The Airship USS Macon Crashes
On its 55th flight, the airship USS Macon crashed on February 12, 1935. While off Point Sur, California, a gust of wind tore off the ship’s upper fin, which deflated the gas cells and caused the ship to fall into the sea. Most of Macon’s 83 crewmen were rescued from the waters, but two of them died in the accident. The U.S. Navy had suffered the loss of the airship Shenandoah in 1925 and Akron in 1933. Some considered airships too dangerous for the program to continue at that point, and work on them in the United States halted temporarily.
Image: National Archives
