"Exploring the USS Macon" Topic
6 Posts
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20 Aug 2015 3:04 p.m. PST
by Editor in Chief Bill
- Crossposted to WWII Naval Discussion board
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 Editor in Chief Bill   | 20 Aug 2015 3:02 p.m. PST |
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Eighty years ago, the Navy's last flying aircraft carrier crashed off the coast of California and sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.The sinking of USS Macon (ZRS-5), a lighter-than-air rigid airship, resulted in few deaths but its loss ended the Navy's quest to use airships as long-range scouts for the fleet. While the idea died, the wreck Macon lives on as an important archaeological site and this week Naval History and Heritage Command, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and several non-profits came together to explore the wreckage, mapping out pieces of the airship and its four biplanes and studying the change in its material condition over time… link "…the big what-if question is, if Macon had been operational and successful, might Macon and the little scout aircraft, might they have spotted the Japanese fleet before they could hit Pearl Harbor?" |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 20 Aug 2015 3:13 p.m. PST |
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Mark 1  | 20 Aug 2015 11:31 p.m. PST |
It is interesting to note that the crew of the Macon were sailors, even though they served on a ship that flew in the air. That includes the helmsman who steered the airship. But the pilots of the aircraft it carried were of course Naval airmen. I once made an ascent in a hot air balloon … INSIDE the Macon's old hanger at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale. These airships (and the structures to support them) were unbelievably large. -Mark
(aka: Mk 1 |
| David Manley | 21 Aug 2015 4:58 a.m. PST |
Looking back at the transactions of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects from the early 1900s you'll see a number of papers on airship design and manoeuvring. In fact the manoeuvring equations for submarines and airships are similar, if not identical depending on which sets you use. All the same problems, just the density of the medium is different….. |
| Charlie 12 | 21 Aug 2015 7:00 p.m. PST |
ODGW's Sudden Storm campaign game has the airships as a optional add-on. They basically provide additional scouting assets to the USN. As for whether they would've been effective in the '40s is doubtful. Aircraft ranges had extended to the point of negating any advantages the airships had. |
| zippyfusenet | 22 Aug 2015 2:35 p.m. PST |
There's a 1/600 kit of Akron/Macon just in at my FLHS. I'm resisting the urge. |
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