USS Macon over New York City in 1933

Career (United States)

Namesake:
Macon, Georgia
Launched:
21 April 1933
Commissioned: 23 June 1933
Struck: 26 February 1935
Fate: Crashed following structural failure on 12 February 1935.
General characteristics
Type: Airship
Tonnage:
108 t (106 long tons)
Length: 239 m (784 ft 1 in)
Beam: 40.5 m (132 ft 10 in) (diameter)
Height: 44.6 m (146 ft 4 in)
Propulsion:
8 420 kW (560 hp) internal combustion engines
Speed: 140 km/h (76 kn; 87 mph) (maximum)
Capacity:
Useful load: 72 t (71 long tons)
Volume: 184,000 m3 (6,500,000 cu ft)
Complement:
91
Aircraft carried:
5 F9C Sparrowhawk biplane fighters
USS Macon (ZRS-5) was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Na
vy for scouting and served as a "flying aircraft carrier", designed to carry bip
lane parasite aircraft, five single-seat Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk for scouting or
two-seat Fleet N2Y-1 for training. In service for less than two years, in 1935
Macon was damaged in a storm and lost off California's Big Sur coast, though mos
t of the crew were saved. The wreckage is listed as USS Macon Airship Remains on
the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Less than 20 ft (6.1 m) shorter than Hindenburg, both the Macon and "sister ship
" USS Akron (ZRS-4) were among the largest flying objects in the world in terms
of length and volume. Although the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg was longer, the tw
o sisters still hold the world record for helium-filled airships.[citation neede
d]
Contents [hide]
1 Construction
2 Christening and commissioning
3 Early service history
3.1 1933
3.2 1934
4 Leading up to the crash
5 Disaster
6 Wreck site exploration
6.1 2006 expedition
6.2 Protection
7 In popular culture
8 See also
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 External links
Construction[edit]
USS Macon was built at the Goodyear Airdock in Springfield Township, Ohio by the
Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation.[1] Because this was by far the biggest airship e
ver to be built in America, a team of experienced German airship engineersled by
Chief Designer Karl Arnsteininstructed and supported design and construction of b
oth U.S. Navy airships Akron and Macon.[2]
Macon had a structured duraluminum hull with three interior keels.[3] The airshi
p was kept aloft by 12 helium-filled gas cells made from gelatin-latex fabric. I
nside the hull, the ship had eight German-made Maybach 12-cylinder, 560 hp (418

kW) gasoline-powered engines that drove outside propellers.[4] The propellers co

uld be rotated down or backwards, providing an early form of thrust vectoring to
control the ship during takeoff and landings. The rows of hull's slots were par
t of a system to condense out the water vapor from the engine exhaust gases for
use as buoyancy compensation ballast to compensate for the loss of weight as fue
l was consumed.
Christening and commissioning[edit]
Macon was christened on 11 March 1933 by Jeanette Whitton Moffett, wife of Rear
Admiral William A. Moffett, Chief of the U.S. Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics.[5] T
he airship was named after the city of Macon, Georgia, which was the largest cit
y in the Congressional district of Representative Carl Vinson, then the chairman
of the House of Representative's Committee on Naval Affairs.[4]
The airship first flew one month later, shortly after the tragic loss of the Akr
on. Macon was commissioned on 23 June 1933, with Commander Alger H. Dresel in co
mmand.
Early service history[edit]
1933[edit]
On 24 June 1933 Macon left Goodyear's field for Naval Air Station (NAS) Lakehurs
t, N.J., where the new airship was based for the summer while undergoing a serie
s of training flights.[6]
The Macon had a far more productive career than the Akron, which crashed on 4 Ap
ril 1933. The commanders of the Macon developed the doctrine and techniques of u
sing her on-board aircraft for scouting while the airship remained out of sight
of the opposing forces during exercises.[7] The Macon participated in several fl
eet exercises, though the men who framed and conducted the exercises lacked an u
nderstanding of the airship's capabilities and weaknesses.[8] It became standard
practice to remove the landing gear of the Sparrowhawks while aboard the airshi
p and then replace it with a fuel tank, thus giving the aircraft 30 percent more
range.[9]
Some design details
Inside Macon's aircraft hangar.
Sparrowhawk scout/fighter aircraft on its exterior rigging.
Inside Macon's secondary control node.
Aerial reconnaissance "spy car" observer's basket which could be lowered below c
louds with a tether.
The Macon first docked an aircraft on 6 July 1933 during trial flights out of La
kehurst, New Jersey. The planes were stored in bays inside the hull and were lau
nched and retrieved using a trapeze.
The Macon departs the East Coast on 12 October 1933 on a transcontinental flight
to the scout ship's permanent homebase at NAS Sunnyvale (now Moffett Federal Ai
rfield) near San Francisco in Santa Clara County, California.[10]
1934[edit]
In 1934, two two-seat Waco UBF XJW-1 biplanes equipped with skyhooks were delive
red to the USS Macon.
In June, 1934, Lieutenant Commander Herbert V. Wiley took command of the airship

