List of United States Military Airships
After the First World War , the United States became the largest operator of military airships .
Within the armed forces, the US Navy in particular operated a very extensive airship fleet until 1962. After that, the airship program was discontinued. Later, individual attempts were made to use modern airships, for example in the mid-1990s as part of the Sentinel 1000 program. There is currently no regular use of manned airships.
US Army Signal Corps
Airship No. 1
On August 4, 1908, the first test run of the airship Signal Corps Airship No. 1 in Fort Myer VA. Duration: 7 minutes. Maker: Thomas Scott Baldwin
Roma
The Roma was bought in 1921 by the US Army (then US Army Air Service ) for US $ 165,000 in Italy. After its commissioning in the United States, there was an accident in which the ship burned and 34 people died.
RS-1
RS-1 was a US Army semi-rigid airship and the only semi-rigid airship built in the United States. The parts were built by Goodyear in Akron and then taken to Scott Field Illinois for assembly. The volume was around 20–22,000 cubic meters (depending on the source). The ship is described in some sources as the largest semi-rigid airship in the world, but even then the Italian ships (see Umberto Nobile ) of this design were larger.
The maiden voyage took place on January 8, 1926. The lifting gas was helium. Until 1928 there are some photos and notes about the airship's journeys, for example RS-1 moored to the Ford anchor mast in 1926. In 1927 a stay in hangar no. 1 recorded in Lakehurst , on October 10, 1928 a flyover over Hearne .
Structural problems on the nose allegedly limited the speed. The ship was dismantled for an overhaul, but then scrapped.
US Army
- TC-3 and TC-7 were used for experiments with parasite fighters in the mid-1920s . In December 1924, a Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger docked with an airship.
- TC-10 (case identifier C-52)
- TC-13 and TC-14 were sold to the US Navy in the late 1930s.
- In 2012/13 the prototype of the Northrop Grumman LEMV (Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle), a manned and unmanned hybrid airship, was tested.
US Navy
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Ships of the US Navy |
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A -
B -
C -
D -
E -
F -
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Lists of United States Navy ships by type |
| Amphibious warfare |
| Aircraft carrier |
| Frigates |
| Frigates (sails) |
| Escort aircraft carrier |
| Escort destroyer |
| Auxiliary ships |
| cruiser |
| Ships of the line |
| Airships |
| Anti-mine units |
| Patrol boats |
| Battleships |
| Submarines |
| destroyer |
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and their additional information |
| Ship categories |
| Camouflage schemes |
| Combat systems |
DN-1 (A class)
DN-1 (US Navy Bureau No. A 127) was the first airship commissioned by the US Navy. The contract was awarded on June 1, 1915. The construction was based on plans by Thomas Scott Baldwin . It was built by the Connecticut Aircraft Company . The letters had the meaning D = dirigible and N = non-rigid. Unofficially, it was also known as the A-type blimp.
The ship was delivered to the US Navy in December 1916. The maiden voyage took place on April 20, 1917, two more voyages followed, then the ship was irreparably damaged on landing and scrapped. It had also been shown that the ship was overweight and underpowered. In addition, the gas loss from the envelope was very high.
A floating airship hangar was specially built to operate the ship .
- Length: 53.3 m (175 ft)
- Hydrogen lifting gas capacity: 4250 m³ (150,000 cft)
- Drive: two Sturtevant engines , one of which was removed later due to being overweight
B class
16 units of the B-Class were built (B-1 to B-16). B-1 , the first ship, was filled by Goodyear on May 24, 1917, the last ship was delivered to the Navy in July 1918.
(9 × Goodyear, 2 × Goodrich , 2 × Connecticut Aircraft, 3 × Curtiss )
The B17-19 were three airships rebuilt by Goodyear after the First World War , the B-20 was ordered slightly modified.
C class
The first flight of the C-Class took place on September 30, 1918. 30 airships had been ordered, 10 were ultimately built. 2 of them went to the US Army. Manufacturers were Goodyear and Goodrich.
