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Here for the first time, author William F. Althoff has detailed the complete saga of the United States Navy's nearly fifty years' involvement with airships, including the twenty-four-year period after the Hindenburg tragedy. It is the story of ships that were longer than a football field but, when properly balanced, could be moved by a man's finger. - Beginning in World War l with Germany's modest military success with Zeppelins, the United States initiated her own fleet of airships and established the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. The Lakehurst air Station provided the setting for the golden era of airships, including USS Shenandoah, USS Los Angeles, USS Akron, and USS Macon. Among the largest machines ever created by man, these huge dirigibles amazed and intrigued the public as much as their crashes horrified it. Lakehurst's story is also closely associated with the rise of the commercial rigid airship, which peaked in 1936 with ten successful round trips from Europe to Lakehurst by the Hindenburgand which ended with her explosion in 1937. - After the end of the commercial rigid airship (and published in book form here for the first time), the Sky Ships story continues with the navy's use of blimps to help protect World War II Allied shipping, which was being decimated by German U-boats, and the postwar efforts to integrate airships with the navy fleet. Finally, the end of the naval air-ship program during the late fifties and early sixties is carefully documented, along with the bright new hope for a revitalized lighter-than-air program. - SkyShips is based on research in primary sources including dozens of Interviews with navy personnel and civilian participants In addition the book has more than two hundred remarkable photographs, most of which have never before been published. In Sky Ships, author William F. Althoff has compiled an extraordinary story of a unique era in the history of manned flight. - WILLIAM F. ALTHOFF has had a lifelong interest in lighter-than-air aeronautics, which began when his father took him äs a child to visit the Naval Air Station at Lakehurst, New Jersey. He has written extensively for aviation publications. 304 p. many rare and excellent photos. Seller Inventory # 17286
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Sky Ships, A History of the Airship in the ...
Publisher: Pacifica Press, USA
Publication Date: 1990
Binding: Softcover, large format
Condition: very good condition