, and shortly afterwards he surprised President Franklin D. Roosevelt (and the N

avy) when the Macon searched for and located the heavy cruiser Houston, which wa
s then carrying the president back from a trip to Hawaii. Newspapers were droppe
d to the President on the ship, and the following communications were sent back
to the airship: "from Houston: 1519 The President compliments you and your plane
s on your fine performance and excellent navigation 1210 and 1519 Well Done and
thank you for the papers the President 1245." The commander of the Fleet, Admira
l Joseph M. Reeves, was upset about the matter: but the Commander of the Bureau
of Aviation, Admiral Ernest J. King[11] was not. Wiley, one of only three surviv
ors of the crash of the Akron, was soon promoted to commander, served as the cap
tain of the battleship West Virginia in the final two years of World War II, and
then retired from the Navy in 1947 as a rear admiral.
Leading up to the crash[edit]
Question book-new.svg
This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this s
ection by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challe
nged and removed. (February 2014)
USS Macon over Moffett Field
During a crossing of the continent, Macon was forced to climb to 6,000 ft (1,800
m) to clear mountains in Arizona. As the ship's pressure height (the height at
which the gas cells would start to leak and eventually rupture due to pressure d
ifference) was less than 3,000 ft (910 m), a large amount of helium was vented i
n reaching this altitude. To compensate for the loss of lift, 9,000 lb (4,100 kg
) of ballast and 7,000 lb (3,200 kg) of fuel had to be dumped. Macon was being f
lown 15,000 lb (6,800 kg) "heavy" and was operating at full power not only in or
der to have sufficient dynamic lift, but also to have enough control to fly in t
he severe turbulence through a mountain pass near Van Horn, Texas. Following a s
evere drop, a diagonal girder in ring 17.5, which supported the forward fin atta
chment points, failed. Rapid damage control by Chief Boatswain's Mate Robert Dav
is repaired the girders before further failures could occur. Macon completed the
journey safely but the buckled ring and all four tailfins were judged to be in
need of strengthening. The appropriate girders adjacent to the horizontal and lo
wer fins were repaired, but the repairs to the girders on either side of the top
fin were delayed until the next scheduled overhaul, when the adjacent gas cells
could be deflated.
Disaster[edit]
On 12 February 1935 the repair process was still incomplete when, returning to S
unnyvale from fleet maneuvers, Macon ran into a storm off Point Sur, California.
During the storm, the ship was caught in a wind shear which caused structural f
ailure of the unstrengthened ring (17.5) to which the upper tailfin was attached
. The fin failed to the side and was carried away. Pieces of structure punctured
the rear gas cells and caused gas leakage. Acting rapidly and on fragmentary in
formation an immediate and massive discharge of ballast was ordered. Control was
lost and, tail heavy and with engines running full speed ahead, Macon rose past
the pressure height of 2,800 ft (850 m), and kept rising until enough helium wa
s vented to cancel the lift, reaching an altitude of 4,850 ft (1,480 m).[12] It
took 20 minutes to descend and, settling gently into the sea, Macon sank off Mon
terey Bay. Only two of the 76 crew members were lost thanks to the warm conditio
ns and the introduction of life jackets and inflatable rafts after the Akron tra
gedy. Radioman 1st Class Ernest Edwin Dailey jumped ship while still too high ab
ove the ocean surface to survive the fall and Mess Attendant 1st Class Florentin
o Edquiba drowned while swimming back into the wreckage to try to retrieve perso
nal belongings. An officer was rescued when Commander Wiley swam to his aid, an
action for which he was later decorated.[13]
The cause of the loss was operator error following the structural failure and lo
ss of the fin. Had the ship not been driven over pressure height (where the cell