C-1 to C-10 length: 58.5 m (192 ft), volume: 5,125 m³ hydrogen (181,000 cft), drive: two 125 hp Hispano-Suiza engines. Top speed: 60 mph, cruising speed: 45 mph, duration of use about 2 days, range: 3380 km (2100 mi)
Identification (aircraft number) and manufacturer:
- C-1 (A4118) built by Goodyear. Maiden voyage: September 30, 1918
- C-2 (A4119) built by BF Goodrich; Surrendered to the US Army in 1921
- C-3 (A4120) built by Goodyear
- C-4 (A4121) built by Goodyear; Surrendered to the US Army in 1921
- C-5 (A4122) built by Goodyear; made an attempt on May 15, 1919 as the first airship to cross the Atlantic, but it failed. C-5 was wrecked on May 15, 1919 in St John's, Newfoundland, when it broke loose in a storm.
- C-6 (A4123) built by BF Goodrich;
- C-7 (A4124) built by Goodyear; C-7 was the first helium- filled airship. and thus rose for the first time on December 1, 1921.
- C-8 (A4125) built by Goodyear; exploded on July 2, 1919 on landing at Camp Holabird, injuring about 80 onlookers (adults and children) and breaking glass panes a mile away.
- C-9 (A4126) built by BF Goodrich
- C-10 (A4127) built by BF Goodrich
D class
Hull developed from the C-Class, extended by 6 feet and thus enlarged by 8000 cubic feet. The nacelle has been revised and changes have been made to the mounting of the engines and fuel tanks.
- D-1: still devastated by fire, built by Goodyear
- D-2: delivered to army airmen, built by Goodyear
- D-3: handed over to army airmen, built by Goodrich, first flight July 13, 1920 (first flight of the D-class)
- D-4: handed over to airmen, built by Goodyear
- D-5: delivered to army airmen, built by Goodrich
- D-6: built in Philadelphia with a construction different from the other specimens; fully enclosed boat-shaped gondola with internal fuel tanks. D-6 was to be stationed at NAS Rockeaway, but was destroyed by fire in the airship hangar on August 21, 1921.
E class
The impact airship E-1, the only one in this class, was an in-house development by Goodyear that was offered to the Navy. It was transferred from Akron to Pensacola on December 16, 1918 and remained there for the remainder of its service life. The ship was worn out and stored in 1924. On September 5, 1924, it was removed from the navy's inventory.
F class
The impact airship F-1 was also an in-house development by Goodyear, which was offered to the Navy. Only one ship was built by him: F-1. The envelope was identical to that of E-1. The driver gondolas differ only slightly. The main difference was the motors and the way they were installed.
- First flight February 11, 1919,
- Removed from U.S. Navy inventory on November 9, 1923
G class
A first draft of the G-Class was made in 1918, but it was never realized.
- G-1 Goodyear Defender bought by the Navy in 1935, lost in mid-air on June 8, 1942 after night flight collision with L-1, 12 dead, including 5 civilian scientists
- G-2 to G-5 delivered at the end of 1943
- G-6 to G-8 delivery in mid-late 1944
H class
H-1 was for the Navy. It was delivered on March 3, 1921 and destroyed by fire in the hangar on August 31, 1921.
J class
- J-1 tested in 1923 but not filled.
- J-2 (?)
- J-3 maiden flight October 1926; The ship crashed on the New Jersey coast after being dispatched in the late morning of April 4, 1933 to help with the rescue operations of the USS Akron . Both crew members were killed.
- J-4 (?)
- other ships of this class (?)
K class
The K-class represented the workhorses of the naval airships during the Second World War. They were mainly used for reconnaissance and rescue missions, to secure convoys while hunting submarines, but also for mine search. Some of the K-ships were sold by the Navy to companies after the war, which they used for advertising purposes. There were several accidents, some of them with deaths and airship losses, in which the airships, which were used to hunt submarines with magnetic field detectors, hit the surface of the water.
- K-1 experimental prototype; delivered to Lakehurst on August 10, 1931; Kraftgasballonet with 1465 m³ (51,700 cft) inside for the buoyancy compensation ; last flight in September 1940; disarmed in autumn 1941
- K-2, (A-1211) prototype for WWII airships, first flight on December 6, 1938 in Akron, handed over to the Navy on December 16, 1938, 404,000 cft,
- K-3 to K-8 (A-7025 to 7028 and 01729-01730), 4 of which were delivered in 1941 and 2 in 1942
- K-9 to K-50, 19 of which were delivered in 1942 and 23 in 1943
- K-51 to K-136 the K-136 nacelle was used for K113 because it was destroyed by fire.
