The F series consisted of only one airship. It was originally constructed for commercial purposes by Goodyear and then acquired by the Navy.

Bureau of Construction and Repair’sAircraf t Div is ion and was a majoradvance over the B-class. Theimprovements in the C-class providedincreased endurance for longer on-station time for convoy and patrol duties;more power for additional speed tohandle head winds; and more powerreliability with the addition of twinengines. It also had a much larger usefullift capacity which permitted a greaterload of depth charges to be carried in itsASW role.

Contracts were placed with Goodyearand Goodrich for 30 C-class airships. Thecars were to be built by the CurtissCompany. Only a few of the C-class werecompleted before the Armistice and sothe design improvements were not testedunder actual combat conditions.

The first C-class airship was completedin September and made her maiden flighton September 30, 1918. She wasdelivered to the Navy on October 22 afterflying nonstop from Akron to Anacostia,D.C., where she was refueled and thencontinued on to NAS Rockaway, N.Y.This was the beginning of many “firsts”for the C-class airship: the first to carryan airplane aloft and launch it in flight; todemonstrate the practicability of aerialrefueling from ships at sea by taking onfuel from a submarine chaser; to usehelium as her lifting gas; to complete atranscontinental flight across the U.S.;and to make numerous record-setting

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distance flights.A C-class airship, the C-5, also was

used in an attempted flight across theAtlantic. She was modified for thescheduled crossing and LieutenantCommander E. W. Coil was assigned ascommander. On May 14, 1919, theairship lifted off from NAS Montauk, witha crew of six, and headed for St. John’s,Newfoundland. This flight was part of thetest to determine whether they wouldattempt the Atlantic crossing. On themorning of May 15, the C-5 landed atPleasantville, St. John’s The distancecovered was 1,022 sea miles and thetime in the air was 25 hours and 50minutes. The flight had demonstratedthe airship’s long-distance cruisingrange, and the airworthiness of the C-5 too p e r a t e u n d e r v a r y i n g w e a t h e rconditions.

Permission was granted for theAtlantic crossing and the ground crewbegan the work of refueling and gassingthe C-5. Wind conditions were gusty andvariable during reprovisioning. After theground crew experienced numeroushandling problems, it became evidentthat the airship had to be deflated. Theripcord was pulled but there wereproblems with the pulloff patch on theenvelope. Before any other action couldbe taken, another gust of wind parted thefinal lines holding the C-5. The airshipdrifted rapidly away, heading out to seawith no personnel on board, and was lost.

Lt.Cdr. Coil, in his report on the C-5flight, indicated that the performance ofthe C-5 between Montauk and St. John’smade a nonstop transatlantic crossingentirely feasible. Had it not been for theweather and the fact that a mooring masthad not been developed, the C-5 mighthave been the first aircraft to cross theAtlantic.

When the Armistice was signed, only afew C-class airships had been deliveredto the Navy. Demobilization led to areduction in the number of airshipsconstructed and, eventually, only 10were built of the 30 originally ordered.The last C-class was delivered on March19, 1919. Two were transferred to theArmy.

VII. New Airship Classes in thePost-WW I Period

The postwar period saw developmentsin non-rigid airships that were moreadvanced than the capabilities offered inthe C-class. The success of the C-classwas tempered by criticism from pilotsabout certain unsatisfactory features.Criticism was aimed primarily at thecontrol car which was crowded, noisydue to engine placement, and susceptibleto propeller blasts. As a result, the D-c lass des ign was deve loped andauthorized by the Secretary of the Navyon July 16, 1918. Goodyear received acontract to build three of the airships, the

D-1, 2 and 4, while Goodrich had thecontract for the D-3 and 5.

A C-type envelope was used in the D-class. Added to the envelope was anextra six-foot panel which increased itsvolume by 8,000 cubic feet, The controlcar was redesigned and the fuel tanks,which had been inside the C-classcontrol car, were placed along theenvelope’s equator. The engines werepositioned as far aft on the car as possibleto eliminate the unsatisfactory featuresbut created others. The placement of thefuel tanks made them difficult to service,and the long fuel lines to the engines farastern of the control car tended todevelop leaks.

The first D-class airship to fly was theD-3 on July 13, 1920. The D-1 had beencompleted earlier but was destroyed in afire on June 19, before she had her firstflight test. The four remaining D-class

A close-up of the C-class control car. The twinengines provided improved performance overthe single-engine B-class. Note the bombattached to the rear part of the control car.

airships were eventually transferred tothe Army.

