ADMIRAL MOFFETT AND AKRON

RADM William A. Moffett was one of our most energetic and determined Naval aviators, whose particular interest was the rigid-framed lighter-than-air (LTA) ship.  Moffett faced an uphill battle however, as zeppelins were widely thought to be large, slow targets despite their value as long-range scouts.  No less, the zeppelin disasters of that era had convinced many of their fundamentally unsafe design.  But persistence was a Moffett virtue–persistence sufficient to sustain the LTA program through the 1920s.  In fact, his crowning achievements were our last two zeppelins, the 785-foot sister-ships AKRON (ZRS-4) and MACON (ZRS-5).  Construction of AKRON began in 1929; Moffett, himself drove the “golden rivet” into the ship’s main ring.  She was commissioned on Navy Day (October 27^th) 1931.

AKRON, like her predecessors, soon demonstrated the pitfalls inherent in the zeppelin design–her large rigid frame was unforgiving of sudden wind shears, making her tricky to handle in all but the lightest airs.  To be sure, wind-related damage sidelined the airship on several occasions.  But a more serious accident occurred on 11 May 1932, when AKRON was attempting to moor at US Army Camp Kearny, California (present day MCAS Miramar).  Here the hot California sun combined with nearly empty fuel tanks to make the ship too light.  When she threatened to swing vertically, her nose cable had to be cut suddenly, and three sailors were swept into the air gripping the line.  ACM3 Robert H. Edsall and SA Nigel M. Henton fell to their deaths, and the third, SA C.M. Cowart, hung on for an hour until he could be hauled aboard to safety.

The following year on the evening of 3 April 1933, AKRON departed NAS Lakehurst, NJ, to patrol the New England coast and calibrate signals from newly installed radio direction-finding stations.  According to his frequent custom RADM Moffett was aboard, as was CDR Fred T. Berry, the CO of Lakehurst.  Shortly they encountered heavy weather which worsened as they continued north.  Then sometime around 0030 AKRON was struck by a severe down draft that sent the airship on a tailspin into the Atlantic.  The German steamer Phoebus saw the lights of the craft as she fell, but a five-hour search saved only three, including AKRON’s XO, LCDR Henry V. Wiley.

AKRON’s toll was undoubtedly higher because dirigibles generally did not carry life-vests.  Indeed the 72 lost made this the worst air disaster of its day.  Moreover, the death of the dynamic Moffett signaled the end of the LTA program.  The airfield at NAS Sunnyvale (Onizuka Air Force Station) was named Moffett Field in his honor.  Two giant, hemi-tubular zeppelin hangars could be seen there until 2010.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  7 APR 25

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

Archbold, Rick.  Hindenburg: An Illustrated History.  New York, NY: Warner Books, Inc., 1994, pp. 124-29.

Department of the Navy, Naval History Division.  Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 1 “A”.  Washington, DC: GPO, 1991, pp. 103-05.

Love, Robert W.  History of the US Navy, Vol 1  1775-1941.  Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1992, pp. 548-52.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  Zeppelins differ from blimps, balloons, and other dirigibles in that they have a rigid internal skeleton of wood or metal.  It was precisely this inflexible frame that made them so vulnerable to wind shear.  The name “zeppelin” derives, of course, from Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), the German-born inventor of the rigid-framed airship.

AKRON and MACON were not the largest zeppelins ever built.  The infamous Hindenburg that crashed and burned at Lakehurst, New Jersey, was 804 feet long.  Navy LTAs were inflated with Helium, making them considerably safer than German zeppelins of the day that were borne aloft on bladders filled with highly flammable Hydrogen gas.

Onizuka Air Force Station closed on 30 September 2010, the structures thereon were razed, and the land was turned over to the Veterans Administration and the City of Sunnyvale.

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