No. 76 Winter 2007 New Kid in the Dock · Van Treuren (left) Publisher David ... [email protected] Vice President – C. C. Moore 141 A Azalea Dr. ... achievements shown was Ron

The Official Newsletter of THE NAVAL AIRSHIP ASSOCIATION, INC. No. 76 Winter 2007

New Kid in the Dock

Inside: Reunion 2007 Report and Photos

Views of theNAA LakehurstReunionSeptember 2007Toms River, NJ

Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst(Above): NAA Member Paul Adams took this picture as he pilot-ed a Light Ship A -60+ over Lakehurst several years ago. (Right):The Cathedral of the Air where our memorial service was held on Thursday. (Below): Attendees gather at the site where the Hindenburg control car came to rest. (Bottom Left): The more than 200 reunion attendee’s seem almost lost in the gigantic Lakehurst Hangar #1. (Right Center): At the Hindenburg site, Noon Balloon Editor Richard Van Treuren (left) Publisher David Smith (center) visit with Langdon Fulton (right) about the design and construction of the American built rigid airships. (Bottom Right): Rick Zitarosa, Reunion Chairman and Navy Lakehurst Historian, receives his “Chairman’s Medallion” from outgoing President Bob Ashford.

ISSUE # 76 WINTER 2007

Editorial 2President’s Message 3Pigeon Cote 4Treasurer’s Strongbox 7With Our Members 8Shore Establishments 11Media Watch 13European Report 15NAA Reunion 2007 16Technical Committee 18Membership Director 20Long Lines/Cover story 21Short Lines 26History Committee 28USS Akron – 75 years 30Black Blimp 31Ready Room 32Lighter Side 32

THE NOON BALLOONOfficial Publication of the Naval Airship Association, Inc.

On the Cover of TNB #76: The late LT FrankKlingberg directing refueling of a ZP-2 K-ship inNAS Guantanamo Cuba in 1952. Thomas R. Cuthbertphoto; see his cover story on page 21.

Inside Front and Back Covers: Sights of the NAAReuion 2007. Also see pages 15-16 for additionalReunion coverage.

Back Cover: Some 40 years after the Admiral madehis final revisions, members of the History Committeehave finally gathered the resources to bringRosendahl’s long lost WWII Airship history to light.

All material contained in this newsletter representsthe views of its authors and does not necessarilyrepresent the official position of the Naval AirshipAssociation, Inc., nor its officers or members.

The Naval Airship Associationwww.naval-airships.org

President - Herman G. Spahr 1032 N. 21st St. - Lafayette, IN 47904-2217

Tel: 765-447-3676e-mail: [email protected] President – C. C. Moore

141 A Azalea Dr. - Whiting, NJ 08759-2950Tel: 732-849-4478

Secretary - Margret M. Hinrichsen653 Alvarado Lane - Cottonwood, AZ 86326

Email: [email protected] - Peter F. Brouwer

1950 S.W. Cycle St. - Port St. Lucie, FL 34953-1778 Tel: 772-871-9379

Email: [email protected] Liaison - Mort Eckhouse

Email: [email protected] Liaison – Joe HajcakEmail: [email protected]

Webmaster - Michael VinnarickEmail: [email protected]

Technical Committee Chair –Norman Mayer

Email: [email protected] Stores - George W. Allen

Email: [email protected]

Filming‘ThisMan’sNavy’ atNASMoffettField, CA,1944

Tel. & Fax: 928-634-0727






















Tel. & Fax: 928-634-0727






















Tel. & Fax: 928-634-0727






















Tel. & Fax: 928-634-0727

2

Sure was great seeing many of you at theReunion at Lakehurst. It can’t be said too oftenwhat a terrific job Chairman Rick Zitarosa andhis team did hosting the event. (Even theAtlantic City bus trip was graced with aLightship fly-by.) Dave and I were alsograteful for the many folks who shook handsand reassured us they liked the NB and its mixof old and new, experience and innovation.With so much LTA happening in, say, theArctic these days, for example, it’s good wehave such quality submissions from memberslike Herman Van Dyk for the historicalperspective along with members deliveringfirst hand accounts from the front lines.

If I had to grouse about something, it would bethe members’ seeming lack of interest incorrecting either old or new. The record of K-14 or K-72, for example, will stand, just assurely as aeronautical students today have noinstitutional course. Even the Jack HuntMemorial Library at Embry-Riddle Aero-nautical University contains no LTA textbook!

Your editor (in NAA hat) volunteered for theEnergy Whiz Olympics again, helping studentscompete their fuel-cell powered model cars. Ifit were in my power to translate the GermanLTA textbook, I could, for example, point thestudents in the direction of consideringhydrogen power for airships.

While we may not be in the mood to actcollectively, individual members might helpthe LTA cause just by depositing their oldNOON BALLOONs at a library or learninginstitution instead of the wastebasket. If you

4hang on to yours, consider the suggestion byDon Shorts - sign up your alma mater or otherfavorite school or library for a giftmembership: they will receive TNB. (I amhappy to report our magazine is going to theSmithsonian’s NASM as of this issue.) At leastwe are coming to grips with the checkered pastof the ZP5K, issue by issue, if only GordonVaeth alone seemed moved to write me aboutcalling the Navy wrong on ZP-15’s history lastissue. Jeff Cook is fairly sure the ripped 5K inthe photo is Bu No 141567, from the recordedaccident at Kindley AFB on 14 FEB 58. Theburning envelope is definitely Bu No 137490because Andy Kohut took the time to zeroxthe caption of the photo and send it in. Itsfabric caught fire in pouring rain at Glynco on26 JUL 56. (Bags must have been flammable!)

Speaking of historical action, a team of NAAmember volunteers have finally broughtVADM Rosendahl’s long lost WWII history toprint. Since it was not an official NAAsponsored project it will not be offered atSmall Stores. Since it is LTA history, it won’tbe offered in commercial bookstores, either. Ifyou can’t visit Lakehurst or Moffett ornegotiate the internet to the sites listed at theend of CP Hall’s review herein, then just dropDave or myself a line or call, and we’ll tell youhow to obtain a copy.

Right on the heels of the NAA Reunion wasthe AIAA LTA Tech Committee meeting withits technical paper presentations. The lateHepburn Walker, Jr. was recognized by theAIAA for his lifetime of LTA achievement. Ihad the privilege of accepting the beautifulcrystal vase for Hep on behalf of the Walkerfamily. Amid the technical wonders andachievements shown was Ron Hoschstetler’sproposal to establish a non-profit “Z” prize.Like the “X” prize before it which resulted inactual tourist space flight hardware, the Z prizewould foster competition between largecompanies and garage-base business alike tobuild the LTA craft that have always beenpossible but have awaited some influx of majorcash. Stay tuned. –R G Van Treuren

EDITORIALR. G. Van Treuren, [email protected]

Box 700, Edgewater FL 32132-0700

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Following in the footsteps of Bob Ashford andother past Presidents presents a tremendouschallenge. I'm a firm believer in the saying "ifeverything works satisfactorily - don't change".The Chairmen of all Committees have beeninvited to continue in office - and all haveaccepted. It is anticipated that someCommittees may be strengthened with theaddition of new members. Letters ofappointment and appreciation will be sent to allCommittee Members upon recommendationand confirmation by their Chairmen.

The Executive Council has agreed thatmaintaining and increasing our NAAmembership is of primary importance. DonShorts has agreed to spruce this important task.He will be assisted by Fred Morin, a successfulbusinessman with a strong interest in aviationand having an extensive marketing back-ground.

In truth – every member of the NAA should bea Membership Ambassador. Wouldn't it bewonderful it each of us could encourage justone new member to join!

Vice President C. C. Moore has been chargedwith the responsibility of continuing a closeand personal relationship with key personnel atthe Lakehurst Naval Facility.

Richard G. Van Treuren will continue asEditor of the NOON BALLOON andChairman of the History Committee. Inaddition to the continuing members, AlRobbins will also serve. Al is an aviationenthusiast with a particular interest in airshiphistory.

Joe Hajcak has accepted the hugeresponsibility of being Chairman of theReunion Committee. M. A. “Mort” Eckhousehas agreed to assist. It is gratifying to knowthat the success of our next reunion is in thehands of two such capable persons.

Although two other east-coast sites haveexpressed an interest, the majority opinion ofthe Executive Council agrees that NAS

keeping with the purpose of our organization.

As your President for the next two years Ipledge my best efforts to promote and maintainour organization. I have a strong sense ofsatisfaction in knowing that I can always relyon past presidents, old friends and shipmatessuch as Bob Ashford, Norm Mayer, GeorgeAllen, John Fahey, Herb Biedebach and othersI knew during my more than ten years flyingairships.

- Herm Spahr

[Ed. note: As we go to press, Fred Morin has alsovolunteered for the History Committee.]

View From The Top:PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

THE NOON BALLOONVolunteer Staff

Contributing Editors: NAA MembersMasthead Artwork: Bo Watwood

www.navyblimps.tripod.comEditor: Richard G. Van Treuren

www.airshiphistory.comPublisher: David R. Smith

www.gyzep.com

Ed. caption: NAA member Ross Wood atophis ZPG-2W at NAS Lakehurst in 1959.

Pensacola is the most suitable location in

4

We sent a copy of TNB #74 to renownedauthor and U-boat historian Prof. Dr. JurgenRohwer who thanked the editor, responding,‘Yes, the fate of the K-14 or the reason for itsloss seems to be still unclear. But a German U-boat was not there at the time. U-869 wasdeparting Kristiansand in Norway only on 22JAN 45. The problem was that this U-boat hadthe order to operate off Gibraltar, but reallysometime in January going west and was sunkon 11 FEB 45 in 39,30N/72.58W by US DE'sHoward D. Crow and Koiner, as Mr. AlexNiestile, our best expert in U-boat losses,found after the wreck was found some timeago...” The Professor goes on to mention his“Chronology of the War at Sea” was updatedwith previously unavailable Soviet documentsand has been reprinted by the Naval Institute.As we reported, after much previous study theU-869 was thought to be a victim of its owntorpedo, its proximity to Lakehurst and thepossible experimental use of a "Fido" by along dead K-ship crew not withstanding. Ω

New member Juergen Bock e-mailed ourtreasurer from Germany: “Thank you formailing me a membership card and the sticker.As a proof of eligibility I am transmitting you aphotograph [above] of 1976, taken at theCedar Inn, Toms River, N.J.-From left to rightCharlie Mills, myself (with cigar andsunglasses on account of a miserable summercold), VADM Rosendahl, Frank Piasecki, JimPunderson, Hep Walker. Too bad, only two ofthis group are still alive! About at that time Istarted to become a consultant in the Helistatproject, yet both Charlie and I kicked ourselvesout of the project within a few years.(Con’t)

E-mail, fax, hand scribble and snail-mail, or wrapit on a bird’s leg, just get it to your editor.Remember, we can’t print it if you don’t send it in!

