by Playfuls Staff |
19th September 2006
USS Macon (ZRS-5) was a rigid frame 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.[more]
She was built in Akron, 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.
The 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).
On February 12, 1935 when a repair process was still incomplete, Macon, returning to Sunnyvale from fleet maneuvers, ran into a storm off Point Sur, California. During the storm, she was caught in a sudden updraft which caused structural failure of her unstrengthened upper tail fin. Trailing cables punctured the rear gas cells and the resulting gas leakage prompted a discharge of ballast. Control was lost and, tail heavy and with engines running, 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 to 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.
"I think those dirigibles were probably the most stunning thing you could probably see back in the '30s," said Christopher Grech, who has researched the Macon for 20 years as part of his job at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California.
Today all that remains of the Macon and the four warplanes carried in its massive belly are ruins scattered on the seafloor- a historic site that is being intensively explored for the first time in a five-day expedition that started Sunday.
The expedition is expected to last five days.
Researchers are using a remote underwater vessel called the Western Flyer to record videotape of the wreckage. Those pictures will be used to recreate the debris field.
Noah Doughty, a biology teacher at Mission College Prep High School in San Luis Obispo, will participate in an expedition to digitally photograph the crash site of the USS Macon, a Navy dirigible, off Point Sur, about 20 miles south of Carmel on Highway 1.
"This is such an amazing opportunity," Doughty said. "It'll definitely provide me with experience I can use to enhance all of my classes for years to come."
Throughout the expedition, Tiburon, a remotely operated vehicle, will plunge into the ocean and take high-resolution digital photographs of the crash site. The still images will then be used to create a photo mosaic.
Roust, a biologist who works in the San Simeon office of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary program, will collect information when Tiburon surfaces periodically.
