USS Macon (ZRS-5)

USS "Macon" (ZRS-5) was a rigid airship built and operated by the United States Navy for scouting. In service for less than two years, in 1935 "Macon" was damaged in a storm and lost off the coast of California. At less than 20ft (ca. 7m) shorter than "Hindenburg", she and her sister, "Akron", were among the biggestclarifyme flying objects in the world. Although "Hindenburg" was longer, the two sisters still hold the world record for helium-filled airships.

She was built in Springfield Township, Ohio by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, christened on March 11, 1933 by Jeanette Whitton Moffett (wife of Rear Admiral William A. Moffett), and first flew one month later, only a few weeks after the tragic loss of her sister ship, "Akron" (ZRS-4). "Macon" was commissioned on June 23, 1933 with Commander Alger H. Dresel in command.

"Macon" had 12 helium-filled gas cells made from gelatine-latex fabric. Designed to carry five F9C Sparrowhawk biplanes, "Macon" received her first aircraft on board July 6, 1933 during trial flights out of Lakehurst, New Jersey. The planes were stored in bays inside the hull and were launched and retrieved using a trapeze. Departing the East Coast October 12, 1933, "Macon's" homefield became NAS Sunnyvale (now Moffett Federal Airfield). "Macon" had a far more productive career than its sister ship, "Akron". "Macon"'s commanders developed the doctrine and techniques of using its airplanes to do scouting while the airship remained out of sight of the opposing forces in exercises. "Macon" participated in several fleet exercises, though the men who framed and conducted the exercises lacked an understanding of the ZRS's capabilities and weaknesses. It became standard practice to remove the F9C-2 fighter's landing gear aboard the airship and replace it with a fuel tank, giving the aircraft 30% more range. Lt. Commander Herbert Wiley surprised the President, and the Navy, when "Macon" searched for and located USS "Houston", carrying the President back from a trip to Hawaii. Newspapers were dropped to the President and the following communications were sent: from "Houston": "1519 The President compliments you and your planes on your fine performance and excellent navigation 1210 and 1519 Well Done and thank you for the papers the President 1245" The commander of the Fleet, Admiral Joseph M. Reeves, was most upset; Commander of the Bureau of Aviation, Admiral Ernest J. King, [Chief of Naval Operations during World War Two.] was not. Wiley was soon promoted to Commander.

Leading up to the crash

During a crossing of the continent, "Macon" was forced to fly up to 1800 m (6,000 ft) to clear mountains in Arizona. As the ship's pressure height was less than 900 m (3,000 ft), a large amount of helium was vented to reach this altitude without rupturing the gas cells. To compensate for the loss of lift, 4 tonnes (9,000 lb) of ballast and 3 t (7,000 lb) of fuel had to be dumped. "Macon" was being flown 15,000 pounds 'heavy' and was operating at full power not only in order to have sufficient dynamic lift, but to have enough control to fly in the severe turbulence through a mountain pass near Van Horn, Texas. Following a severe drop a diagonal girder in ring 17.5, which supported the forward fin attachment points, failed. Rapid damage control by Chief Boatswain's Mate Robert Davis repaired the girders before further failures could occur. "Macon" completed the journey safely but the buckled ring and all four tailfins were deemed in need of strengthening. The appropriate girders adjacent to the horizontal and lower fins were repaired, but the repair to the girders on either side of the top fin were delayed until the next scheduled overhaul when the adjacent gas cells could be deflated.

Disaster

On February 12, 1935 the repair process was still incomplete when, returning to Sunnyvale from fleet maneuvers, "Macon" ran into a storm off Point Sur, California. During the storm, she was caught in a wind shear which caused structural failure of the unstrengthened ring (17.5) to which the upper tailfin was attached. The fin failed to the side and carried away. Pieces of structure punctured the rear gas cells and caused gas leakage. Acting rapidly and on fragmentary information an immediate and massive discharge of ballast was ordered. Control was lost and, tail heavy and with engines running full speed ahead, the "Macon" rose past the pressure height and kept going until enough helium was vented to cancel the lift. It took her 20 minutes to descend from 4,850 ft and, settling gently into the sea, "Macon" sank off the California coast. Only two crewmembers from her complement of 76 died, thanks to the warm conditions and the introduction of life jackets and inflatable rafts after the "Akron" tragedy. The two that perished did so needlessly: Radioman 1 class Ernest Edwin Dailey jumped ship after it had lost most of its altitude but was still high above the ocean surface; Mess Attendant 1 class Florentino Edquiba drowned while swimming back into the wreckage to try to retrieve personal belongings. The cause of the loss was operator error following the structural failure and loss of the fin. Had the ship not been driven over pressure height (where the cells were expanded fully and lifting gas released) "Macon" could have made it back to Moffett Field.

"Macon", having completed 50 flights from her commissioning date, was stricken from the Navy list on February 26, 1935. Subsequent airships for Navy use were of a nonrigid design.

Wreck site exploration

(MBARI) succeeded in locating and surveying the debris field of the "Macon" in February 1991, and was able to recover artifacts from it. [cite web
url=http://www.mbari.org/itd/retrospective/full_text.pdf
title=MBARI's First Decade: A Retrospective
publisher=Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
date=ca. 1997
accessdate=2006-10-04|format=PDF (page 11)] The exploration included sonar, video, and still camera data, as well as some artifact recovery.

In May 2005 MBARI returned to the site as part of a year-long research project to identify archeological resources in the bay. Side-scan sonar was used to survey the site.

2006 expedition

A more complete return with including exploration with remotely operated vehicles took place in September 2006, which included researchers from MBARI and from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. [cite news
url=http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/9844035/detail.html
title=Expedition To Probe Sunken Airship
publisher=KSBW-TV
date=September 13, 2006
accessdate=2006-10-04] Video clips of the expedition were made available to the public through the [http://www.oceanslive.org/portal/ OceansLive Web Portal] , a service of NOAA.

The 2006 expedition was a success, and revealed a number of new surprises and changes since the last visit, ~15 years ago. High-definition video and more than 10,000 new images were captured, which will be assembled into a photomosaic of the wreck. [cite news
url=http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/9949569/detail.html
title=USS Macon Exploration Findings Unveiled
publisher=KSBW-TV
date=September 27, 2006
accessdate=2006-10-04 (includes slideshow)]

http://www.sanctuaries.noaa.gov/missions/2006macon/welcome.htmlhttp://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/s2708.htm

Protection

The research team also hopes to use the new data to get the wreckage of the Macon listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The wreck site remains secret, and is within a marine sanctuary and is not accessible to divers due to depth. It is also a U.S. Navy gravesite.

References

*Robinson, Douglas H., and Charles L. Keller." "Up Ship!": U.S. Navy Rigid Airships 1919-1935." Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1982. ISBN 0-87021-738-0

*Richard K. Smith, "The Airships Akron & Macon (Flying Aircraft Carriers of the United States Navy)", United States Naval Institute: Annapolis, Maryland, 1965

See also

* List of airships of the United States Navy
*USS "Akron" (ZRS-4) "Macon's" sister ship.
* F9C Sparrowhawk, Macon's intended parasitic fighter
*List of airship accidents

External links

* [http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/ac-usn22/z-types/zrs5.htm U.S. Naval Historical Center pages on ZRS-5]
* Lucidcafe.com has a good page with some additional photos of the ship and crew called [http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/macon.html USS Macon: The US Navy's last dirigible]
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/accidents.htm Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action]