Consultants have the strange habit of trying toimplement their own knowledge andexperience. I am about ready to attend theAIAA-LTA conference in Belfast and hope tomeet Rich Van Treuren. We are both lookingout for support in translating our German LTAbook of 2003 into English; so far no success.Professional translators would charge in theorder of 10,000 EUROS. Besides, mosttranslators are not familiar with the specificterminology of LTA. Best regards, Juergen” Ω

Michael Osinski of Memphis, Indiana, writes:"This is a photo of an aircraft I worked on inmy first aviation job, when I was 21. The yearwas 1985 and I was a mechanic on the Helistat,a heavy lift aircraft design for the forestdepartment. Unfortunately it crashed duringtesting and hadone fatality.Ironically, itc rashed inLakehurst,New Jersey[where theHindenburgwent down]. Ihave s incemoved on, andam now anaircraftmaintenanceinstructor andcommercialhelicopterpilot. Yet I stilllook back on that project with amazement.”Ω

Pigeon Cote

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CAPT H.E. “Ed” Mayfield, Jr. USNR wrote:“My mother (Frances Mayfield) asked me tosend you a photo of my father in his uniform.This photo [see Black Blimp, pg 32] was takenaround 1976 when my father was promoted toCDR. I don’t have any photos of his days inblimps as that was before my time. Both mybrother and I continue to serve in the Navy.My brother is a pilot / intel officer (LCDRChuck Mayfield) and I am a naval flight officer(NFO) in the Navy Reserve. It was 27 yearsago this past week that my father flew me up toNewport, RI, to attend the Naval Academy PrepSchool. We miss him very much. He was agood man and a patriot.” Ω

(Above) Member D a n L i n d s a y([email protected]) e-mailed a number ofexcellent color images from his days in HS-3 atWeeksville. Included was a great shot of theK's first postwar configuration, the ZP2K, withits water ballast bag dangling on the winchcable at the aft end of the car. We sureappreciate Dan sharing those images. Ω

CDR J.W. Kissick, Jr. e-mailed: “A recentcopy of TNB contained several commentsregarding my duties as AC of ZS2G-1#141570. It is too bad that the entire story ofthat fateful day, 9/16/58, as related in myaviation autobiography, "A Flyers Dash", hasnever been revealed. A copy of Chapter 7(". . . . .AND EVERYONE THOUGHTLIGHTER-THAN-AIR WAS DULL")therefrom had been forwarded to NAA so thatfactuality could be known. I still hold theaccident report. Little has ever been said about

the 2 1/2 hour unbelievable ordeal, nor that wesurvived by Divine intervention. Nor has acomment ever been made regarding myinstructions to my crew that the sonar fish,hanging some 60 feet below on its cable,would dig into the mud, causing the ship toheel-over to its downwind side, and I would,accordingly, order “Abandon ship....port orstarboard... whichever is appropriate.” Nor hasthere ever been any mention of the fact that,when so ordered, and as I expected, the ship,anchored briefly by its sonar fish, wouldswing, violently, back to port, at whichextreme I grabbed the ripcord, threw myselfout of the port cockpit window, bounced offthe searchlight mount and holding onto the redline, tried to rip the ship so it would not swingback and come down on my crew. I am hereto state this fact only because the people atGoodyear, who blatantly misriveted the controltubing in the tail, which caused the first crash,also had double-glued the rip panel, and my200-pound body only pulled-out the bottomplug, and the ship did not rip. I was, later,presented the red chord from the wreckage, andstill have it. To my knowledge, I was one ofonly two LTA pilots having served in jetfighters on our previous sea duty tour. I was tobecome a quad-qualified pilot, props, jets, LTAand helicopters, before going on to moreimportant duties. While an AC in ZP-2,however, may I relate yet another unusual"experience": It was very dark with a lowovercast. We were quite far out over theAtlantic as usual, looking for cold-warsubmarines. My radar operator reported asurface contact almost directly below us, butthere was nothing to be seen, so I reversedcourse, and again got a report the contact was,now, directly ahead. Seconds later, a P2Vdropped out of the cloud in front of the nose,shot beneath us, and, presumably, pulled upbehind us into the soup. No ship below!Again, Divine intervention!!!! You may guessto whom the “...DASH” is dedicated. The VAasked for one of the few copies, and had itplaced in the Library of Congress. CDRJames W. Kissick, Jr 104 5th St. So.,Bradenton Beach, FL 34217-2500 - (941)778-1154.” Ω

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‘Red’ Layton e-mailed: “The Summer 2007 NoonBalloon brings to mind two L-8 stories. When theCarrier Hornet left San Francisco bay with JimmyDoolittle’s B- 25s aboard, it was before a criticalpiece of "navigation gear" had been loaded. Themissing equipment was placed on a Navy blimpthat made a drop to the Hornet outside of theGolden Gate. The blimp was the L-8. A good manyyears ago a ‘Pulp’ magazine carried a Clover and astory about the "Mystery of the L-B". They hadobviously lifted the story and the pictures fromanother source and failed to notice that the ‘block’8 was, indeed, a number, If you look at the pictureon the back cover of the Noon Balloon, you can seehow they made this mistake. I have a copy of thismagazine in my ‘files’ and if I devoted several daysfull time, I might be able to find it.” Ω

Always wear your NAA hat... your editors’ eliciteda comment at a Dunkin' Donuts by a fellow whorecommended talking to a neighbor who'dremembered hearing about a blimp being shotdown off Maine during WWII. When I finally metRalston H. Spenser, living less than a mile awayfrom me all these years, he explained he'd servedwith ZP-2 mostly at Glynco. He did not have anyspecific recollection of how he might have heardabout the K-14. He did say as an HTA CPO he didnot feel much like part of the group and did notobject when he rotated back to HTA. Anyone whoremembers Spenser might also know the source ofthe K-14 story, so don't hesitate to speak up. Sadly,Spenser refused NAA membership. Ω

Charlie Bennet called to point out errors in theobit of James L. Sinquefield last issue. Jamesserved with ZP-41, then HQed at Sao Luis. OtherBrazilian mast sites worked were Amapa andFortelaza. While he and Charlie visited Richmond,they also were assigned to NAS Houma following ahurricane. Like helicopters following the recentstorm Katrina, the airships spotted stranded folksout in the bayous and lowered supplies whenneeded, calling in the CG for rescue when possible.Charlie said Houma housed a number of GermanPOWs at that time and they may have beenemployed to ground-handle ships, as in France.Charlie also mentioned there was a mast base onthe Western tip of Cuba, San Huleon (sp?) andmissions to the Yucatan were flown – and the basewas not the one on Isle of Pines. (Anyone elseserve at these stations?) Says Bill Baker wasaboard the blimp that lost both engines and had tobe towed in by the submarine to Key West. Ω

M a r k L u t z e-mailed: Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship claims: “InNovember 2006, the US Army purchased anA380+ [sic] airship from American BlimpCorporation through a Systems level contract withNorthrop Grumman and Booz Allen Hamilton. Theairship will start flight tests in late 2007 with aprimary goal of carrying 2,500 lb of payload to analtitude of 15,000 ft under remote control andautonomous waypoint navigation. The programwill also demonstrate carrying 1,000 lb of payloadto 20,000 ft. The platform could be used for Multi-Intelligence collections. Northrop Grumman(formerly Westinghouse) has responsibility for theoverall program."

Bob Slaff sent some hard copies and e-mailed:“Quite a few years ago we stopped en route southand chatted about my WWII service in Squadron22 & 51. I am one of 13 WWII veterans selected byMaryland Public Television to participate in acorollary to Ken Burns, THE WAR. In the livevideo section I speak about LTA escort and anti-submarine service. (The websi te ishttp://www.mpt.org/thewar/profiles/slaff.html) goto profiles, click on biography, photos and video.Life's lottery makes me the 'survivor' of our crewwho served in both ZP-22 & -51. Ω

Ford Ross sent an attachment of a postwar techorder concerning loading and pressure of K-typeairships. Sadly as with most the print is too small tobe readable unless we devoted a page to it. Ω

The passing of Richard Widdicome (see BlackBlimp, noting he is not wearing CAC wings) hasironic timing since, as a young enlisted man, hewas on the crew of the K-6 when it encountered theU-94 early in 1942. Members of the HistoryCommittee have just now published VADM C. E.Rosendhal’s WWII Airship History. Rosendahlhad uncovered this otherwise un-published combatand told the assembled LTAS banquet about it backin the 1950s, but no other author since mentioned itin their works. Enjoy C. P. Hall’s review herein. Ω

Robert F. Martin has completed his exhaustiveresearch and put together an extensive etymologyof the word ‘blimp.’ He has assembled it in anillustration-rich printout that is most enjoyable butsadly rather difficult to make compatible with ourTNB format. Perhaps when he completes his majorwork on the 3W crash we can persuade him torework the blimp etymology into something we canreformat for TNB readers. Ω

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TREASURER’S STRONGBOX

Betty and I have returned to Florida after anenjoyable reunion and extended vacation. Wewere very happy to hear the comments of thefolks attending the reunion who had not beento Lakehurst in 40-50 years. This was a veryspecial event for all! Special thanks to RickZitarosa and associates of the Navy LakehurstHistorical Society for hosting our reunion.

Renewal letters will be mailed the beginning ofNovember to only those of you who need torenew for 2008. If you have paid ahead, youwill not be receiving this notice. NOTE: Duesare now $25 per year.

When you send in your renewal, please correctany pertinent information (i.e. phone, e-mail,address, zip codes, etc.) A new roster/directorywill be printed after the first of the year and wewould like all information updated.

If you are not scheduled to receive a renewaland your address, etc. has changed, pleasenotify me.

We would like to welcome the following newmembers to the N.A.A.:

Zanghi, Keith – Graham, WAOnago, James – Allen, TXSpahr, William R. – Hickory, NCSpahr, James M. – Hawthorne, NCSpahr, Philip M. – Grand Haven, MIHanneld, Michael R. – St. Simons Island, GASohn, Irving – Wellington, FLN. England Air Museum, Windsor Locks, CTRogal, Joseph W. – Hastings, PALansdowne, Zachary - Carmel Valley, CABalestri, William – Henderson, NVCyr, William – Lake Placid, FLEckert, Charles – Alexandria, VAKeneipp, Robert – Lakehurst, NJManuel, Jim D. Jr. – Lakewood, NJMadigan,Thomas W. – Denver, COSheft, Laura Lynn – Sanibel, FLScroggs, Theodore D. – Marlborough, CTUdvar-Hazy Education Center, SmithsonianAir & Space Museum, Chantilly, VA

We would also like to thank the following fortheir generous donations and support of theN.A.A.: $5 - $49 -Salvatore D. VacantiIra SchwarzErnest ClarkHerman SpahrMichael R. HanneldDavid J. LaurelPatricia Bracyin Memory of “Pete” ChamblissBelle BellFrederick R. Morin

$100-$499 – Ross F. Wood

In closing, we would like to wish you andyours a very Happy Holiday Season.

- Peter F. Brouwer

Ed. Note: Can anyone i.d. these hard workingtroops from NASL in early 1942?

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WITH OUR MEMBERS IN THE FIELD

Member Dominique Manière reports: “This

Electricity Company who wants to use it forpower line surveys in Russia and Siberia(which is part of Russia, actually). Now,pooling up with Gazprom for pipelinessurveys, that might give it a boost....

In the mean time, Airship #3 is being finished(mainly the gondola), with a Jean-LouisEtienne team of half a dozen working inconjunction with the Moscow Institute ofAviation. I order to save more time, Jean-LouisEtienne has had some parts beingmanufactured by Dassault (manufacturer of the"Mirage,” “Rafale,” as well as of the “Falcon”line of business jets.)

All the AU-30 parts will be delivered inMarseille-Marignane airport, in a hangarowned by Eurocopter. First flight should be inearly Oct., followed by training of 8 pilots.”

(Related Story) Venezuela Goes for RussianZeppelins By Sergei Balashov June 2007, inpart: Cutting edge pipeline technology arrivedon a zeppelin which landed on a cornfield ashort drive away from VNIIGAZ headquartersjust outside of Moscow. "We hope thiszeppelin will be exported to Venezuela andwe're going to work on the technical andcommercial details of our agreement.PetroChina is also expressing great interest.We're currently trying to work out anagreement to sell them a zeppelin of this kind,"VNIIGAZ general director Roman Samsonovtold OGE.” Ω

Roy Gibbens pointed out an error of omissionlast TNB: “The propellers were installed on a26 foot ‘Airspeed’ envelope that had been usedby a major gas corporation advertising theirproduct in the UK. The airship was one ofseveral manufactured and operated in theUK by Nigel Wells. He ‘donated’ anenvelope to me for testing the cycloidalpropellers. (Con’t)

These photos of my Airspeed airship modifiedfor Cycloidal propellers being tested in thePeavey Electronics hangar in Meridian, MS.”Ω

Variable-directionthrustCycloidalpropellers

is the Au-30 Airship. It is owned by the

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17th AIAA LTA Tech Com ConferenceBelfast, Northern Ireland, 18 – 20 Sept 2007

The AIAA’s AITO conference convened its LTATC meeting, chaired by Dr. Bernard Sträter,recently retired from ZLT Zeppelin Luft-schifftechnik GmbH. Papers were presentedcovering progress and developments in the“buoyant” state of the art in several countries.

AIAA-LTA-TC Chair MikeConners presents GeorgeSpyrou of Airship ManagementServices with etched vasecommemorating a lifetime ofLTA. Editor’s photo.

The first night’s gatheringfound NAA/TC membersgathering to honor two of their own: George Spyrouof Airship Management Services and the lateHepburn Walker, Jr. were both presented lifetimeachievement awards by the LTA TC Chairman, MikeConners. The AIAA President later announced theawards to the entire assembly, and your editoraccepted the etched vase on behalf of the Walkerfamily.

Session 1, “Airship Design and Propulsion,” waschaired by Dr. R. Pant of the Indian Institute ofTechnology. Papers presented were “LTA AircraftUndercarriages: The Author's Experience” by C.Luffman; “Measurements of Drag/PropulsionInteraction Effects on a Spherical Airship Model” byJ. Ottmann; “Improvement of Propulsive Efficiencyby Dedicated Stern Thruster Design” by A. Hirner;and “Feasibility Studies for a Bionic Blimp with aFish- Like Propulsion System” by the team of S.Michel, A. Bormann, M. Bernasconi, M. Zobel and E.Fink. That last paper featured the new idea of usingelectrostatic pressure panels to warp an airshipenvelope like a fish body for steering while otherpanels propelled the ship with a “bionic, swimming”fin – a unique noiseless propulsion methoddemonstrated in model form.

