though the Germans were uphappy about the limited clearance of the ship’s nose relative to the mast structure and this is one reason why the old “crawler mast” was to be used for the ’37 season.

Both Wellman railroad masts and the “stern beam” were routed onto temporary tracks and stored near the fence-line of the northeast boundary of the base during World War II. The equipment was kept painted and lubricated with the anticipation that rigid airships would again be used by the U.S. Navy, but this was not to be the case and this remaining equipment was scrapped in 1946-47.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Bob Buker of Catonsville, MD
I’m not looking for a value of this item. I’m just curious to know if it may be real, in other words, could it be a “commemoration” item for the tourists afterwards or could it have been for sale before the disaster? I recently came across a wool pennant, about 2′ long x 8″ wide tapering to a point, with a picture of the Hindenburg on it(w/Olympic rings and swastikas), dated “1937” as well as the words “Lakehurst, NJ” and “Hindenburg”. The actual color of the pennant is faded but appears to have been a dark blue or a dark color at one time, it’s purple now. The lettering and images are still crisp yet a faded white. There is a small moth nip on the back.

The Navy Lakehurst Historical Society does not get involved with appraisals.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Rodney Martin
What became of Capt. Pruss after the Hindenburg disaster? Also I understand that there was another Airship that had been built shortly before the Hindenburg blew up that was actually larger. What became of this airship, were there any more airship flights after the Hindenburg and what became of the Graff Zeppelin?

Captain Max Pruss underwent six months of skin-grafts and plastic surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York and spent several more months recuperating on return to Germany. He later served as a ground-based administration officer in the Luftwaffe during World War II and actively spearheaded attempts to rebuild the German commercial Zeppelin industry through the 1950’s, but getting the necessary funding proved elusive. Pruss died of pneumonia in Neu Isenberg in 1960, age 70, believing firmly to the end that his ship had been sabotaged by one of the passengers aboard.

For the history of the LZ127 GRAF ZEPPELIN and the later LZ130 GRAF ZEPPELIN (II) see the “Mailbag” Question/Answer section of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society website.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society

FROM: Jasper Bridges
I completed the Aerography Class A school in 1973. Is it possible to get my transcripts after all these years? If so, where in the heck are they? Where did the school move to? What Navy department handles transcripts from schools attended. I’m at my wits end!

I’m sorry we do not have those records. The AG School moved not to long after you completed your schooling. I believe they are now based at NAS Pensecola, FL. I hope this helps you.

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Richard H. Vordem-Thoren
I was stationed in NAS Lakehurst 1970-1971. My squadron was HC-4 and I believe we were in hanger 3 along with our sister squadron HC-2. Does the NLHS have any information on HC-4 or any memorabilia (patches etc.)? The squadron now resides in Italy. They are called the Black Stallions. Was this the same name used in 1970?

You were stationed there the same time I was there. I was in VS-73/71. You are correct, HC-2/HC-4 were in hanger 3 until all the units were moved to Mayport FL. We have photos and the squadron history . We have for sale the NAS patch and a base t-shirt. When the squadron moved and lost the Seasprites and got HH-46 and CH-53s they assumed the name Sea Stallions. If you have any information or photos you would like to share with us, please let us know.

Ron Montgomery, NLHS

FROM: Linda
We just found out a relative was on the hindenberg when it went down, is there a passenger list of that fatal crash

FROM: Marvin Breslau of Garfield, AR
My son caught the last part of a special on TV which showed the Hindenburg disaster and mentioned some of the passengers. He thought he heard the name Breslau mentioned.

Our family name is Breslau and a list of the passengers would help to fill blanks in compilation of our genealogy charts. If you can not furnish the passenger list, can you verify or not if any Breslau’s were on board or similar spelling of the Breslau name.

Due to the interest expressed by many visitors to the NLHS website, we have now published the list of crew aboard the HINDENBURG on May 6, 1937.

You may view this list at: Hindenburg Passenger List

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society
FROM: Ted Laitala of Brunswick, ME
Hello, Could you provide me information on one of the lighter than air craft the J-4.

J4 was a well-known and well-liked airship and along with her near-sister, the J3, was the backbone of the Navy’s non-rigid (or “blimp”) operations in the late 1920’s through the mid-30’s.