s were expanded fully and lifting gas released) Macon could have made it back to
Moffett Field.[citation needed] Four Sparrowhawks carried aboard were lost with
the airship.
Macon, having completed 50 flights since being commissioned, was stricken from t
he Navy list on 26 February 1935. Subsequent airships for Navy use were of a non
rigid design.
A depiction of the crash by artist Noel Sickles was the first piece of art sent
over the wire by the Associated Press.
Wreck site exploration[edit]
The pre-1941 pattern U.S. roundel emblem still faintly visible on
ckage of a Macon airplane.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) succeeded in
urveying the debris field of Macon in February 1991, and was able
e artifacts.[14] The exploration included sonar, video, and still
s well as some recovery of parts.

the sunken wre

locating and s
to recover som
camera data, a

In May 2005, MBARI returned to the site as part of a year-long research project
to identify archeological resources in the bay. Side-scan sonar was used to surv
ey the site.
2006 expedition[edit]
A more complete return, including exploration with remotely operated vehicles an
d involving researchers from MBARI, Stanford University, and the National Oceani
c and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, took p
lace in September 2006.[15][16] Video clips of the expedition were made availabl
e to the public through the OceansLive Web Portal, a service of NOAA.
The 2006 expedition was a success, and revealed a number of new surprises and ch
anges since the last visit, ~15 years previously. High-definition video and more
than 10,000 new images were captured, which were assembled into a navigation-gr
ade photomosaic of the wreck.[17]
Protection[edit]
U.S.S. Macon Airship Remains
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Uss-macon-sparrowhawk-sky-hook-09-2006b.jpg
Sky hook visible on the remains of one of Macon's F9C-2 biplanes (2006)
Location
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Big Sur, California
Area
5654.7 square meters[19]
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference #
09001274[18]
Added to NRHP 29 January 2010[18]
The wreckage of Macon was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on
29 January 2010.[18] The location of the wreck site remains secret and is within
a marine sanctuary, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. It is not acces
sible to divers due to depth (1,500 ft or 460 m).[19][20][21]
The U.S. National Park Service states:[22]
When the USS Macon was christened on 11 March 1933 the rigid airship was the mos
t sophisticated of the Navys lighter-than-air (LTA) fleet. The Macon exhibited th
e highest expression of naval LTA technology during the ship s short career. At
785 feet in length, the airships size captured American fascination during flyove
rs of U.S. communities as chronicled in numerous advertisements, articles, and n
ewsreels. The dramatic loss of the Macon and sister ship Akron within two years
of each other contributed to the cancellation of the Navys rigid airship program.