The second session “Low Altitude UnmannedAirships” was chaired by M. Burns of Booz AllenHamilton. Papers presented were “Studies andApplications for LTA” by the team of K. Tanaka, Y.Hamaguchi, and S. Maekawa of the Japan AerospaceExploration Agency; “Design Fabrication andOperation of Low Cost Remotely ControlledAirships” by the team of A. Gawale; R. Pant and Y.Jahagirdar. Tanaka’s paper contained a uniquehistorical review, including little known observations– like the Chinese invention of paper remaining asecret for 600 years.

Session 3, “HALE Airship Technologies andOperation,” was chaired by Dr. G. Camplin, AirshipHeritage Trust, Cambridge. Papers presented were:“Precision Navigation of Airborne Vehicles UsingPseudolites Mounted on Stratospheric Airships” bythe team of B. Chandu and R. Pant; “Comparison ofPropulsion Technologies for a HALE Airship” by theteam of P. Hendrick, D. Verstraete, and L. Halet;“HiSentinel Airship Effort” by the team of M. Leeand I. Smith; “Flight Approval of SPF- 2 LowAltitude Flight Test Vehicle” by the team of M.Nakadate and S. Maekawa; “Developing a EuropeanResearch Strategy in the High Altitude Aircraft andAirship Sector,” by the team of P. Hendrick, T. Tozer,and B. Sträter. Lee’s paper included a video of theirexperimental plastic airship, launched vertically andlimp, reaching over 70,000 feet and returning videofrom that altitude, only the second such success inLTA history.

Session 4, “Unmanned Airship Design and Control”was chaired by P. Hendrick of Brussels, Belgium.Papers presented were: “Multi-disciplinary DesignMethods for the Hybrid Universal Ground Observing(HUGO) Airship” by the team of T. Kuhn, C. Rößler,and H. Baier; “Nonlinear Control Approaches for anAutonomous Unmanned Robotic Airship” by theteam of E. de Paiva, Centro de Pesquisas, RenatoArcher, F. Benjovengo and S. Bueno of Brazil and J.Azinheira and A. Moutinho of Lisboa, Portugal;“Flight Autonomous System Integration for LTARemote Operation” by the team of C. Lin, C. Hsu,and J. Lee, Taiwan. The Brazilian/Portuguese co-operative paper included details on their joint ventureenvironmental observation airship, operated by aremote pilot. The Taiwanese’ paper included ademonstration of their airship control electronics,which directed the vehicle via GPS signals butswitched to an internal INS if the signal was lost orcorrupted.

Session 5, “Airship Buoyancy Systems,” was chairedby your TNB editor. Papers presented were: “NewInsulation for Thermal Balloons and Airships” by theteam of A. Bormann, S. Skutnik, J. Llado and P.Duvoisin; ‘Airship Hybrid Power System DesignUsing Evolutionary Programming for Seeking NeutralBuoyancy” by C. Severns; and “HEIDAS UH: Flyingwith Super-Heated Steam” by the team of A.Bormann, S. Skutnik, and M. Fischer. Bormann’spaper closed with the revelation their first steam-liftballoon, made possible by Aero-X insulating fabric,would have its maiden flight just days after theconference.

Session 6, “Aerostat and Airship Structures” waschaired by: Dr. A. Bormann of Germany. Paperspresented were: “Tear Propagation of a HighPerformance Airship Envelope Material” by the team

10

of S. Maekawa, K. Shibasaki, T. Kurose, Y. Sasakiand T. Yoshino; “Multidisciplinary ShapeOptimization of Aerostat Envelopes” by the team ofC. Vijayram and R. Pant; “Nonlinear Analyses ofAerostat Behaviour” by P. Rawat; “Design andFabrication of an Aerostat for WirelessCommunication in Remote Areas” by the team of V.Gawande, P. Bilaye, N. Agrawal, A. Gawale, R. Pant,and U. Desai. Dr. Pant ran a video showing theirstudent team filling a plastic balloon with hydrogen,running it up on a tether, then purposely putting a hotflame to the plastic skin. As a hole burned openingthe skin, the balloon quickly settled and collapsedwithout explosion, a few orange flames visible fromthe plastic burning.

Right after lunch on Thursday a panel discussion washeld. “Environmental Advantages of TransportAirships” was moderated by Gregory Gottliebrepresenting the UK’s Airship Association. Thepanel discussion examined the many advantages ofmodern technology Transport Airships providingtransport of goods and materials in anenvironmentally sustainable way. The panelists wereRichard Smith of Shell, Ron Hochstetler of SAIC,and Grant Carichner, deputy program manager forbuoyant systems, Lockheed-Martin.

Minutes before the final session, CEO Brandt of ZLTZeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH was called awayowing to an incident with the South African ship.“Transport Airship Developments,” was chaired byDr. R. Boyd, Lockheed Martin, Palmdale. Paperspresented were: “Zeppelin NT as a Platform forRemote Sensing for Environmental and IndustrialApplications” (presented by Brant’s predecessor,Bernard Sträter); “Optimization of Airship Routes forWeather” by A. Sarma (presented by R.Hoschstetler); “Experimental Investigation of Drag ona High Altitude Airship” presented by N. Chokani, aSwiss professor, was a last-minute substitution;“Establishment of A Transport Airship Competition”by R. Hoschstetler; “Comparing 1928 Technologyand Operation: USS Argonaut (SS-166) and GrafZeppel in (LZ-127)” by your TNB editor.Hoschstetler’s proposal to create a “Z” prize to fosterteam effort to be the first to achieve various LTAgoals was possibly the most important at theconference., and everyone has been listening closelyfor word of its development. Dr. Sträter’s papershowed the real-world accomplishments of theZeppelin NT fleet, but was saddened by the breakingnews the African NT had been pummelled by atornado (See “News from Friedrichshafen” pg 15.)

The meeting adjourned with everyone promising tomeet again on the 100th anniversary of the formationof the original Zeppelin company. (See “ReadyRoom.”) Ω

“Airships and ice roads: Global warmingforcing a re-think of how best to supplyremote communities” by NAA member Dr.Barry Prentice: Excerpt from theWinnipeg Free Press, Tue Oct 23 2007

Most discussions of climate change, melting ice capsand global weather events are focused onmeasurement. The debate needs to shift to considerhow we are going to cope with these changes. In nocase is this more critical to Canada than the failing ofthe ice road transportation system. Over the past 10years, the network in Manitoba has gone from 55 to60 days of usage to 20 days or less in some years. Ifwe fast forward another decade or so, ice roads maynot be worth building. How do the remotecommunities that depend on this transportationsystem obtain fuel, construction materials and foodsupplies?

Airplanes could also be used to supply remotecommunities but in addition to their high operatingcosts, landing strips would have to be improved toaccommodate larger aircraft. This idea is so easilydismissed that no estimates of using cargo airplanesto replace ice roads exist.

Airships are faster, more flexible and less expensivethan hovercraft. Very little investment is required infixed facilities to operate airships because "the vehicleis the infrastructure." Airships can go where theelevation is below 2,000 metres and can be operatedamphibiously like hovercraft.

The limitations of hovercraft and airships are nolonger technical. The only important questions areeconomic. How do their costs compare to theconstruction of all-weather roads and airports? In thecase of hybrid airships the business case has beenresearched. A 50-tonne lift airship could competewith the costs of trucks over the ice roads inManitoba.

The experience with activist governments during the20th century has made voters skeptical of bold publicinitiatives. Politicians have become very cautious andgenerally try to lead by following. No one is arguingfor more public intervention, but governments mustplay a role when the business sector either cannot orwill not do so alone.

The situation of Canada's ice roads is receiving lessmedia attention than the melting ice cap, but theprocess is happening with similar speed. It is time toaccept the problem, and move from measurement tosolutions.

[Ed. Note: watch for Dr. Barry Prentice’s report onthe Fourth Annual ‘Airships to the Arctic’ Conferencebeing held at press time at the Fort Garry Hotel.]

11

SHORE ESTABLISHMENTS

I received a phone call from the Beltway area toinform that Navy MZ3A airship #167811 will beturned for use by the Army, with the latter takingcustody of the airship in approximately the nextquarter. Apparently the airship will still be*technically* still owned by the Navy...... whetherit will still carry its Navy serial # or place on theinventory is not known. (The original short-livedcivil registration # was "N157LG" when the firsttest flights were made under the auspices ofLightship Group.)

Lakehurst’s role in any future military LTA projectsis not known at this time. When the MZ3A projectfirst surfaced, it appeared that it would lead to atleast some money being made available tostabilize/upgrade the airship hangar facilities on thebase, particularly wooden-arch Hangar #6, whichserved as the operational headquarters for theMZ3A and the short-lived revival of the Navy LTAprogram.

The reasons why the Navy chose to terminate theirfirst-active LTA project in over 40 years areperhaps best known only to the individuals whopushed for the decision; the “official” version isthat the Navy determined that they “do not have amission for the airship at this time.” Thatsomebody else now has a mission for this airship atthis time is apparent; the nature and location of thatmission are vague at this time. Indications are thatthe ship will be in the Southeastern United Statesand will be operated for the Army by a privatecontractor, at least in the beginning.

Japanese aeronauts visited Lakehurst 7/24 as partof a business trip to the U.S. regardingLTA/Ballooning matters. A great deal ofpaperwork and permission had to be securedthrough Base Security and the NCIS in order toallow them to visit Lakehurst due to their“Foreign Nationals” status and this was handled

graciously (and flawlessly) by Larry Lyford ofthe Navy Lakehurst Public Affairs Department.

Michio Kanda (left) and Saburo "Sabu" Ichiyoshivisit the LZ129 Hindenburg control car replica atthe Navy Lakehurst Historical Society display areain Historic Hangar #1. (Zitarosa photo)

"Sabu" Ichiyoshi is currently manager of LTAoperations for Lightship Group operations inJapan and President of the Buoyant FlightSociety of Japan. Among his LTA achievementswas an attempt to fly over Mt. Everest in a hotair balloon. He also has extensive gas balloonexperience, having first trained in hydrogenballoons in Augusburg, Germany in the 1970's.Michio, an employee in local Japanese regionalgovernment, is planning for an upcoming balloonflight across the Pacific Ocean, with Sabu as hisprinciple technical/logistics advisor. The twomen toured the historic exhibits and displays andwe took them up a few ladders and along a fewcorridors to see some of the mechanical-structural details of the hangar more closely.Japanese LTA prospects are especially excitingthese days with the arrival/operation of aZeppelin NT in the country right now as wespeak ("the best airship available in the world atthis time" they feel.) The visit was all-too-shortbut enjoyable nonetheless. As a parting gift, wepresented them with a small piece of fabric skinfrom the LOS ANGELES to be taken along as a"good luck charm" on the trans-Pacific balloonjourney.

Meanwhile, judging from their enthusiasm andexperience, we hope to be hearing more fromSabu and Michio and hope they stop in again...next time with their own balloon or airship,perhaps.

- Rick Zitarosa

LAKEHURST

12

MOFFETT:

GROUP SEEKS TO SAVE HISTORICSTRUCTURE By Melanie Carroll, San JoseMercury News: 08/27/2007 [In part]:

With the U.S. Navy just months away fromannouncing its decision on whether todemolish Moffett Field's Hangar One, a groupof citizens dedicated to saving the edifice haslaunched a campaign to replace itscontaminated siding with fabric. The SaveHangar One Committee late last week vowedto circulate petitions and fliers and give out"Re-skin Hangar One" stickers in comingweeks to build support for the plan originallyproposed by architect Linda Ellis.

Ellis' $12 million plan calls for covering mostof the former home of the 785-foot-long USSMacon in a Teflon-coated Fiberglass fabricmuch like that used at ShorelineAmphitheatre…Under the re-skinningproposal, the Navy would pay $12 million toput up the fabric…The Navy in November isscheduled to release an environmentalevaluation and cost analysis which willdetermine if the 1930s-era hangar will bedemolished, said John Hill, the Navy's baseclosing manager for Moffett Field… Hill saidthe new environmental evaluation is beingrevised to reflect public comments and that"nobody should assume the samerecommendation" as last year.

"NASA is interested in reusing" the hangar,said Sandy Olliges, the deputy director ofsafety and environmental and missionassurance for the NASA Ames ResearchCenter at Moffett Field. "The Navy has lookedat a similar skin to what's on it now (corrugatedsteel) . . . and evaluated this type of (fabriccover) skin. We have not seen that type ofanalysis." A University of California-SantaCruz proposal still under development calls fora "solar energy center" inside the hangar, saidBill Berry, director of the University AffiliatedResearch Center. An exposition center orpublic gathering place could be housed in thefacility, Berry said.”