- K-14 hit the surface of the water at full speed on July 2, 1944. 4 of the 10 crew members survived injured.
- K-22 was taken over by the US Naval Unit ZP-32 on November 20, 1942 and drove into fog on April 13, 1942 against a hill near Gilroy , California. The airship was destroyed. The crew got away with injuries. A total of 124 trips with 828.2 flight hours for ZP-32.
- K-34 was lost on November 5, 1944 in service with unit ZP-11 in bad weather in the Atlantic. 2 dead, several survivors
- K-43 carried out the last flight of a K-type airship for the US Navy in March 1959 with Charles E. Rosendahl on board.
- K-74 : While it attacked the German submarine U 134 in Floridastraße on July 18, 1943 , K-74 was shot down by it. All 10 crew members were able to leave the airship in the water, the following morning one man was attacked by sharks and died, the others were rescued. The airship sank. It was the only loss of a US airship to enemy action in World War II.
- K-111 drove on October 17, 1944 in service with the ZP-33 unit over Santa Catalina Island into a mountain and burned. Official representation of the US Navy: The airship drove after navigation problems during a patrol for Japanese submarines in the fog against a mountain over the darkened Avalon and exploded. Eyewitness report from the machinist Ernst Jarke: The airship drove into the trees on the mountain on a clear day and was badly damaged. The entire crew was able to safely exit the airship and gathered around the wreck. The fuel explosion that followed left 7 dead and several injured.
- K-16 and K-58 (unit: ZP-12) were involved in the sinking of the German submarine U 853 east of Long Island on May 6, 1945 .
K-Class in World War II in the Mediterranean
The US Marine Blimp Squadron 14 (ZP-14) was subordinate to the 8th US Fleet and began its operation on May 22, 1944 with the transfer of material and personnel from the US Navy Air Base in Weeksville / USA to the US Navy Air Base in Port -Lyautey in French Morocco / Africa. By the end of 1945 the airships were looking for mines, monitoring the Strait of Gibraltar or helping with rescue operations. Forward landing sites existed in Cuers-Fierrefeu Airdrome ( Cuers / France), Elmas Field, ( Cagliari / Sardinia), Pisa / Italy, Lido Beach Airfield ( Lido / Italy), (Taksli Field) Malta , and Sidi Aihmaed Field ( Bizerte / Tunisia ).
- K-123 and K-130 were the first impact airships, which operated from 28th to 31st Crossed the Atlantic in May 1944, K-109, 134, 101, 112 followed later and were stationed in the ZP-14 unit in NAS Port-Lyautey / Morocco / Africa.
- K-109 and K-134 reached NAS Port Lyautey via transatlantic flight on June 15, 1944.
- K-101 and K-112 reached NAS Port Lyautey via transatlantic flight on July 1, 1944. K-112 landed at a mooring mast in Gibraltar on July 18, 1944. This was the first landing of an American-built airship in Europe.
- K-109 caught fire at the anchor mast in NAS Port Lyautey on March 26, 1945 and was destroyed.
- K-89 and K-114 flew April 28 - May 1, 1945 via Bermuda and the Azores to Europe.
K-Class data
- Lifting gas volume: 12,000 m³
- Length: 76.7 m
- Largest diameter 17.6m
- Drive: two Pratt & Whitney R-1340s with 425 HP (313 kW) each
- Top speed: around 125 km / h
- Range: 3600 km
- Endurance: 38h at ≈ 90 km / h cruising speed
- Armament: 4x 160 kg depth charges, one 12.7mm Browning MG
- Crew: 9-10
- Built: 136
L-class
- L-1 delivered in April 1938, collided with G-1 on June 8, 1942
- L-2 delivered in February 1941
- L-3 delivered in July 1941
- L-4 to L-8 were the Goodyear airships Resolute, Enterprise, Reliance, Rainbow and Ranger , they were handed over to the Navy by Goodyear after the attack on Pearl Harbor , then mainly served as training airships .