The archeological remains of the USS Macon lie off Californias Big Sur coast in
NOAAs Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The site also contains the remains
of four of the airships squadron of small Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk scout aircraft
which the Macon carried in an internal hangar bay.
The site was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on 29 Janua
ry 2010.[18] The listing was announced as the featured listing in the National P
ark Service s weekly list of 12 February 2010.[23]
In popular culture[edit]
The Macon is featured as a setting and key plot element in Max McCoy s novel Ind
iana Jones and the Philosopher s Stone; Indiana Jones travels aboard the Macon w
hile it makes a transatlantic flight to London.
The Macon is featured toward the end of the 1934 Warner Bros. film Here Comes th
e Navy starring James Cagney, Pat O Brien and Gloria Stuart. Cagney s character
is assigned to the Macon after serving on the USS Arizona, which is featured hea
vily in the film. The Arizona was sunk in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on
December 7th, 1941.
See also[edit]
List of airship accidents
Hangar One (Mountain View, California), built to house the Macon
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Akron-Summit County Public Library, Summit Memory. "Goodyear-Zeppelin
Corporation, Facts About the World s Largest Airship Factory & Dock". Retrieved
2008-11-15.
Jump up ^ Akron-Summit County Public Library, Summit Memory. "Dr. Karl Arnstein
photo and biography". Retrieved 2008-11-15.
Jump up ^ Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, Submerged Maritime Heritage Re
source: USS Macon. "The Marvel of the USS Macon". Retrieved 2008-11-15.
^ Jump up to: a b Moffett Field Museum, Moffett Field Historical Society. "U.S.S
. Macon". Retrieved 2008-11-13.
Jump up ^ Akron-Summit County Public Library, Summit Memory. "USS Macon christen
ing photograph". Retrieved 2008-11-15.
Jump up ^ "Macon Comes East; Her Voyage Calm: New Queen of Navy s Air Fleet Dock
ed at Lakehurst After Smooth Flight from Ohio". The New York Times, 25 June 1933
, p. 3
Jump up ^ Robinson 1973, p.242.
Jump up ^ Robinson 1973, p.243.
Jump up ^ Robinson 1973, p.244.
Jump up ^ "Macon Takes Off for Flight to the West: Dirigible Leaves Lakehurst fo
r Its Permanent Station at Sunnyvale, Calif" The New York Times, 13 October 1933
, P. 21
Jump up ^ the Chief of Naval Operations during World War II,
Jump up ^ Robinson 1973, p.246.
Jump up ^ Herbert V. Wiley, Captain USN, USS West Virginia, 1944-1945
Jump up ^ "MBARI s First Decade: A Retrospective" (PDF). Monterey Bay Aquarium R
esearch Institute. c. 1997. Retrieved 2006-10-04. (page 11)
Jump up ^ "Expedition To Probe Sunken Airship". KSBW-TV. 13 September 2006. Retr
ieved 2006-10-04.
Jump up ^ "Studying a Navy Relic, Undisturbed for Nearly 60 Years". The New York
Times. 3 October 2006. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
Jump up ^ "USS Macon Exploration Findings Unveiled". KSBW-TV. 27 September 2006.
Retrieved 2006-10-04. (includes slideshow)
^ Jump up to: a b c d "Announcements and actions on properties for the National
Register of Historic Places for February 12, 2010". Weekly Listings. National Pa
rk Service. 12 February 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
^ Jump up to: a b Bruce G. Terrell (10 February 2009). "National Register of His
toric Places Registration: USS Macon" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 20

10-05-18. (39 pages, with 20 historic and wreckage exploration photos)

Jump up ^ "2006 USS Macon Expedition". Sanctuaries.noaa.gov. Retrieved 2012-11-0
7.
Jump up ^ "NOAA News Online (Story 2708)". Noaanews.noaa.gov. 27 September 2006.
Retrieved 2012-11-07.
Jump up ^ "Weekly Highlight 02/12/2010 USS Macon Airship Remains, Monterey Count
y, California".
Jump up ^ "Weekly List Actions". National Park Service. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
Bibliography[edit]
Robinson, Douglas H., and Charles L. Keller. "Up Ship!": U.S. Navy Rigid Airship
s 1919-1935. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1982. ISBN 0-87021-7380
Robinson, Douglas H., Giants in the Sky. Henley-on-Thames: Foulis, 1973. ISBN 0
85429 145 8
Miller, Henry M., "Human Error: Road to Disaster", Canyon Books, 1975, ISBN 0-89
014-128-2
Smith, Richard K. The Airships Akron & Macon (Flying Aircraft Carriers of the Un
ited States Navy), United States Naval Institute: Annapolis, Maryland, 1965
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
ZRS-5 USS Macon (category)
Airships.net: U.S.S. Akron and Macon
A 1964 KPIX-TV documentary about the U.S.S. Macon
U.S. Naval Historical Center pages on ZRS-5
Lucidcafe.com has a good page with some additional photos of the ship and crew c
alled USS Macon: The US Navy s last dirigible
Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Ac
cidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action
Uncovering the USS Macon: The Underwater Airship" Der Spiegel
Construction of the USS Macon Airship (photo gallery)
KQED has put together a video with info about USS Macon, historical and wreck-si
te footage, as well as info about the new zeppelin that is flying over the San F
rancisco Bay Area.
Moffett Field Museum near San Jose, CA has an exhibit dedicated to the USS Macon
.
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Nav
al Fighting Ships.
[show] v t e
United States Navy rigid airships
[show] v t e
Lists relating to aviation
[show] v t e
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
[show] v t e
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Coordinates: 361727N 1215952W
Categories: Airborne aircraft carriersHistory of Monterey County, CaliforniaUnit
ed States Navy Georgia-related ships1933 ships1935 in aviation1935 in California
United States aircraft 19301939Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Pl
aces in CaliforniaGoodyear aircraftAkron-class airshipsAviation-related listings
on the National Register of Historic Places
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