–Ben DeBolt

GOODYEAR/WINGFOOT LAKE

In October of 2007, Goodyear completed a major update of its 800-foot long Wingfoot Lake airship hangar in Magador/Suffield, ten miles southeast of Akron, Ohio.

The hangar covering was more than 70 years old. It was entirely replaced with new baked enamel blue, silver and maize steel siding by Butler Steel Buildings Systems. Insulation and natural light window panels were also added.

Begun in August, 2007, the renovation is the first major construction work carried out on the hangar exterior since 1942. The result is beauti-ful, bright and shining as befits this landmark in the Portage Country countryside.

The project emphasizes Goodyear’s commit-ment to its airship operations and has revitalized the crew that builds, maintains and operates the company’s fleet of public relations and commu-nity service airships.

The NAA salutes Nancy Ray Jandrokovic (Director, Global Airship Operations) and her associates who preserve and extend Goodyear’s airship heritage at “Blimp Base One” and Wingfoot Lake.

(Color photos of the completed project will appear in our next issue.)

Workers place insulation on the existing steel frame before bolting new steel siding to the hangar.

–David Smith

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MEDIA WATCH

UNITED STATES NAVY AIRSHIPS INWORLD WAR II By Vice Admiral CharlesE. Rosendahl, U. S. Navy, Retired (AtlantisProductions, Edgewater Florida, 2007)

Reviewed by C. P. Hall II, Brookfield, IL

When I was asked to review this newlysurfaced Rosendahl manuscript, it caused meto contemplate just how long it has been sincefirst I read a book by this author. I concludedthat it has been just about 50 years. There is nodoubt in my mind that I read the first (but notthe last) book entitled "UP SHIP!" byLieutenant Commander Charles E. Rosendahlbefore I departed Mrs. Roeske's sixth gradeclass at Old Trail School in Akron. I rememberenjoying "UP SHIP!" unreservedly asRosendahl was a teller of tales, a storehouse ofanecdotes, and a yarn spinner extraordinaire.This is what makes his works so readable but itis a weakness in some respects as well.

This new volume is, in fact, an old manuscript.Judging from the footnotes, it seems likely thatit was finished about 50 years ago. The subjectmatter is more specific than the title indicates.The focus of the book is the front line blimpsquadrons of World War II. If that is your areaof interest, if you would read about incidents

from each of these squadrons' operations, ifyou wish an anecdotal view of the difficultiesof operating LTA craft in various climaticconditions from Maine to Brazil; then thisbook will please you. If you would learn moreabout the structural details about K-ships, anydetails at all regarding M-ships, then you maybe disappointed. Information regardingRosendahl's wartime assignment as Chief ofNaval Airship Training and Experimentation isalso conspicuous by its absence as it is onlymentioned in J. Gordon Vaeth's modernFORWARD and Rosendahl's originalPREFACE.

The manuscript, as presented for review, hasseveral sections of photographs. The photos arean initiative of the publisher and were notselected by the author. The photo selectionswere made by Eric Brothers, Editor of BuoyantFlight, and they are outstanding. Many of thephotos may be recognized as previouslypublished; however, they supplement the textexcellently. The early photos are of pre-WW IINavy LTA efforts. A kite balloon, whichappears to be a whale climbing the mast of theArmored Cruiser USS Huntington, (ARC-5) inJune 1917, is followed by examples of non-rigid types from the inter-war years. Sooncome the photos of wartime ships of allclasses, airship bases, arcane equipment, andthe requisite photo of unmanned L-8 driftinginto Daly City, CA on 16 AUG 42. Severalphotos are of individuals mentioned in the text.The climactic photo is an M-ship (M-3)escorting surrendered U-858 into captivity.

One interesting statement of omission inRosendahl's PREFACE reads, "The greatestpart of the history recorded herein wasassembled while it was distinctly fresh in mymind. There have not been included hereinmany of the reported but unverified airshipcontacts and attacks on submarines, althoughevery one was made in all sincerity, andtestifies to the continued alertness of blimpcrews." This is surely a disappointment to thepublishers and does not help their quest toidentify and reveal all blimp submarine engage-ments of World War II.

from each of these squadrons’ operations, if you wish an anecdotal view of the difficulties of operating LTA craft in various climatic conditions from Maine to Brazil; then this book will please you. If you would like to learn more about the structural details about K-ships, any details at all regarding M-ships, then you may be disappointed. Information regarding Rosendahl’s wartime assignment as Chief of Naval Airship Training and Experi-mentation is also conspicuous by its absence as it is only mentioned in J. Gordon Vaeth’s modern FORWARD and Rosendahl’s original PREFACE.

14

In some ways the first chapter, "NavalBalloons and Blimps up to WW II", is the mostinteresting. Throughout Rosendahl's navalcareer, he was an advocate for Lighter-Than-Air who was loyal to the service and theBureau of Aeronautics establishment. He madethe case for LTA both publicly and within theservice, accepted what he and LTA received,and did not attack publicly competingprograms. "Go along and get along" is theArmy cliché and Rosendahl, who did not rockthe boat in public, left the Navy a ViceAdmiral. Once retired, he seems to have feltfreer to reminisce about the history of negativeand prejudicial attitudes, within the Navy'sHeavier-Than-Air establishment, against LTA.To me, Chapter One represents an interesting,observable moment of transition in his publicposition.

In conclusion, the story of LTA activity inWW II remains incomplete. This volume is avaluable addition to that history. It is limited inscope, but, none-the-less, informative and quitereadable. It is typical of 'shortly-after-the-war'books by veterans as it is primarily anecdotalin nature. As a result it may be unfavorablycompared to the more recent and more detailedhistories such as "Blimps & U-Boats" by J.Gordon Vaeth which was published by theNaval Institute Press in 1992. Had it beenpublished shortly after the war, it would nowbe considered a contemporary part of theliterature regarding LTA. That a well-knownretired Vice Admiral with a literary trackrecord did not get his manuscript published,either by the obvious publisher, or by a'commercial' publisher, is curious indeed. Ω

Ed. Note: The NAA has no financial interest insales of this book, publishing costs of whichwere borne entirely by History Committeemembers. Rick Zitarosa preserved a lateversion of the manuscript for decades andother members have also donated resources tomake it happen. Commercial book sales outletshave no interest in LTA or small publishers, socopies must be obtained locally from NLHS,MFHS, or on-line at www.gyzep.com andwww.airshiphistory.com.

AIR & SPACE SMITHSONIAN published aseries of “10 new ideas,” including: “Spy Blimpsand Heavy Lifters” By Ben Iannotta. Your editorfound little ‘new’ in the piece, and in fact most ofthe illustrations were anything but new. Selectionsfrom the piece:“All these scenarios envision important newmissions for aviation’s historic under-achievers…Techsphere Systems was born the dayMike Lawson got a call from Hokan Colting, aSwedish-born hot-air balloonist famous in theairship community for advocating sphericaldesigns….The Navy tested the spheres, and nowthe Army has awarded a contract to spy equipmentmanufacturer Sierra Nevada Corporation of Sparks,Nevada, to test a 94-foot-diameter Techsphereprototype, the SA-90… Under a research effortcalled ISIS (Integrated Sensor Is Structure),engineers at DARPA hope to build a stratosphericairship containing a giant radar antenna. Theantenna will double as the interior supportstructure—a weight-saving design. “We’re really aradar program,” says electrical engineer Tim Clark,DARPA’s ISIS program manager. “The platformjust turned out to be a stratospheric airship. Andthat’s because we wanted big antennas. You can’tget much more surface area than a stratosphericairship. …It’s probably not going to be easy tonudge any of these concepts into the real world.…“I’ve heard—seriously—people say ‘Well, weshouldn’t have much problem doing something likethat; you just take a gas bag and put a couple ofengines on,’ ” Hokan Colting says, laughing. But ifthe design challenges can be mastered, thedecidedly low-tech aircraft could become a criticalpart of the 21st century fleet.” Ω

TV SHOW: Last TNB we reported on NAAmembers working with a BBC TV contractor for anairship TV show. As we go to press we learned itwas to be shown on the History Channel on 7 NOV07, but as you read this the program should berepeated. Check local listings for “Lost Worlds:The Age of Airships.” Ω

NAMF FOUNDATION ran member JamesShock’s L-ship history in the Fall 2007 issue.(History Committee Chairman assisted withformatting and Past NAA Pres. Lou Prost addedhis postwar L-ship photo scrapbook.) Other NAAmembers are encouraged to submit LTA stories toNAMF, which has a much larger reader base thanTNB. (Your Editor has a small piece in the Jan.AIR & SPACE mag, but sadly it’s not LTA.) Ω

15

NEWS FROM FRIEDRICHSHAFENComposed & Submitted By Sig Geist

Damaged stern. Copyright_ZLT_Hecktriebwerknach dem Aufkommen.jpg

Experts arrived in Botswana: Airship irreparableFriedrichshafen, 22 SEP 2007:

The moored Zep NT airship was considerablydamaged by a sudden whirlwind on Thursday.Experts assess damage to be beyond repair. Afterdisassembly first parts will be transported toGaborone.

The damage makes it impossible to repair theairship. At the time of the occurrence the prototypewas moored at the mast. The airship was notoperated. The aft section hit ground first. Theincident is classified as damage on ground by theCivil Aviation Authority (CAA) Botswana.

The CAA Botswana has released the airshipdocumentation without objection. The authoritieshave released the airship for transport to the hangarin Gaborone. After detail assessment the ZLT willdecide on a possible use of part of the airship.

Following the release by Botswana's Civil AviationAuthority (CAA), salvage is already underwaywith parts taken to the hangar in Gaborone whereupon closer examination ZLT will decide overfurther use of parts from the prototype airship. Ω

Photo Copyright ZLT

Photo Copyright ZLT

History Committee note: Whirlwinds were also known tothe ‘Africa Squadron,’ ZP-14, as a page from their historyattests. K-109’s gasoline ignited, and only the bow staysremained from the envelope. (USN Historical Center)

16

REUNION 2007Robert L. AshfordNAA Reunion 2007 – Report

Wow, what a reunion! About one year ago the NAA Executive Council elected to hold our 2007 reunion in Lakehurst/Toms River, New Jersey. In addition the council decided to hold the reunion mid-week instead of incorporating it within a weekend. The dates selected were Sep-tember 4, 5, and 6, 2007, with the reunion ban-quet to be held on Thursday evening, September 6th. The primary reasons for this selection of dates were the availability of motel services dur-ing the week immediately following Labor Day, and the ease of travel on non-weekend days. If the enthusiastic response and attendance at the reunion can be taken as an indication of the membership satisfaction with the dates and lo-cation, then NAA Reunion 2007 was most cer-tainly successful.

Many of us arrived at our reunion headquarters, the Quality Inn in Toms River, on Monday, Sep-tember 3, 2007, Labor Day. The early arrival gave some of us a chance to assist our Reunion Chair, Rick Zitarosa, in setting up the “Ready Room” and other last minute details. Not sur-prising, many of the attendees took advantage of the Labor Day holiday to travel and quite a crowd checked in on Labor Day evening. Events were off to a roaring start.

The entire NAA Executive Council, with the ex-ception of Margaret Hinrichsen traveling from Arizona, arrived in time for our scheduled meet-ing on Tuesday morning. We were able to greet our new President -elect Herm Spahr and Vice-President-elect C.C. Moore as we conducted a few outstanding items of business. The official check-in started on Tuesday afternoon as 217 per-sons arrived and were assigned rooms in either the Quality Inn or the overflow accommodations at the Comfort Inn (just up the road). Tuesday evening witnessed the “Welcome Aboard” gath-ering in the spacious Ballroom/Ready Room/Meeting Room of the Quality Inn.

On Wednesday morning outgoing President,

Bob Ashford, presided at the biennial business meeting. The two major items of business were the election of the officers to serve for the next two years and the increase in annual dues. The officers elected are: President – Herman Spahr Vice-President – C. C. Moore Treasurer – Peter Brouwer Secretary – Margaret HinrichsenPeter Brouwer has been serving as Treasurer since the untimely death of John Kane in Octo-ber 2005; he has now been officially elected as Treasurer.

The President described the need for an increase in dues to cover the costs associated with the publishing and mailing of “The Noon Balloon” as well as other administrative costs of the NAA. It was the overwhelming consensus of the mem-bership present that they were pleased with the “new look” of TNB and that an increase in dues to continue with the present quality and frequen-cy was justified. The membership voted to raise the annual dues to $25.00 per year beginning in 2008. For those who have already paid their 2008 dues in advance, the increase will become effective in 2009. However, all contributions will be greatly appreciated.

Immediately following the business meeting, the membership boarded buses for a tour of the hangars, a look at the navy’s one and only air-ship, the MZ-3A and a delicious lunch at (we all remember as) the Naval Air Station, Lakehurst, NJ. On Thursday about 70 people boarded bus-ses for the trip to the casinos in Atlantic City. This was the only slight disappointment of the entire reunion since we had enough transporta-tion for more than 120 people. However, those who went to AC had a great time and arrived “home” in plenty of time to pretty-up and suit-up for our gala banquet.