An airship designated the D-6 wasbuilt by the Naval Aircraft Factory,Philadelphia, Pa., but her design wassufficiently different to separate her fromthe other five D-class airships. One of thedistinguishing features was the all-enclosed control car, which had a boat-type hull with fuel tanks on the inside.The D-6 was assigned to NAS Rockawaywhen she was destroyed in a hanger fireon August 21, 1921.

While Goodyear was building airshipsaccording to Navy specifications, it alsowas engaged in constructing airships ofits own designs for possible commercialuse. In 1918, Goodyear offered several ofthese airships to the armed forces. Underseparate contracts dated June 5 and July7, the Navy procured one E-class airship(E-1) and one F-class (F-1).

The E -1 and F -1 had i den t i ca lenvelopes and differed slightly in controlcar design. Engine design andinstallation were the major differencesbetween the two airships. The E-1 had aThomas pusher-type engine and the F-1had a Union engine.

The E-1 was flown at Akron and thenshipped to Pensacola on December 16,1918, where she remained in service forher entire operating life span. She wasplaced in storage in 1924 because of herworn condition, was surveyed andremoved from the Navy’s inventory onSeptember 5, 1924.

The F-1 had a similar career. She madeher first flight at Akron on February 11,1919, and continued on to NAS HamptonRoads. On the way, difficulties wereencountered and the F-1 was forced toland near Catlett, Va. The envelope wasripped during the landing and the airship

The Capitaine Caussin atNAS Paimboeuf, France,prior to the completionof the hangar.

The C-class set many“firsts” in NavalAviation. This particularairship, the C-7, was thefirst airship to be inflatedwith helium.

was deflated. She was flying again inApril 1919, and remained assigned toNAS Hampton Roads until removed fromthe inventory on November 9, 1923.

In the summer of 1918, during thedevelopment of the D-class, plans werebeing made for a G-class airship, It wasdesigned as a very large, long-endurancepatrol/ASW airship. The initial envelopecapacity was set at 360,000 cubic feet,which was later increased to 400,000. Itwas designed to have an enclosed controlcar with sleeping quarters for the crew.The armament was to consist of a three-inch antisubmarine gun and a heavybomb load. This G-class design wasnever built, because it was felt the airshipwas too large for a non-rigid and designsf o r r i g i d a i r s h i p s w e r e u n d e rconsideration at that time. A differenttype of G-class was constructed and willbe discussed later.

The H-type airship was developed inresponse to a strong recommendation byCdr. Maxfield before the General Boardon April 14, 1919, for a small airship thatcould double as a towed kite balloon, orfly and maneuver independently like adirigible. It was an attempt to overcomethe weaknesses of the kite balloon andallow operations in adverse weather thatwere beyond the capability of theordinary kite balloon.A contract was given to Goodyear onJune 30, 1920, for the H-type airship.The H-1 (the only one built for the Navy)was delivered by rail to NAS Rockaway onMay 3, 1921. She was often referred toas the “animated kite balloon.”

Various trial flights were conductedwith the H-1 On August 5, 1921, amalfunction in the engine caused her tocome down. The landing was especiallyhard and the car tipped overthrowing thecrew out. With the H-l lighter, minus hercrew, she ascended again and flew off onher own, making a gentle landing in apasture near Scarsdale, N.Y. A farmerfound the airship and tied her to a tree.Unfamiliar with LTA vehicles, he usedthe cord attached to the airship’s rippanel for securing the airship. During thenight, the wind caused a strain sufficientto pull open the rip panel and deflate theH-1. The airship was recovered andreturned to the hangar at NAS Rockawaywhere, on August 31, 1921, she wasdestroyed in a fire.

The development of the J-class beganin the Aircraft Division of the Bureau ofConstruction and Repair. The designcalled for a twin-motor coastal airship,similar to the C and D-classes but using a

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single ballonet like those found in theFrench Zodiacs from WW I. The controlcar was to be designed to land on water.