- L-4 "Resolute" was delivered to the US Navy on March 10, 1942
- L-5 "Enterprise" built by Goodyear in 1935, taken over by the US Navy on May 7, 1942 as a training airship, length: 45.1 m (148ft), diameter: 14.0 m (46 ft), lifting gas volume 3,483 m³ (123,000 cft), propulsion: 2x145hp Warner R-500-2 / 6 radial, top speed: 96 km / h (60 mph), range: 805 km (500 miles), crew: 4, payload: 662.7 kg ( 1,461 lbs), armament: none
- L-6 "Reliance" was taken over on February 28, 1942 in Blimp Squadron 32 by the US Navy Unit ZP-32. On June 17, 1942, it was decommissioned by ZP-32 and the envelope emptied. For ZP-32, 145 trips with 753.18 flight hours took place.
- L-7 likely Ranger or Rainbow
- L-8 "Rainbow" (according to various other sources the "Ranger"), built in 1940, went to the US Navy Unit ZP-32 as the L-8 on March 5, 1942. In mid-April 1942, L-8 delivered spare parts to the aircraft carrier USS Hornet . They were intended for the B-25s on their way to the Doolittle Raid , a carrier-based bomber raid on Tokyo. On August 16, 1942, the airship landed limp, with the cabin intact and the door open, but without the crew on a street in Dale, California. The whereabouts of the two-man crew who were to patrol San Francisco was never cleared up. The airship was repaired, took a test drive on August 31, and was put back into service on September 5. After 360 trips with 1607.2 hours of operation, the L-8 was taken out of service by the ZP-32 and transferred to NAS Moffett Field . After the war, the ship was returned to Goodyear.
- L-9 to L-12 completed in April 1943
- L-13 to L-22 ordered from Goodyear on February 24, 1943 and delivered by the end of the year
M-class
Designed and built by Goodyear; Successor to the K-Class
- M-1 was delivered to the Navy on November 27, 1943
- A total of 4 M ships had been delivered by 1944
- Decommissioned in 1956.
- Special feature: The airship gondola was constructed from three movable but interconnected segments
Rigid Airships
The US Navy operated all US rigid airships.
- ZR-1 "USS Shenandoah" (1923–1925)
- ZR-2 (1921), built in Great Britain as R38 , but not delivered
- ZR-3 "USS Los Angeles" (1924–1939), built in Germany as LZ 126
- ZRS-4 "USS Akron" (1931–1933)
- ZRS-5 "USS Macon" (1933–1935)
Further
- O-1 ordered in Italy in January 1919, maiden voyage on March 27, 1919 in Ciampino / Italy; Transfer by ship to the USA; First voyage in the USA in Cape May on September 16, 1919; Wrecked in 1921 or 1922.
- ZMC-2 , test model of an all-metal airship, number: A-8282 (1928–1941)
- TC-13 and TC-14 were taken over by the US Navy in July 1937 after the end of US Army airship travel in June 1937 and became the core of Airship Squadron 32 in February 1942.
- TC-13 accidentally attacked and damaged the American submarine USS Gato (SS-212) , lead ship of the Gato class , off San Francisco on March 23, 1943 . TC-13 was decommissioned by ZP-32 on November 5, 1942 after 153 trips and 1,514.3 hours in the air for ZP-32.
- First flight TC-14: September 17, 1935, at Scott Field, Il; A striking feature are the six tail fin fins, in contrast to the four fins that are usually found. TC-14 was decommissioned by ZP-32 on December 16, 1942 after 201 journeys and 1,543.3 hours in the air for ZP-32.
Cold War
- ZPG-2, 12 pieces built, as a submarine hunter (ASW)
- ZPG-2W , 5 pieces built; an early warning radar airship claims the absolute (not recognized by the FAI) non-stop long-distance and travel time record for itself. “Snow Bird” took off from Weymouth on March 4, 1957 and landed at Key West Naval Air Base after 264.2 hours and 15.205 km without having been refueled in between. The Atlantic was crossed twice. The travel time record of 200 hours and 26 minutes was also set by a ZPG-2W airship. The German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin held the unofficial route record with 11,233 km on its journey from Friedrichshafen to Tokyo.
- ZPG-3W 4 pieces built, until today the largest impact airship in the world
After 2000
- MZ-3A experimental naval airship since 2006 with Bu No 167811; built by American Blimp Corporation
Imports from Europe during the First World War
In the First World War, due to a lack of airships of its own, the US armed forces mainly operated ships acquired from the European theater of war in Europe (France and England), some of which they transferred to the USA after the end of the war.