George Allen dressed to the gills for the occa-sion and sported his tuxedo as the Master-of-Ceremonies, and, as usual, George spiced things up with some of his humor. The speaker for the evening was Mr. Ron Bendlin, the Manager of Design Engineering at TCOM, L.P. who gave

17

a very enlightening presentation about the great strides that have been made in the exotic new fabrics that are now in use to build airship en-velopes and tethered aerostat flexible structures. His comparison of the old with the new dem-onstrated that today a K-ship envelope could be built with fabric that weighs about half as much but about 10 times as strong as the WWII bags.

The reunion and the banquet closed with Bob Ashford swearing in the new officers to serve until our next reunion and the singing of the fi-nal stanza of the Navy Hymn, “Eternal Father Strong to Save……in peril in the air.”

And so ended my term as president of the NAA. I wish the new officers all the very best. May they serve the NAA well and may we continue to expand with youth and remain a viable orga-nization for many years to come. It was a great pleasure to serve.

Bob Ashford

Attendees enjoyed the heavy Hors d’oeuvres dinner provided by ZW-1 hosts and crews.

Wally Turner, Ron Anderson and Ross Woods discuss ZW-1 adventures as they reflect on photos

brought to the reunion by Wally.

New NAA officers being sworn in by outgoing President Bob Ashford.

NAA officers for 2008-2009. Peter F. Brouwer, Treasurer, C.C. Moore, Vice President, Herman

Spahr, President, Margaret Hinrichsen, Secretary.

Phyllis and Bob Ashford.

Frank Arcidiacono, Peter Brouwer, George Allen.

18

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

A large part of lighter-than-air developments thathave occurred during the past year involve systemsremotely flown, hence the classification of‘unmanned systems.’ Tethered aerostats areproviding valuable services in war zones and alongthe U.S. border including surveillance,communication and intelligence; they represent amajor portion of the funding for lighter-than-airprograms. Several government and privatelysupported projects for unmanned airships havebeen established. Manned airships are findinggreater use in scientific projects as well ascontinuing to be a valuable means of aerialadvertising and sightseeing.

Unmanned Systems

Lockheed Martin continues to work with theMissile Defense Agency (MDA) following theAgency’s decision to rescind the High AltitudeAirship (HAA) program termination. The effortcontinues under the Prototype Build andDemonstration phase (Phase 3) with theappropriated 2007 funds. Work on the HAAincludes pre-production runs of fabrics that exhibithigher strength/weight ratios and longer life timesthan required. Pre-production runs of solar cellsand batteries also meet or exceed requirements.The MDA exercised the HAA TechnologyImprovement Project contract option with L-M inFebruary 2007 to evolve key technologies for theOperationalVehicle.

L-M photo.

Lockheed Martin was awarded a $77.5 millioncontract by the Army for additional tetheredaerostat systems to be deployed in Iraq. ThePersistent Threat Detection Systems (PTDS)include multi-mission sensors to providecontinuous surveillance, detection andcommunications for coalition forces. Contractdeliveries will occur during 2007.

The U.S. Army awarded TCOM a contract todevelop and demonstrate a Cellular AerostatPlatform System (CAPS) that will provideemergency cell phone service within 3 hours overan area of 600 square miles.

TCOM, L.P. has received a second order from theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) for its Off-RoadTactical Aerostat System (ORTAS). The 17Msystem is flown from a military truck and providescontinuous surveillance even when mobile. TheUAE also awarded TCOM a contract for atransportable 32M aerostat equipped for maritimesurveillance. Two 71M systems, each carryingover 5000 lbs. of electronic surveillance equipment,have been delivered to India.

Raytheon Space andAirborne Systems isdeveloping, under an $8million contract fromDARPA, an activeelectronically scannedarray antenna to be bonded to the hull of anunmanned airship. This largest X-band antennawould be flown at 65-70,000 ft. altitude ongeostationary airships measuring 150 to 300 metersin length with lenticular hull configurations.

CollaborX and Multimaxare two small companies inColorado that joined forcesto develop a platform calledMaxflyer. The design is a220 ft. diameter lenticularshaped airship lifting a

gondola and equipped with electrically poweredthrusters. It is intended to operate at 100,000 ft.altitude to provide communication and surveillancefunctions. This is a trade off between the higheraverage wind velocities and increased sensorcoverage.

ILC Dover in Delaware manufactured theenvelopes for the Lockheed Martin PTDS. Two420,000 cu ft. aerostat envelopes for U.S. bordersurveillance also were delivered to TCOM / LM.

The U. S. Air Force has funded a contract withAurAayan Aerospace, a division of the D-STAREngineering Corp., to develop a high altitude 200

17MinsideWeeksvillehangar.TCOM LP

Near Space Systems

DARPA

19

knot hybrid semi-buoyant vehicle with anendurance of one year.

A group at the NASA Langley Research Center hasdeveloped a three layer thermoelectric materialwhich when applied to the envelope of a 152 meterlong high altitude airship will generate 3.84 MV ofpower. The hull geometry would include anelliptical cross section to maximize the solar flux.The Blackwater Company has establishedBlackwater Airships LLC. Design work on thefirst Polar 400 airship was completed at the end of2006. The remotely piloted vehicle willaccommodate a wide variety of state-of-the-artsurveillance, communication and detectionequipment. It will operate for 48 hrs. between5000 to 15000 ft altitude at 50 knots speed.

Telford Aviation Inc. in Bangor, Maine hasproduced its prototype Skybus 30K a remotelypiloted 90 ft. long airship for SAIC. It will beequipped with cameras and sensors for monitoringborder security and other types of surveillance. Itrecently received the FAA’s first SpecialAirworthiness Certificate. Telford’s Dothan,Alabama branch has received an $11,195,164contract from the U. S. Army’s Communications-Electronics Command that will include alloperational support for the Skybus and a later80,000 cu. ft. vehicle.

The Remote Aerial Tripod Specialists in Alberta,Canada completed a three-month tour of threeCanadian provinces with their 35 ft. longunmanned nonrigid airship. It is powered by two 4hp methane fueled engines with vectorablepropellers. The airship covered 7000 miles whilephotographing crops and advertising Horizon, afarm product produced by Syngenta, the sponsor ofthe flights.

Another Canadian firm, Advanced Hybrid Airshipshas developed the Wasp RPB/AF an unmanned43.5 ft. long nonrigid. It is powered by two 5.5 HPengines with an endurance of 6 hrs. while carrying30 lbs. of equipment.

Venezuela has purchased an unmanned 15 meterlong nonrigid built by HanGIS, a South Koreanfirm. It is the first of three such craft to be used bythe Caracas police.

The Shanghai Solar Power EngineeringTechnology Research Center has designed anunmanned solar and fuel cell powered airship to beflown at the World Expo in 2010. It will fly up toone kilometer altitude at a top speed of 20 km/hr.

The University of Manitoba in Canada is engagedin an 18 month project to measure riverbankerosion on two local rivers using a tethered 7 mlong aerostat flying at 40 m altitude. The aerostatwas chosen for its low purchase and operating cost.

A Swiss organization, StratXX launched its X-Station test balloon that ascended to 21 kilometerscarrying a camera and communication equipment.A full scale prototype airship is under developmentto be launched in 2008.

The HEI Group in Coral Springs, Florida isdeveloping a combination helicopter/airship calleda Blicopter. Two configurations have been tested.One uses a conventional helicopter rotor and theother employs cycloidal blades. Tests included 30and 40 ft. airships powered by batteries. Completeautonomous flight with telemetry control has beendemonstrated.

Manned Airships

Zeppelin Luftshifftechnik has announced that itsfourth NT-07 semi-rigid airship, now underconstruction, is optioned by Airship Ventures, aU.S. firm, for sightseeing over the San Franciscoarea and other special mission flights beginning inmid-2008. ILC Dover manufactured the envelopefor the airship. The NT-07 that was sold to theJapan Nippon Airship Corp. has now been licensedfor commercial passenger operation in Japan. InGermany, over 65000 passengers have been carriedsince operations began in 1997.

An NT-07 was fitted with 350 kg of measuringdevices mounted topside and an additional 500 kgin the car during July to determine the distributionof trace gases and radicals in the lower atmosphereover southern Germany. Special modificationsalso were made to the NT-07 used by the DeBeerscompany for geological surveys of possiblediamond bearing strata. This airship was equippedwith gravity gradient measuring equipment andwith magnetic field detectors mounted onoutriggers attached to the car. The airship wasdamaged beyond repair in September after beinghit by a severe whirlwind while moored at itsoperating site in Botswana.

RosAeroSystems in Russia is supplying an AU-30nonrigid airship to a team of French and Germanscientists who will conduct continual measurementof ice thickness in the Arctic in 2008. The airshipwill fly from Spitsbergen in Norway to Canada andAlaska via the North Pole. The 179000 cu. ft.airship has a number of advanced featuresincluding vectored thrust and will be fitted with

20

electromagnetic sensors. It is one of several typesof lighter-than-air vehicles produced by RosAero.

The A170 airship built by American Blimp Corp.(ABC), delivered to the U. S. Navy in 2006 anddesignated the MZ3A, completed a year ofoperation at the Lakehurst Naval ExperimentalStation. Integrated Systems Solutions, Incprovided servicing and flight training of Navycrews. Flight operation has been discontinued untilfuture plans are finalized. [See Shore Est. NASL]

Another A-170 was leased to the Australian firmHolden by the Lightships division of ABC. Thisairship was equipped with ABC’s 21 meter wideLED screen mounted on its envelope. It completeda year of operation advertising Holden’sautomobile business. After receiving complaints, itwas prohibited from flying over events sponsoredby other organizations. It will be returned to theU.S. An A-150+ ABC airship has been added tothe Metropolitan Life Insurance fleet of two A-60+airships. ILC Dover has delivered an A60+ and anA170 envelope to ABC during 2007.

Worldwide Aeros Corp. completed construction,flight testing and FAA certification of its latestmodel 40D nonrigid airship. This 153 ft. longairship has a volume of 100,032 cu. ft. and isequipped with a digital control system and cancarry various camera systems, SAR radars and datalink equipment. It has been delivered to a Chinesecustomer and has received China certification.WW Aeros continues development of its AeroscraftML 866 hybrid airship. This included successfultesting of the Dynamic Buoyancy ManagementSystem, which controls lift and off-loading ofpayload without taking on-board ballast.

Techsphere Systems, a subsidiary of CyberDefense Systems, has constructed its first SA-60 68ft. diameter spherical airship. An SA-90, 94 ft.diameter model will follow. Both models will flybetween 8,000 and 20,000 ft. altitude to providesurveillance and other functions.

A French airship project known as Windream Onewill attempt a transatlantic flight early next year.The vehicle consists of a 93.5 ft. 900 cu. metersairfoil shaped envelope supporting a small car. Itsflight depends on wind currents, solar electricpropulsion and a device in the water acting as acenterboard attached to the car with a long cable.The two person crew expects to make the trip in 10days flying from Senegal to Martinique.

-Norman Mayer, Chair, Technical Committee

Membership DirectorIn 1942, at age 18, I reported aboard an old four-stack destroyer as a Radioman 3rd class. The shipwas left over from WWI. At my age I was one of, ifnot the, youngest crewmember aboard. In 1996some of the crew got together to plan our firstreunion… and we were told there were not enoughsurvivors to warrant their planning such a reunion.They would put us together with a group of 4 othersuch ships and plan a combined reunion… wecalled the organization “Fourstackers” and we hada grand time for another four years until we weretold there were not enough left to warrant thecompanies’ involvement. So, why not set up ourown reunion without the professionals? So, Istarted calling around – and there were only six ofus left to answer the phone.

The Navy has seen fit to preserve several types ofships… but not the fourstacker. There were 193 ofthese destroyers built; no one can see one today.How can there be any interest when there isnothing to see or touch? Thus, the organizationdied. Can anyone relate?

When they rolled up the last airship, the parallelends because we are not totally without a survivalmechanism; we have interest beyond nostalgia.We have people like Rich Van Treuren, who wasnever in Navy LTA but is interested in the aura andspell of LTA and is capable of learned andinspiring contribution to our future, as his manywritings have demonstrated. We have people likeRick Zitarosa, who has a long time and devotedinterest in LTA and was willing to put forth the toarrange and plan the reunion. We have artifactswhich are wonderfully displayed at the NMNA, inthe capable hands of Mort Eckhouse and JoeHajcak. We must continue to do whatever we canto ensure that the display continues.

