USS Akron (ZRS-4) - Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation - Blueprint Drawing Schematic

Description

*24’’x76’’
*Copy of Original -
½ reproduction
*General Arrangement – Schematic
*Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation
*Frame NOT Included
*Shipping Included
The late 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of airships, lighter-than-air aircraft also known as dirigibles or zeppelins. At that time, entrepreneurs across the world were convinced that airship design had been perfected and many people saw these colossal flying balloons as the bright future of air travel.
Even the Empire State Building, which was finished in 1931, was equipped with a dirigible mast because its creators believed that it would serve as a docking bay for transatlantic airship flights. Sadly, airships quickly turned out to be a dangerous and extremely unreliable form of travel. Aside from their navigation system being clumsy, they were usually filled with hydrogen, a flammable gas which was responsible for a number of deadly airship accidents.
From its launch in August 1931 until April of 1933, when it perished, the airship was extensively used for scouting missions. Although it experienced two minor accidents during that time, the craft was considered stable enough for further military use.
On April 3, 1933,
Akron
was tasked with the calibration of radio equipment along the New England coast. As she flew over Barnegat Light in New Jersey and proceeded towards the ocean during the night, the weather conditions gradually worsened and a light breeze turned into a full-scale Atlantic storm.
The 785-feet long airship managed to maintain its course for a while, but the harsh weather soon dismantled its navigation system.
Akron
plunged into the ocean. It quickly broke apart and the crew ended up in the hostile water; 73 people died within minutes of the crash.
A German merchant vessel which witnessed the airship’s descent rushed to the crash site and managed to retrieve three survivors. By the time the vessel arrived,
Akron
had already been swallowed by the ocean. A smaller airship, the J-2, was immediately deployed to search the area for more survivors but the harsh weather caused it to suffer the same fate as the U.S.S.
Akron
. The crew lost control of the craft and it crashed into the ocean, killing two of the seven people on board.
A total of 75 people lost their lives in the U.S.S.
Akron
disaster, making it the worst airship disaster in history. Since the wrecks of both airships quickly sank to the bottom of the ocean and no reporters were present on site, the authorities were able to downplay the incident and the public of the time wasn’t made aware of the true scope of the catastrophe.