- O-SS (A-1029) Zero-Type English airship destroyed by fire in the summer of 1918 Base: NAS Hampton Roads
- AT-1 ( Astra Torres ) first flight under American command on March 3, 1918, deflated on September 10, 1918 and sent to the USA (A-5472)
- AT-13
- AT-17
- VZ-3 (Zodiac Vedette) returned to France on September 26, 1918
- VZ-7 (A-5592) transferred to the USA beginning in 1919, removed from the USN list on October 6, 1919, condition too bad
- VZ-13 (A-5593) also transferred to the USA in early 1919, removed from the USN list on October 6, 1919, condition too poor
- French T-2 (Chalais-Meudon) "Capitaine Caussin"
- SS-Z-23 a Submarine Scout "Zero-Type" (A-1030, later brought to the USA, there: A-5563), engl. Airship
- NS-1
- ZD-US-1, ( Zodiac ) handed over to the US Army after arriving in the USA in 1919
- ZD-US-2, (Zodiac)
- CM-5, remained in France until it was sold to Goodyear in 1920
See also
literature
- Bock, JK / Knauer, B .: Lighter than air: transport and carrier systems . Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2003, ISBN 3-86180-139-6 .
Web links
- List of US military airships retrieved January 5, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Flight, THE GOODYEAR SEMI-RIGID AIRSHIP "RS-1"; Edition: March 25, 1925; P. 175 and 176; online as PDF-S.175 and PDF-S. 176 accessed December 26, 2016
- ^ Verville-Sperry M-1 Messenger. Retrieved October 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Popular Mechanics, June 1930, TC class; Pp. 412-415; online at GoogleBooks
- ^ US Navy and US Marine Corps BuNos, First Series (A51 to A6001). Retrieved October 8, 2016 .
- ↑ Historical Society of Baltimore County - 350th Chronology 2/15/2009 GT Johnston Ed .: M. Sadecki online at: PDF ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on October 9, 2016
- ↑ The Noon Ballon - The Official Newsletter of THE NAVAL AIRSHIP ASSOCIATION, INC. No. 93 Spring 2012; P. 8 and 9 online as PDF ( memento of the original from August 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on October 13, 2016
- ↑ Kite Balloons to Airships ... the Navy's Lighter-than-Air Experience; (Edition on 75 Years of US Navy Aviation); Published by the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air Warfare) and the Commander, Naval Air Systems Command, Washington, DC, Edited by Roy A. Grossnick, Designed by Charles Cooney, US Government Printing Office: 1983-187-029; P. 34
- ^ Blimp Squadron Eleven Chronology; Diary of the US Naval Unit ZP-11; online as PDF ( memento of the original from October 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. last accessed on October 9, 2016
- ^ Accident report and analysis for K-14 from the US Navy on July 8, 1944; online as PDF ( memento of the original from December 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on October 9, 2016
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l History of Blimp Squadron Thirty Two; Diary of the US Naval Unit ZP-32; online ( Memento of the original from June 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. last accessed on October 9, 2016
- ↑ Report on the loss and the rescue operation PDF ( memento of the original from October 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on October 9, 2016
- ↑ The Sparrowhawk - from lighter-than-air to faster-than-sound; Moffett Field Historical Society newsletter; Vol VII No. 4 winter, 2000; P. 5
- ^ The Battle Between the Blimp and the Sub; By YNC Anthony Atwood; Naval Aviation News March – April 1997 pp. 26–29; Online as PDF ; accessed on October 10, 2016 (English)
- ↑ The Sparrowhawk - from lighter-than-air to faster-than-sound; Moffett Field Historical Society newsletter; Vol VII No. 4 winter, 2000; P. 4 and 5 (english)
- ↑ The Catalina Islander: "The Mystery" issue of August 5, 2011; P. 1 and 4; Retrieved online on October 9, 2016
- ↑ a b c d Blimp Squadron Eleven Chronology; Diary of the US Naval Unit ZP-14; online as PDF ( memento of the original from October 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. last accessed on October 9, 2016
- ↑ Bock / Knauer: Lighter than air: Transport and carrier systems, p. 326.
- ↑ blimpinfo-PDF , accessed on October 10, 2016.
- ↑ The ZPG-2 Airship 'Snow Bird' sets Unrefueled Flight Time and Distance Records. Retrieved October 10, 2016 .