We have a wonderful publication. It is professional,it is interesting, it is a treasure. It is a wonderfulrecruiting tool. It must survive and grow. For about$25 a year we can put a copy in a library. If eachmember would contact his local public library andwhen interest is found members might individuallysubscribe to a copy for their hometown library.

LET’S SWAP CURIOSITY FORNOSTALGIA. The members should ponderthe question, “What brought you here?”Perhaps the replies might lead to a clue to amajor method of how to instill CURIOSITY. - Don Shorts, Membership Director

Rick Zitarosa, who has a long time and devoted interest in LTA and was willing to put forth the effort to arrange and plan the reunion. We have artifacts which are wonderfully displayed at the NMNA, in the capable hands of Mort Eckhouse and Joe Hajcak. We must continue to do whatever we can to ensure that the display continues.

We have a wonderful publication. It is professional, it is interesting, it is a treasure. It is a wonderful recruiting tool. It must survive and grow. For about $25 a year we can put a copy in a library. If each member would contact his local public library and when interest is found members might individually subscribe to a copy for their hometown library.

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LONG LINES / COVER STORY

NEW KID IN THE DOCKBy Thomas R. Cuthbert, Jr., Ph.D.

Tom Cuthbert at age 16 was featured in theAugust 1945 issue of Life magazine as theyoungest pilot in Tennessee in a story aboutaviation in Chattanooga.

These are some highlights of my six years inNavy Lighter Than Air (LTA). I was in thefirst class of 16 Heavier Than Air (airplane orHTA) pilots put through three-month LTApilot training in Lakehurst, New Jersey, and sixof us were brand-new Ensigns who had justearned our HTA wings at Corpus Christi,Texas (see above right). I was certified asNaval Aviator No. V-1228 on August 2, 1950.Several months before the Korean War startedin late June 1950, I had volunteered to go toLTA in spite of NAS Corpus Christi’sCommanding Officer (CO) CAPT Ellis’considerate warning that such a duty tour couldjeopardize a successful naval career. Frankly, Iwanted to be involved with all the electronicequipment associated with LTA, and that didmaterialize as well as my accidentally missingcombat in Korea, which befell most of myHTA classmates. Blind luck.

NAS CorpusChristi CO CAPTEllis pins HTAwings on ENSTom Cuthbert onAugust 2, 1950.He consideratelyhad advised himthat an LTA tourcould jeopardizesuccessful navalcareer.

S t a r t i n g i nAugust 1950, ourL T A c l a s sattended groundschool, flew freeballoons, several

small G-ship flights, and many interesting K-ship training flights. I logged three flights inthe K-47 airship, and that car is now on displayin the National Museum of Naval Aviation inPensacola Florida. In November 1950 I wascertified as Naval Aviator No. L-1254(Airship), so I suppose that I have two pairs ofNavy wings.

I was then assigned to Airship Squadron Two(ZP-2) based in wooden Hangar 5 inLakehurst. Squadron CO CDR Fred Kleininterviewed me immediately, found that I had aradio background, had attended M.I.T., andpromptly made me officer in charge of theElectronics Division, since incumbent LTJGHarley Cutshall didn't like that job anyhow.Suddenly I had an Assistant ElectronicsOfficer, three Chief Petty Officers, and 27sailors reporting to me. I reported toMaintenance Officer LCDR Leo Gentile, whohad been a Seaman on the Navy dirigibleMacon when it fell into the sea near MontereyCalifornia in 1935.

I flew K-ships in LT John Dawson's crew withpilots LT Dewey Crowder (both recalledWWII LTA pilots) and ENS Pete Ausbrooks.John taught us even more about landing blimpsunder all kinds of conditions, including landingon aircraft carriers in 1951-1952.

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First class of 16 Heavier Than Air pilots putthrough three-month LTA pilot training inLakehurst, New Jersey, November 1950.Ensign Cuthbert in third row on the left end.

A day flight on July 1951 took us 15 miles outin the Atlantic off Montauk point at the eastend of Long Island, New York to practicetracking with a US submarine from its nearbybase at Groton, Connecticut. I was in the leftseat (elevator, throttles, valves), my crewcommander was in the right seat (rudderman),and our ZP-2 CO was in the jump seat justbehind and between us. The drill was for thesub to submerge a mile or two away and wewould use radar to fly low and fast (50 feet and57 knots) to the spot (“swirl”) and dropmarkers and sonobuoys in a tracking pattern.Arriving over the swirl, I held the two electricswitches forward to put the propellers into flatpitch (high RPM). Suddenly it becameobvious that the K-ship was coming to a stop,dropping so far that the sailor in the rear of thecar called out on the intercom that the tail wasalmost in the ocean. John told me to pull thenose up even more, and I answered “Okay, butit is going to stall!” So I didn't pull up more,because the 4:1 shaped bag was a flying airfoil,which allowed us to get airborne even when wewere perhaps 2000 pounds net heavy, and tostall certainly was to fall into the sea.

(Right) ZP-2 CO CDR Fred Klein commendsLT Dawson’s crew. From left – ENS BobLowry, ENS Tom Cuthbert, LT Dawson, CDRKlein, and the enlisted crew in the second row.

Hangars 5 (left) and 6 at NAS Lakehurst in1950. Hangar 5 was home to ZP-2. Hangar 6and a K-ship was leased to NY advertiserDouglas Leigh then rescinded when theKorean War was declared in 1950.

Other HTA experience that helped was myrecent four-engine bomber training, which wasto find a bad engine by first looking at thecylinder head temperature gauges. It was thenthat I saw that the temperature of the left #1engine was increasing (I was expecting rapidcooling). That didn't make sense, but I had todo something, so I pulled the #1 throttle backto idle, and we barely cleared the ocean andbegan a slow climb. Shutting down #1revealed that the propellers were in reverseand later it was found that the mechanicalforward-pitch limit stops had broken so theprop blades just went through flat pitch andinto reverse. We dumped an unarmed homingtorpedo on an eastern Long Island Air Forcebase (they did not trust us) and then slowlyflew across New York Harbor with newspaperplanes circling the one-engine blimp limpinghome to Lakehurst.

23

The new Navy policy of sending all blimppilots (formally shipboard officers) throughHTA pilot training and only HTA pilotsthrough LTA pilot training resulted in just thefew ZP-2 HTA pilots flying the F6F Hellcatfighter and SNB twin Beechcraft transportprovided to maintain proficiency. I was thenage 22 but had flown Cub and acrobaticairplanes since I was 16, so ready access to afighter and transport was heavenly. Those ofus young single officers even were invited toAtlantic City to escort Miss Americacontestants, but I confined my thrills to theHellcat airplane.

ENSCuthbert

reveled ina l l t h e

proficiencyand

transportHTA flying

whileassigned to

Airship Squadron ZP-2, here in an SNB transport.He was one of just a few ZP-2 HTA pilots until the1950 Navy policy change eventually made flyingblimps just another Naval Aviator assignment.

In late 1951 ZP-2 was split in two, with newsquadron ZP-3 remaining at Lakehurst andthose of us in ZP-2 transferred to the Naval AirFacility (NAF) Glynco near Brunswick andSea Island Georgia on the Atlantic coast.

ZP-2 mascot Blackdog leading a K-ship into thewind at Lakehurst in 1951. He was getting old andmostly slept until airships were preparing fortakeoff. Blackdog came to life when he heard themast release trip and unerringly reacted to anyshift as he ran into the wind.

We took six K-ships and the ZP-2 mascot‘Black Dog’ on one, and it was messy. I'malso told that we took the entire stock of toiletpaper with us, perhaps starting a rivalry withthe new ZP-3 squadron.

Looking west at the ZP-2 Hangar at NAF Glynconear Brunswick, Georgia. A light K-ship is beingpulled down by a ground crew. A helium supplysphere is to the left of the Hangar.

While in Glynco in ZP-2 a few accidentsrelieved the boredom of long patrol flights,especially those to and from Guantanamo(Gitmo) Cuba. The metal strip at the bottom ofthe rudderman’s side window occasionallyseparated and flew back into the prop, whichthen propelled it up into the bag. Thathappened on one night flight when about 20miles offshore Glynco, cutting a one-foot right-angle hole in the bag. We reduced heliumpressure, eventually threw overboard the radarand other heavy equipment, and lined updownwind of the Glynco landing mat only todiscover that the bag was so wrinkled that thecontrol cables to the rudder were slack. Wehad to climb about 1000 feet to expand thehelium, extend the bag, and get the airshippointed toward the landing mat to then steerwith the engines. The lower rudder dragged onthe ground during the landing roll. Anumbrella patch and a lot of added helium savedthe airship.

I had been made crew commander in April1952 and was also the duty officer one daywhen one of our K-ships radioed an SOS thatthey were ditching in the Atlantic some 25 to50 miles off the Georgia coast. CDR Hillordered me to fly him to the scene. When we

24

arrived the blimp was in the ocean with thenose at a 45° angle, the car half submerged,and the tail assembly one big sea anchor. Thecrew was in several life rafts, and someone wason the radio singing Yo Ho Ho and AirshipSquadron Two, Detachment Number One.Commander Hill was quite upset and orderedthe merriment to stop. The submarine ourblimp had left earlier after practicing togetherhad arrived in response to the SOS, andradioed to Commander Hill that they couldperhaps secure the car to the submarine forsalvage. Our CO anticipated the headline (SubGets Blimp) and told the sub skipper: Nevermind, salt water had ruined the car. It wasagreed that the sub should fire incendiary 20-mm rounds into the blimp gas tanks. Wewatched as fire consumed the cotton neoprenebag in less than two minutes, and there werethousands of little ashes floating down to theocean. We never carried parachutes (LTAoperated too low to jump anyhow) and I hadoccasionally shut down an engine due to oilleaks to avoid a fire. Now I really knew howquickly one must ditch a blimp should anengine catch fire.

Near the end of my three-year tour in ZP-2, theK-ship bomb bays were lengthened toaccommodate nuclear depth charges. I knewthen that I needed to move on. In fact, only thebomb assembly was actually carried, but itincluded a 600-pound TNT detonator. Oneday a ZP-2 K-ship lost both engines on takeoffand dropped the A-bomb assembly in order toballoon clear of our Glynco hangar. It didn'texplode, but the hangar was evacuated until thenearby wreckage was removed.

I spent my shore duty from 1953-1956 in theAirship Training Unit (NZTU), which also hadbeen moved to NAS Glynco. I had asked to betransferred to NAF South Weymouth nearBoston (and M.I.T), where an experimental K-ship had a side-beam over-the-horizon radarantenna inside the bag, but my request wasdenied – and some jokers white-walled awheelbarrow tire and wanted to roll me acrossNAF Glynco to my new duty station in theNTZU hangar.

ENS Cuthbert is on the left. His assistant ENS Ausbrooksis on his left and Chief Pappy Mann (age 52) is on hisright. The three CPOs and crew were outstanding.

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Aerial view of NAF Glynco in 1953 showing theZP-2 Hangar on the left, the NZTU Hangar, airshiplanding mat, and the two HTA runways. The jetstrip for a CIC School had not yet been constructedto the back right.

I mainly taught electronics and airshipconstruction in the ground school, flew a fewblimp-training flights with each class of HTApilots, and continued flying the Hellcat andtransport. The teaching experience wasinvaluable in my subsequent engineeringcareer. One day the NZTU skipper remarkedthat we really needed a safe hurricaneevacuation base, so I casually mentioned thatmy hometown of Chattanooga,Tennessee hadnever experienced a hurricane. Amazingly, heinstructed me to fly a K-ship there to check itout using an advanced-base stick mast crew.So I took a blimp home to Mama, TV coverageand all, utilizing Naval reservists for groundcrew. Blind luck.

I left active duty and LTA in September 1956,to attend Georgia Tech and flew P2V patrolplanes in the reserve at NAS Atlanta untilJanuary 1959. Sadly, a ZPG-3W Nan shipripped and crashed off shore New Jersey inJuly 1960, and that ended the saga of NavyLTA.

Crew Commander LTJG Cuthbert with his NZTU3K-127 on a stick mast at Lovell Field inChattanooga, TN about 1955. Local NavalReservists are mustered below the ship. Cuthbertlearned to fly at age 16 from the Hangar seen tothe back left of the blimp car.

I have always treasured my life in Navy LTA,the unique opportunities, and most especiallythe wonderful people who guided and taughtsuch a feisty young man. One example: Myfirst child was born in Brunswick Georgia witha severe clubbed foot.

Ensign Cuthbert with daughter Nancy on the St.Simons Island beach in 1954. Her foot was put in anew cast weekly for many months at the NavyHospital at NAS Jacksonville, 75 miles fromBrunswick, Georgia.