Specs were: Length: 196 feet Diameter: 44.5 ft. Height: 58ft. Volume: 210,600 cf. Ballonetts: (2) 56,000cf. each Useful lift: 4600lbs. Crew: 5-6 Max. speed: 60mph. Cruising speed: 40mph. Engines: 2(150hp.) Wright Whirlwind and various other motors fitted at different times. (See “US NAVY AIRSHIPS” by James R. Shock, Atlantis Publications, revised 2001)

The big rigid airships got most of the attention.The small non-rigids nevertheless proved invaluable for training and experimental work….with the Army responsible for most non-rigid airship development at the time and with helium being very expensive and the rigid airships having priority use of it, the Navy’s blimp operations were rather limited at the time (the Army would continue to develop non-rigid airships until its program shut down in 1937.) With the exception of the experimental “Metalclad”-hulled ZMC-2 of 1929 and the big experimental patrol ship K-1( a ship which experimented in the use of gaseous, weightless fuel similar to that used with the German GRAF ZEPPELIN) and a few hydrogen-inflated “kite balloons” and free balloons, the J-3 and J-4 were IT.

J-4 was based on an army “TC”type airship design (two air ballonetts.) The J1 had come with only a SINGLE air ballonet and this was considered a disadvantage because of the inability to “pump air” either forward or aft to help maintain trim and stability; J-1 had been deflated in August, 1924 and planned sister J-2 was never built; however, a control car for J-2 was already completed (Navy serial # A-6112, Goodyear Car # C-18) and sat in storage at the Naval Aircraft Factory(NAF.) J-3 used an Army “TC-type” open car, but J-4 was created by mating the J-2 (enclosed, capable of water land ings )car to a spare TC-type envelope ( Goodyear envelope D-197.) Erection and inflation took place in Lakehurst’s Hangar #1 in the fall of 1927 and the first test flights were made in November.

Among the hundreds of flights J-4 made, she overflew (wth J-3 and the LOS ANGELES) the Herbert Hoover Presidential Inauguration on March 4, 1929 ( while the LOS ANGELES made it back to Lakehurst OK, both J-ships were grounded by high-winds at NAS Anacostia and had to be deflated, packed up and shipped back to Lakehurst by rail.) J-4 was a familiar sight over the beaches, bays, cities and towns of the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania area (once, in 1931, she caused an absolute FRENZY when she flew up to New York City on a routine training flight and erroneous rumor spread that they were going to moor her to the Empire State Building!…of course, J-4 was not outfitted for any such mooring.)

J-3 was lost on April 4, 1933 (two killed) in high winds off Beach Haven while out trying to locate survivors of the AKRON disaster (73 out of 76 aboard killed). The AKRON’s sister ship, MACON, soon arrived at Lakehurst for her trials, but that October MACON departed Lakehurst for her new base at Sunnyvale, California (later NAS Moffett Field) and it was felt necessary to send a training blimp out there with her. While MACON flew cross-country via the Gulf States, Texas and Arizona, the J-4 was deflated, packed up and went to California by rail. She was a familiar sight in the San Francisco Bay and coastal area for the next year and a half as the Navy’s emphasis in Lighter-than-Air centered around Sunnyvale, MACON and operations with the fleet.

On February 12, 1935, MACON was lost due to structural failure in high winds while returning from fleet maneuvers. Damaged girders in the tail section caused MACON to lose control and then lose buoyancy as the broken girders punctured three of her 12 gas cells. MACON made a forced landing in the Pacific off Pt. Sur, California; fortunately, out of 83 aboard, only 2 were lost.

With the Navy very tentative about any further plans for rigid airships (they never did build another one) and the idea to turn Sunnyvale over to the Army Air Corps, J-4 was deflated and shipped back to Lakehurst in the fall of 1935.

As Lakehurst’s fortunes rose and fell with the miserable economic situation, the rumors and counter-rumors about continuing the Navy rigid airship program and the comings, goings and finally the disastrous fire of the HINDENBURG in 1936-37, J-4 was in service most of the time, a general favorite among the pilots at Lakehurst due to her stability and ease of handling.

Among other things, in addition to training and experimental flights, many times the non-rigids went aloft to insure that those aboard were getting their required 4 flying hours per month in order to qualify for their additional 50% flight pay! G-1 (former Goodyear advertising blimp DEFENDER) arrived at Lakehurst in 1935, L-1 and L-2 were ordered in 1937 and the big, fully-modern K-2 would arrive in December of ’38 but through it all the J-4 was an all-around workhorse.

As the coming of war became evident, Navy Lighter-than-Air accellerated training and experimental flights by 1939-1940 in preparation for big role that blimps would play in maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare. J-4 was used in torpedo recovery exercises, patrols, ASW drills and camouflage experiments (with her envelope painted “sky blue” for a period. She flew the early “neutrality patrols” in the vicinity of New York harbor but was grounded in early 1940, used for mooring experiments and finally stricken and cut apart on March 30 of that year.

Rick Zitarosa, Historian Navy Lakehurst Historical Society