Imagine a fleet of warships able to cruise at 100 knots, out of reach of marauding submarines and surface craft. Consider further these same vessels launching waves of bombers and fighter planes from her massive bowels, striking unsuspecting foes before they can react. Such was the expectations of the US Navy's fleet of rigid airships in the 1920's and 30's, as instigated by America's "Father of Naval Aviation" Admiral William Moffet. Despite having lost two giant airships to tragic accidents, including the mighty Shenandoah, the Navy forged ahead with her plans for "flying aircraft carriers".
The new ships were the ZRS-4 and ZRS-5, more famously remembered as Akron and Macon. Before they were ready, aircraft hook-on experiments were conducted by the fleet's sole remaining airship, Los Angeles, made on July 3 1929. Success was achieved by using a"trapeze" apparatus to catch the planes in-flight, a practice which soon became routine. The first planes so utilized were Vought UO-1s, soon followed by NSY-1 trainers and Curtiss Sparrowhawk fighters. With the premise of flying aircraft carriers proven, the first vessel with a hangar was received. The Akron (built in Akron, Ohio) was christened on August 8, 1931. At 785 feet long, she was the largest airship in the world, though she could carry only two aircraft in hangar plus a third on the trapeze. Trials with the Sparrowhawk in June 1932 proved unsatisfactory; the plane was replaced by an improved version.
Throughout that year, Akron conducted a strenuous series of exercises proving the value of aircraft from airships for scouting purposes. Macon joined the aerial fleet in 1933 (hangar-less Los Angeles was soon retired), as Admiral Moffet's concept seemed assured. So confident was the Admiral in his ships that he took off with Akron in a dense fog, for a cruise up the New England coast. Caught in a storm, the giant vessel crashed in the sea, with only three crew members surviving. William Moffet was not one of these. With the airship's primary backer gone, their future was in doubt. All hope rested on Macon. The new ship was much the same as lost Akron, save for being faster and carrying double the aircraft. She was commissioned on April 23, 1933 by future World War 2 Navy Chief Admiral Ernest King. Homebase became Sunnyvale California, in the newly named Moffet Field.
Like her predecessors, Macon's early years were utilized in practicing with her Sparrowhawks, as well as conducting operations with the fleet. On one such exercise over the Pacific, she made a surprise attack on a group Navy cruisers, including the Houston with President Franklin Roosevelt onboard. Her planes accurately "bombed" the ship with magazines and newspapers, to the astonishment of the sailors. Macon's captain received a slap on the wrist by his superiors for the unscheduled attack, and a "job well done" from the President. Macon's star was on the rise as she continued to astound the public and the fleet with her versatility.
As always however, just when things were going well for the airships, disaster struck soon after the flying carrier let Moffet field on February 11, 1935. An earlier accident had weakened the great ship's superstructure, unknown to her crew, and the old wound came back to haunt her. Returning home after a rigorous training exercise in which her fighters located and tracked fleet units, the aft section suddenly ruptured. Macon hit the water tail first, with most of the crew escaping to life rafts. Only two perished, but with them went the dream of flying aircraft carriers. The basic premise as devised by Moffet and others had been sound, as the launch and recovery of Sparrowhawk fighters in fleet trials proved. Their majestic appearance at air shows and media fascination may have kept the idea alive longer than it should. It was the inherent instability of rigid airships and their vulnerability in almost any adverse weather which finally doomed them, plus taking the life of their most ardent supporter.
My name is Mike Burleson and I currently reside in historic Branchville, SC. Last year I completed my first book also titled "New Wars-The Transformation of Armies, Navies, and Airpower in the Digital Age", available for purchase from Blurb.com As a freelancer my articles on military issues have appeared in The American Thinker, The Washington Post, Sea Classics Magazine, Townhall.com via Opeds.com, Buzzle.com, and Strategypage.com. My blog title New Wars concerning military issues is updated daily.
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