My CO, CDR Harold Van Gorder, gave meevery Monday off for many months to carry herto NAS Jacksonville, Florida for treatment at theNaval Hospital. Then about 30 years later at myfirst NAA reunion in Scottsdale, CAPT VanGorder immediately asked: “How is yourdaughter's foot?” I could never have beenluckier than to have volunteered for LTA duty. Ω

Thomas R. Cuthbert, Jr., Ph.D.975 Marymont DriveGreenwood, AR 72936Phone [email protected]

26

“Unmanned Spy Blimp” as shown on internet (Telford)

Is US Army ordering robot spy blimp?Inflatable airborne Peeping Tom flotillas forecast -By Lewis Page - 23rd August 2007

The US Army seems to be moving to acquire arobotic spy blimp, able to float high in the sky forlengthy periods and monitor activities on theground below. According to a routine Pentagonsummary dated yesterday, Telford Aviation ofDothan, Alabama was awarded an $11,195,164contract for "operational support for MediumAirborne Reconnaissance Surveillance Systems."The contract was awarded by the US Army'sCommunications-Electronics Command.

Telford Aviation is a company which providesleased aircraft, maintenance and parts to thecivilian market. It's central operations are based inMaine: but it also has a "Government Programs"arm based in Dothan, Alabama.

The Telford Government Programs office webpagehas a section titled "Unmanned Aerial Systems(UAS)," under which it says:"Today Telford Aviation provides all operationalsupport for a 30,000 cubic foot airship and is partof a research and development team developing a80,000 cubic foot airship designed for counterterrorism, port security and border patrol. TelfordAviation expects to build and operate this systemwithin the near future." The 30,000-cubic-foot shipis presumably the unmanned Skybus 30K, whoseconsortium of producers is headed by ScienceApplications International Corporation (SAIC), thewell-connected behemoth government techprovider. The Skybus 30K is described as a "testingand demonstration platform for a series of largeairships," and was developed by SAIC and Telfordat the Loring UAS Test Centre in Maine under aNavy contract. It was given an experimental FAAairworthiness certificate last month.

SAIC says that the Skybus "can loiter for 30 to 40hours, can travel up to 35 knots, and has faintvisual, radar, infrared, and acoustic signatures."The Loring Development Activity, the businesspark operating on the old Loring airforce base, saysthat the Skybus "has the potential to supportmilitary surveillance operations." Putting all thistogether, it seems clear that the US Army's"Medium Airborne Reconnaissance SurveillanceSystems" - not a term it normally uses - will berobot spy airships intended for ground surveillance.The US Army already operates tethered aerostatballoons for this purpose, and has previouslytrialled manned blimps. But now it appears to bemoving forward with self-propelled robot aircraft.One might hope that the Army's interest is inspying on Iraqi insurgents and Taliban gunmen,using cheap-to-run airships which can lurk in thesky for days on end above the range of handheldanti-aircraft missiles. The manned airship in the2004 trials was said to be able to comfortablyexceed 10,000 feet if required, which would keep itsafe from shoulder-launched missiles even if theycould lock on to its feeble signatures. "The airshipplatform can provide a clear and detailed view ofthe activity on the streets below and yet stay out ofthe range of many weapon systems," according to acontractor involved in that trial. "The militarycould fly a controlled, quiet orbit over an area likeFallujah, day or night, and be able to locateinsurgents placing explosive devices or setting upambushes," added another. But other USgovernment customers could fly a nice quiet orbitover other areas closer to home, too. SAIC thinksits baby would be good for "a variety of securityand intelligence operations including border patrol,port security, survivor search, wildlife managementand sports event monitoring." Of course, a blimpisn't all that different from police helicopters or - ifyou're very important to the Yanks - spy satellitesthat we're all quite used to being watched by. If welive in Southwest Asia, we're also quite accustomedto a variety of robot planes too. But it costs likecrazy to monitor people from above with most ofthose - especially for any sustained period - and inmany cases a target will know that the spy platformis there. (Even secret spy satellites are often trackedby enthusiastic amateurs.)

Robo-blimps, by contrast, should be cheap,persistent and quiet, very hard to notice at night,and thus could bring with them an explosion inaerial spying activity. Analysts have beenpredicting their advent for some time. It appearsthat the day may be here.” Ω

Short Lines

27

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (internet) - A hotair balloon burst into flames over western Canada,burning a woman and her adult daughter to death…Eleven passengers were seriously injured when theballoon crashed in a recreational vehicle park nearthe U.S border in Surrey, British Columbia, asuburb of Vancouver… "The crew loaded 12passengers and was preparing to launch when a fireerupted. The pilot asked the passengers to get outof the basket," Bill Yearwood, an investigator withthe Transportation Safety Board of Canada said."The balloon was tethered at the time, but thenbroke and came loose," he added. After most of thepassengers escaped, the balloon exploded in afireball and shot up into the air. Shortly after, theburning balloon plunged to ground in the RV park,leaving a tail of thick black smoke in its wake…The cause of the accident was not immediatelyknown. Weather conditions were clear at the timeof the sunset flight. "We're exceptionally lucky thatnobody in any of these three trailers or in thevehicles that were destroyed were caught in them,"Morrow said. The hot-air balloon, operated byFantasy Balloons Charters based in Langley,British Columbia, was one of several balloons inflight at the time. There was a similar accidentearlier this month in the central Canadian provinceof Manitoba, where 12 people were injured. Ω

Fred Morin sent a clipping from the 8 JUL 07Boston Globe entitled "After a fall, blimp soarsagain" in which Johnny Diaz reports the HoodDairies have once again leased a G-60 Lightshipfor the summer. The Hood airship had by that timeflown over the Tall Ships Rhode Island celebrationand several baseball games. BostonChannel.com.reported the Hood Dairies Lightship hadnewsworthy trouble again in a piece entitled “Low-Flying Blimp Alarms Residents: High Winds ForceCraft To Hover Over Towns.” Ω

From the birthplace of Aeronautics: 16 JULAVIATION WEEK reported the FrenchGovernment is creating new clusters to supplementthose making up "Aerospace Valley" created lastyear in southwestern France. "One of these newclusters, Pegase, will be devoted to the use ofunmanned aerial vehicles, airships, helicopters andother l ight vehicle for surveil lance,telecommunications, transportation and securityapplications." Ω

Al Robbins reports: “RATSINC has completed itsfirst major Remotely Piloted Airship commercialcontract (First flight on 23 April, above Kindersley,Saskatchewan, final flight at Portage La Prairie,Manitoba on 21 July): Several hundred 30 - 45minute flights with a single ship in ninety days.(Does anyone know of a previous RPAperformance contract lasting longer than a week?)

The three man team crossed the Canadian wheatbelt, stopping at 28 other villages and towns alongthe way to advertise a leading wheat fungicide andto take aerial photographs for wheat farmers thathad won Syngenta’s contest. (Only the Hummerand the RPA trailer were wrapped for the contract;their other vehicle and trailer carried noadvertising.) RATSINC successfully completedtheir contract without accident or incident.Unfortunately accident-free operations don’t makenews, so GOOGLE only cites the press release.www.ratsinc.net/HorizonImagesforClients.htmincludes press accounts from a dozen of the largervillages visited as well as a few airborne photos,and numerous photos of the RATSINC crew, theirequipment and the farms and villages that theyvisited. (The figure is from the first page of thelink.) Steve has assured me that he is going to adda couple more pages and that he will maintain thelink for at least a few more months. Ω

28

By far, the Soviet Union's most successful airshipwas the V6 (B6 or W6) Ossoaviachim . It wasdesigned by Umberto Nobile during his stay in theSoviet Union in the mid-thirties. It was a furtherdevelopment of the N1, Norge, the first aircraft tofly over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and theN2 Italia, which, on May 24, 1928, crashed in theArctic, after having flown over the North Pole.

The Ossoaviachim was designed as a passengership to be used on the route from Moscow toSverdlovsk, an important mining and industrialcenter located on the Eastern slopes of the UralMountains, 1200 miles East from the capital. Theairship was equipped with separate passengercabins, a smoking room and an electric kitchen. Ithad a length of 345 ft (106 m), a volume of 64,200cu ft (19,400 m3) and was propelled by 3 enginesof 265 hp each, which gave it a speed ofapproximately 64 mph (103 km/hr). The envelopewas divided in 6 separate hydrogen cells. Theregular crew consisted of 15 - 16 people.

Two days after its first flight, on November 5,1934, it already flew over Moscow incommemoration of the October communistrevolution. Delays with the construction of anairship shed and/or a mooring tower in Sverdlovsk,prevented the initiation of a regular passengerservice between the 2 big cities. Training andfamiliarization flights, however, continued. On

October 19, 1937, it set a new world recordduration flight of 30 hrs, 27 min., covering a totaldistance of approximately 3200 miles (5200 km).

During the late 20's, and early 30's, the Sovietgovernment organized many scientific expeditionsto the Polar regions. In 1938, one of those teams,under the leadership of Prof. Papanin, had becomemarooned on a drifting ice pack, which wasfloating towards Greenland and had started to breakup. It seemed that the best way to rescue the teamwas by air, so, the Ossoaviachim was ordered to flyfrom its base Dolgaprudnaja, near Moscow, first toMurmansk and then to pick up the members of theresearch mission on the ice pack.

The airship left its base on February 5, 1938, but onits way to Murmansk, in bad weather, the airshipcrashed into the mountain Neblo, killing 13 of itscrew. Three crewmembers survived unhurt. Themembers of the Arctic expedition were rescued bythe ice breakers Taymir and Yermak. The victimswere buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery inMoscow. In 1968, on the 30th anniversary of thedisaster, a large monument was erected at the crashsite in honor of the victims.

Ref.: Nobile, Umberto, "My 5 Years with Soviet AirshipsFloss, Clive, "History Today", Dec. 1997http://info.dogopa.org/album/06 ( in Russian ). Ω

HISTORY COMMITTEE

CCCP-B6 "OC_B_AX_M”By Herman Van Dyk

28

By far, the Soviet Union's most successful airshipwas the V6 (B6 or W6) Ossoaviachim . It wasdesigned by Umberto Nobile during his stay in theSoviet Union in the mid-thirties. It was a furtherdevelopment of the N1, Norge, the first aircraft tofly over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and theN2 Italia, which, on May 24, 1928, crashed in theArctic, after having flown over the North Pole.

The Ossoaviachim was designed as a passengership to be used on the route from Moscow toSverdlovsk, an important mining and industrialcenter located on the Eastern slopes of the UralMountains, 1200 miles East from the capital. Theairship was equipped with separate passengercabins, a smoking room and an electric kitchen. Ithad a length of 345 ft (106 m), a volume of 64,200cu ft (19,400 m3) and was propelled by 3 enginesof 265 hp each, which gave it a speed ofapproximately 64 mph (103 km/hr). The envelopewas divided in 6 separate hydrogen cells. Theregular crew consisted of 15 - 16 people.

Two days after its first flight, on November 5,1934, it already flew over Moscow incommemoration of the October communistrevolution. Delays with the construction of anairship shed and/or a mooring tower in Sverdlovsk,prevented the initiation of a regular passengerservice between the 2 big cities. Training andfamiliarization flights, however, continued. On

October 19, 1937, it set a new world recordduration flight of 30 hrs, 27 min., covering a totaldistance of approximately 3200 miles (5200 km).

During the late 20's, and early 30's, the Sovietgovernment organized many scientific expeditionsto the Polar regions. In 1938, one of those teams,under the leadership of Prof. Papanin, had becomemarooned on a drifting ice pack, which wasfloating towards Greenland and had started to breakup. It seemed that the best way to rescue the teamwas by air, so, the Ossoaviachim was ordered to flyfrom its base Dolgaprudnaja, near Moscow, first toMurmansk and then to pick up the members of theresearch mission on the ice pack.

The airship left its base on February 5, 1938, but onits way to Murmansk, in bad weather, the airshipcrashed into the mountain Neblo, killing 13 of itscrew. Three crewmembers survived unhurt. Themembers of the Arctic expedition were rescued bythe ice breakers Taymir and Yermak. The victimswere buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery inMoscow. In 1968, on the 30th anniversary of thedisaster, a large monument was erected at the crashsite in honor of the victims.

Ref.: Nobile, Umberto, "My 5 Years with Soviet AirshipsFloss, Clive, "History Today", Dec. 1997http://info.dogopa.org/album/06 ( in Russian ). Ω

HISTORY COMMITTEE

CCCP-B6 "OC_B_AX_M”By Herman Van Dyk

30

USS Akron 75th Anniversary NotedWith Postage Stamp only from NAA

The Naval Airship Association chose to markthe USS Akron's Silver Anniversary with aunique offering: a commemorative US postagestamp. No airship has graced a USPS stampsince the Graf Zeppelin some 80 years ago, andthe NAA officers felt it long overdue to have aUS Navy Airship grace the US mails.