A design was drawn up by the Bureauof Aeronautics working jointly with arepresentative from Goodyear. In 1921 acontract was awarded to Goodyear fortwo J-class airships. The J-1 was builtand so was the control car for the J-2, butthe envelope for the 2 was put on hold.On August 31, 1922, the J-1 made herfirst flight. Various trial flights showedthe single ballonet was not adequate forairship operations. It caused the airshipto surge excessively, the response wassluggish and the trim was difficult tocontrol These problems, combined witha switch to helium as the lifting gas, led tothe cancellation of the J-2 envelope. Thelast known records on the J-1 indicateshe was at NAS Hampton Roads in 1923and then transferred to NAS Lakehurst.At Lakehurst , s h e w a s u s e d f o rpreliminary LTA training of personnelconnected with the operation andmaintenance of Shenandoah and forgeneral LTA training. The J-1 wasstricken from the records while atLakehurst but no date is given. Thecontrol car for the J-2 remained in theNavy’s inventory, but a J-2 airship neverflew for the Navy.

In 1925, the Navy obtained an ArmyTC-type envelope and mated it with the J-2 control car. The match was designatedJ-4 and became operational in 1927.Before the J-4 became operational, theNavy acquired a TC-type airship from theArmy and designated it J-3. The J-3 wastest flown on October 12, 1926. Sheremained in the Navy’s inventory untilshe was lost on April 4, 1933, whilesearching for survivors of the crash of therigid airship USS Akron (ZRS-4). The J-4remained in the Navy’s inventory untilshe was surveyed in 1940.

During the mid to late 1920s. the majorinterest was in rigid airships. The J-3 and4 airships were the only non-rigids in theNavy’s LTA inventory from 1928 until thelatter part of 1931 when the first K-typewas introduced.

VIII. The Demise of the KiteBalloon

With the end of WW I, the Navy had alarge inventory of kite balloons. Theirprimary mission after the Armistice wasas tow balloons for gunfire spotting( g u n n e r y o b s e r v a t i o n ) . A m a j o rdifference of opinion evolved betweenthe Atlantic and Pacific fleets regardingthe utility of the kite balloon. The feeling

Above, the E-1 preparing for a training flight at NAS Pensacola, Fla. Above right, a J-class airshipat NAS Sunnyvale (later Moffett Field), Calif., in 1933. Note the unique boat-shaped control car.Right, the H-1 was an unusual airship designed to mate the missions of the kite balloon and theairship into one vehicle. She was the only airship of her class built.

in the Atlantic Fleet was that the kite N.E. Irwin’s testimony before the General of value in protecting the battleship fromballoon was of dubious value and that all Board in March 1919 in which he stated gas attack or strafing by low flyingi ts funct ions could be performed “such planes were twice as effective as aircraft. Captain Thomas T. Craven,satisfactorily by an airplane, once an kite balloons in spotting work.” Cdr. when he was Director of Aviation inadequate turret platform was available. Maxfield, the “flagbearer” for LTA at that 1919, issued an order to limit future use

This view was supported by Captain time, suggested the kite balloon could be of kite balloons to tenders and shore

stations, and not assign them to first-lineships. The Pacific Fleet continued toutilize the kite balloon despite Craven’sorder. In the Atlantic, the order was moreclosely followed, however, a limitednumber were used aboard Atlantic Fleetships. The Atlantic Fleet Kite BalloonDetachment was renamed the HamptonRoads Detachment and continued EastCoast experimentation with balloons.

In March 1921, during individual shiptarget practice, the kite balloons operatedby USS Nevada and Florida “dished in”and dove into the water. This was one ofthe last acts before the final curtain fellon kite balloon operations aboard ship.

USS Wright (AZ-1) was commissionedon December 16, 1921. She had beenbuilt as an LTA aircraft tender, with aunique “balloon well” built into the hull.This feature enabled her to fly a kiteballoon, and then retrieve it and stow it inthe balloon well. By the time the ship wascommissioned, kite balloon operationsaboard ship had almost come to an end.Wright deployed in the Caribbean in thes p r i n g o f 1 9 2 2 a n d c o n d u c t e dexperiments with her kite balloon. Uponreturning from her cruise, the shipperformed tending duties along the EastCoast, On July 16, 1922, while atHampton Roads, Wright flew her kiteballoon for the last time. She thentransferred it ashore to NAS HamptonRoads, and this was the final curtain callfor kite balloon operations aboard ship.

The Navy kept kite balloons in itsinventory for a long time after 1922.Many were maintained at NAS HamptonRoads, Lakehurst and Brown Field,Quantico, Va. The Marines used them forspotting and, at NAS Lakehurst, the Navy

used them in testing parachutes. TheNavy still had a kite balloon at NASLakehurst in 1936.