Seventy-five years ago, in the winter of 1932,the USS Akron was coming of age. She had afull complement of fighter airplanes, and haddeveloped a limited ship-to-shore capabilitywith her N2Ys. Most every flight had been a‘test’ flight, with various propulsion para-meters being tweaked and results carefullymeasured. By the time Akron again escaped theLakehurst winter to visit Opa-Locka, Florida,engineers had replaced many of her originalexhaust-water condenser units with the NASL-developed Mark IV models. Photographs ofZRS-4 following this quite visible modificationare rare, however our member Roy Gibbenshas provided a photo of her port side, which,during that visit, showed a good comparisonbetween old and new. (Starboard below)

(For some unknown reason, the motion picturecameraman took little if any film of her afterthe West Coast trip, so no such movies areknown to exist. The editor has not even locatedsuch film, which one would have thought tohave been taken at the 1933 Miami Air Races,to be available from the stock footage archivehouses, given its typical $3,000.00 per minuteprice tag.) The Mark IV units weighed a greatdeal less than the G-Z condensers, and theydelivered more water per pound of gasoline.While they also had to be soot-free to function,the Mark IVs were much more practical toclean – the job was not as cruel a punishment.

So far the response to our unprecedented stampoffer has been uninspired. Worse, our ShoreEstablishments have chosen not to mark the75th anniversary with us in this manner. OurTreasury was heavily burdened to make thistribute possible, and if we have to wind up justusing them for NAA correspondence, you canbet there will be no second offering of newrectangular-oriented models with, say, a colorZPG-2 picture thereon. Members are urged tovisit ‘Small Stores’ and order a few sheets. Itwould be a gift people would actually use,you'd be helping the NAA, and showing yourrespect for the pioneers of the rigid airship allat once. See ya’ at the Small Stores! Ω

THINK BEYOND THE ENVELOPEBuy your AKRON stamps now for XMAS

TEN sheets=$150, + postage $4=$154Please include a return address label so Georgewon’t have to write every one out. You can also

pay your 2008 $25 membership at the same time;George will forward your renewal money to Pete.

31

Black Blimp

Howard Edward Mayfield, 74, of OrangePark, Florida passed away 15 MAR 07. 'Ed'was born in Biloxi, MS 21 MAR 32. As a boyhe was involved with 4-H and earned a trip tovisit President Truman. He joined the NavalReserve in 1949, working his way through Uof F Agriculture Program, graduating in 1955.Earning his wings in 1958, Ed served in LTA,Hurricane Hunters and on carriers beforeretiring as a CDR in 1980. Member of NAA,QBs, Florida Farm Bureau and MandarinUnited Methodist Church. He is survived byhis wife of 46 years, Frances; sons CAPTEdward and LCDR Charles, sister EleanorHollingsworth, and five grandchildren. Ω

Edward Eugene Bell,72, of Westernport, MD,passed away 23 JUN 07.Born in Lonaconing 11OCT 34, Gene graduatedfrom Central high schooland joined the Navy in1952. He retired fromthe Westvaco Co. in1990. He was a memberof the NAA, AmericanLegion Post #13 andCresaptown Eagles. Geneis survived by his wife C.Belle, one sister andbrother, two daughtersand two grandchildren.Ω

James W. Hickerson passed away 27 July2005. Ω

Bob Waterson, a Goodyear employee before thewar who served at Moffett and Santa Ana duringWWII, passed away in July 2007. Ω

Richard ‘Dick’ Widdicombe87, passed away 13OCT 07. Enlisting anda s s i g n e d to NASLakehurst in 1940, hewent through the LTAschool in the last class toreceive Rigid Airshipinstruction as part of thecourse syllabus. Dick hadan LTA career thatspanned five decades; hewas named Chief NavyTest Pilot for the ZPG-3Wproject (Seen at right.)Continuing in Goodyearservice in 1965, Dick wasselected as pilot-in-chargefor the prestigiousEuropean opera t ionbeginning in 1972 athistoric Cardington,England and a newpurpose-built base facility at Capena, Italy.After Europa’s 15 years and retirement from

Goodyear, Dick was a consultanton various LTA projects, notablyJim Thiele's early LIGHTSHIPs.Dick was a member of the NavalAirship Association, and HonoraryLife Member both of the Lighterthan Air Society and NavyLakehurst Historical Society. Whenthe Navy re-started its LTA programin 2006, Dick offered to help anyway he could. He is survived by hiswife, Mary.

Cdr. Charles Duncan passed awayJuly 12, 2007. He was a NAAmember. Ω

Richard ‘Dick’ Widdicombe, 87, passed away 13 OCT 07. Enlisting and assigned to NAS Lakehurst in 1940, he went through the LTA school in the last class to receive Rigid Air-ship instruction as part of the course syllabus. Dick had an LTA career that spanned five decades; he was named Chief Navy Test Pilot for the ZPG-3W project (Seen at right.) Continuing in Goodyear ser-vice in 1965, Dick was se-lected as pilot-in-charge for the prestigious European op-eration beginning in 1972 at historic Cardington, England and a new purpose-built base facility at Capena, Italy. After Europa’s 15 years and retire-ment from Goodyear, Dick was a consultant on vari-ous LTA projects, notably Jim Thiele’s early

LIGHTSHIPs. Dick was a member of the Naval Airship Association, and Honorary Life Member both of the Lighter than Air Society and Navy Lakehurst Historical Society. When the Navy re-started its LTA program in 2006, Dick offered to help any way he could. He is survived by his wife, Mary.

Cdr. Charles Duncan passed away July 12, 2007. He was a NAA mem-ber. Ω

32

THE READY ROOM

April 3-6, 2008 – Balloon Federation ofAmerica’s National Convention, “UnbridledFlight 2008” at Louisville, Kentucky.

www.bfa.net

October 9-11, 2008 - 6th Airship AssociationInternational Conference, combined with LTAConvention: Celebrating the Centenary ofLuftschiffbau-Zeppelin. 9-11 October 2008(Thurs-Sat) Friedrichshafen, Germany

www.airshipconvention2008.org

DRIFTING TOWARD THELIGHTER SIDE OF LTA

[and bringing up the rear...] Larry Rodrigues([email protected]) wrote: "Here is an oldNavy blimp toilet story: Back in 1954 when I wasassigned to ZP-3 at Lakehurst my first flight was aday flight in a K-ship. As the second radiomanflying that day just for training, there wasn't muchto do except try to stay out of the way and drinkcoffee. Soon I had enough coffee to start lookingfor the "latrine." I asked my buddy, sitting at theradioman's position on the starboard about midship,where I could relieve myself. He pointed, behindhis position, to a rubber hose approx. 3 ft longwith a black plastic funnel (approx. 2" diam and 6"long) hanging on a hook on the bulkhead. That wasthe "urinal" and it simply drained outside into theocean (hopefully). No privacy. No place to wash.Just enough equipment to get the job done withNavy efficiency. For more serious jobs there wasother equipment with no unnecessary frills (Thankyou, Goodyear).

In the aft of the car was a galley area with a coupleof places to sit plus a round (approx 12" dia. x 15"h) can-like thing with lid. (I can see where the term"can" came from.) No screen or privacy wasprovided, for space was very limited. To operatethis utility (should one be so unfortunate as to needit), one would place a waterproofed paper bag (withsome sort of plastic or waxed interior) in the "can"and hope the earlier bombing practice would helpto hit the target. During [my] brief period of K-shipoperations before the squadron received the ZPG-2N “Nan” ships there were a few incidencesinvolving the operation of the K-ship "can" thatproduced stories to re-tell at the bar endlessly.(Con’t)

Perhaps the photographer’s mate was having his ownjoke by framing the visiting Admiral below the can ofthis ZP-11 ship at S. Weymouth in 1943.

One story involved one of our enlisted radiomen whohad some serious gastrointestinal problems after arough night at the Airship Tavern not far down theroad outside the Lakehurst main gate. The missionthat day was to take some "high-ranking Navy wheel"for a short ride in one of the last k-ships. During theflight, lunch was prepared in the "galley" for the"wheel." With most inappropriate timing, theradioman had to use the can, which was in the"galley" area. No two people ever ignored each otherso tactfully while each went about their business.

The ZPG-2N “Nan” ships that replaced the K-shipshad great improvements for crew rest and survival onthe long flights." Ω

Dabs Greer, character actor inendless TV and movieappearances, died last July at theage of 90. Greer appeared in the‘origin’ episode of THEA D V E N T U R E S OFSUPERMAN as a blimp linehandler who was carried aloft.The blimp was “unable to land”and Greer dropped from 1000feet, to what seemed like certaindeath until the Man of Steelstreaked across the sky andcaught him. Your editor, as asmall boy, was so enamoredwith Superman he never thoughtto ask why the blimp couldn'tjust valve gas and come down. Ω

32

THE READY ROOM

April 3-6, 2008 – Balloon Federation ofAmerica’s National Convention, “UnbridledFlight 2008” at Louisville, Kentucky.

www.bfa.net

October 9-11, 2008 - 6th Airship AssociationInternational Conference, combined with LTAConvention: Celebrating the Centenary ofLuftschiffbau-Zeppelin. 9-11 October 2008(Thurs-Sat) Friedrichshafen, Germany

www.airshipconvention2008.org

DRIFTING TOWARD THELIGHTER SIDE OF LTA

[and bringing up the rear...] Larry Rodrigues([email protected]) wrote: "Here is an oldNavy blimp toilet story: Back in 1954 when I wasassigned to ZP-3 at Lakehurst my first flight was aday flight in a K-ship. As the second radiomanflying that day just for training, there wasn't muchto do except try to stay out of the way and drinkcoffee. Soon I had enough coffee to start lookingfor the "latrine." I asked my buddy, sitting at theradioman's position on the starboard about midship,where I could relieve myself. He pointed, behindhis position, to a rubber hose approx. 3 ft longwith a black plastic funnel (approx. 2" diam and 6"long) hanging on a hook on the bulkhead. That wasthe "urinal" and it simply drained outside into theocean (hopefully). No privacy. No place to wash.Just enough equipment to get the job done withNavy efficiency. For more serious jobs there wasother equipment with no unnecessary frills (Thankyou, Goodyear).

In the aft of the car was a galley area with a coupleof places to sit plus a round (approx 12" dia. x 15"h) can-like thing with lid. (I can see where the term"can" came from.) No screen or privacy wasprovided, for space was very limited. To operatethis utility (should one be so unfortunate as to needit), one would place a waterproofed paper bag (withsome sort of plastic or waxed interior) in the "can"and hope the earlier bombing practice would helpto hit the target. During [my] brief period of K-shipoperations before the squadron received the ZPG-2N “Nan” ships there were a few incidencesinvolving the operation of the K-ship "can" thatproduced stories to re-tell at the bar endlessly.(Con’t)

Perhaps the photographer’s mate was having his ownjoke by framing the visiting Admiral below the can ofthis ZP-11 ship at S. Weymouth in 1943.

One story involved one of our enlisted radiomen whohad some serious gastrointestinal problems after arough night at the Airship Tavern not far down theroad outside the Lakehurst main gate. The missionthat day was to take some "high-ranking Navy wheel"for a short ride in one of the last k-ships. During theflight, lunch was prepared in the "galley" for the"wheel." With most inappropriate timing, theradioman had to use the can, which was in the"galley" area. No two people ever ignored each otherso tactfully while each went about their business.

The ZPG-2N “Nan” ships that replaced the K-shipshad great improvements for crew rest and survival onthe long flights." Ω

Dabs Greer, character actor inendless TV and movieappearances, died last July at theage of 90. Greer appeared in the‘origin’ episode of THEA D V E N T U R E S OFSUPERMAN as a blimp linehandler who was carried aloft.The blimp was “unable to land”and Greer dropped from 1000feet, to what seemed like certaindeath until the Man of Steelstreaked across the sky andcaught him. Your editor, as asmall boy, was so enamoredwith Superman he never thoughtto ask why the blimp couldn'tjust valve gas and come down. Ω

(Top): Movie mock up control car from The Hin-denburg was featured on the Hangar # 1 tour. (Upper right and right): The A-170 MZ-3A airship was the featured attraction on the stop to Hangar 6. (Below right): Past president George Allen and his wife Dottie. (Bottom right): Our reunion hosts and facilitators from the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society, Carl Jablonski and Rick Zitarosa. (Below left): Outgoing NAA president Bob Ashford and newly elected president Herm Spahr. (Bottom left):Jim Brodes (left) and Joann McOmber (right) seem to be having too much fun with NMNA liaison Joe Hajcak (center). Joe will be chairman of our 2009 reunion at Pensacola.

ISBN: 0-9725423-9-6

UNITED STATESNAVY AIRSHIPS IN WORLD WAR II

VADM Charles E. Rosendahl, USN (Ret.) Foreword by J. Gordon Vaeth

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