IX. The Switch to Helium

One of the most significant changes inthe Navy’s LTA operations was theswitch to helium as the lifting gas.Hel ium’s pr imary value was in i tsnoninflammability. The development of apractical method to extract helium fromnatural gas in sufficient quantities madethe gas a viable alternative to hydrogen.This new development, combined withthe discovery of helium fields in Texas,led to a joint venture between thegovernment and two commerc ia lcompanies in which helium-producingplants were established at Petrolia andFort Worth, Texas, during WW I.

The amount of helium delivered beforeNovember 11, 1918, was insufficient forLTA operations. But with the advantagegained from heavy investments andresearch during the war, the plants inTexas were able by 1919 to begin theaccumulation of helium gas for the LTAfleet which was built during the 1920s.

In fiscal year 1922, the production ofhydrogen was concentrated at NASHampton Roads, the site of almost all LTAactivity. Hydrogen had been shipped toLakehurst for storage for the expectedarrival of the rigid airship ZR-2, built forthe U.S. Navy by the Royal Air Force.

With the loss of the ZR-2, the Navyseriously investigated the safety andstructural requirements for the ZR-1w h i c h w a s b e i n g a s s e m b l e d a tLakehurst. In December 1922, the Navy

began the procurement of equipment fora helium purification plant to be locatedat NAS Lakehurst. The helium safetyfactor was one of the major reasons forthe switch from hydrogen to helium.Practically all hydrogen productionceased because of limited LTA activitiesin fiscal year 1923 and also due to a largesupply of hydrogen stored in cylinders atthe Naval Aircraft Factory.

During fiscal year 1923, the J-1 hadbeen f l i gh t t es ted and then wastransferred to Hampton Roads, but it wasnot inflated. During fiscal year 1924, theonly airship flying was the C-7 untilShenandoah was completed, the firstrigid airship to be inflated with helium.

In f iscal year 1925, the hel iumproduction plant operated continuouslyand great progress was made towardefficient and economical production. Thehe l ium pur i f i ca t i on p lan t a t NASL a k e h u r s t w a s a l s o o p e r a t i n gsuccessfully and repurifying all thehelium for Shenandoah and Los Angeles.

Airship operations during fiscal year1926 were restricted due to the shortage

Left, a kite balloon in the “balloon well” of USS Wright (AZ-1) in July 1922. Left below, an artist’s rendering of Wright. The ship was designed andbuilt as an LTA tender, with kite balloon operations as her primary mission. Above, USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), the Navy’s first rigid airship, at NASLakehurst, N.J. Lakehurst was to become synonymous with the operation and development of LTA in the Navy.

of costly helium. Further operations werelimited by the need for a gas-cell andstructural overhaul of Los Angeles, andthe lack o f non- r ig id a i r sh ips i nsatisfactory flying condition. WhenShenandoah was lost, Los Angeles wasthe only airship, rigid or non-rigid, inoperat ional condi t ion in the Navyinventory. This was true until October1926, when the J-3 non-rigid airshipmade its first flight.

In the spring of 1927, a commercialcompany proposed a contract to producehelium from a Kansas field. This offerwas accepted by the government and acontract was signed for the delivery ofhelium. To transport the helium, a tankcar was procured, designed for both

helium transport and storage. Besides asaving in transportation costs, there wasless leakage than had been the casewhen helium was transferred in smallcylinders. The tank car also added a greatdeal of mobility to the helium supply.

The helium supply tended to fluctuate,but by the end of the 1920s it wasadequate for airship operations becauseof increased storage, transportation andadd i t i ona l supp l i es bo th f rom ac o m m e r c i a l c o n c e r n a n d t h egovernment ’s hel ium plants. Thedevelopment and use of helium wouldnot have progressed as rapidly as it didhad it not been for the pioneer workbegun by the Navy and other governmentagencies during WW I.

X. The Development ofLTA’s Home Base and

the Rigid Airship Program

A center for LTA operations wasestablished in August 1921 at NASLakehurst, which was dest ined tobecome the Navy’s most important LTAbase. Construction work had begun onthe LTA hangar there in 1919. It wascompleted just prior to the establishmentof the naval air station in August 1921.Work began immediately on the Navy’sfirst rigid airship.

In the late 1920s and early 193Os, NAS

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