My grandfather was the last surviving crewmember of the USS Macon. He was the Helmsman. William H Clarke

@erfquake1

2 жыл бұрын

He was a very lucky man to have helmed such an incredible ship. Cheers.

@ToyKingWonder

2 жыл бұрын

Did he tell you stories of getting off the ship?

@bobcat3954

2 жыл бұрын

My uncle served on both USS Macon and USS Akron

@lauralee8130

2 жыл бұрын

@@bobcat3954 Grandpa was stationed in Lakehurst too.

@georgemallory797

Жыл бұрын

My grandfather was a wh*re chaser and a drunk. He died on his toilet with a case of Natty Light at his feet.

The Macon was in Here Comes the Navy with Jimmy Cagney and Pat O’Brien the year before the loss of the Macon. Entertaining and you have to get to the final act to see the Macon. The USS Arizona featured prominently in the movie as well.

@xray86delta

2 жыл бұрын

I agree! That movie is worth watching just for the historical footage!

@chirpycrow2061

2 жыл бұрын

Nice! Definitely gonna check that one out to add to my airship library. Thanks for the info on the movie!

@stevemastnick5034

Жыл бұрын

Have to check that out. Thanks for the info. Love Zeppelins.

My first duty station was VP-31 inside of Hanger 1 at Moffett Field. The hanger was massive, and I could only imagine the size of the airships it was built to hold. Being a young Sailor who "thought outside the box" I once put in a Request Chit "To paint the hanger a Light Golden Brown to disguise it as a Twinkie". The chit was summarily denied with an admonishment never to put in another.

@John77Doe

2 жыл бұрын

Moffet field sounds familiar. I think I was there. What is the Navy doing at Moffet Field?? 😐😐😐

@popuptarget7386

2 жыл бұрын

So you were an old school "chit" poster? Well done.

@monkeygraborange

2 жыл бұрын

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! 🤣🤣🤣👍

@JollyGreenFE

2 жыл бұрын

@@John77Doe The Navy no longer owns Moffett Field. It was handed over to NASA & Google is contracted to run the airfield.

@John77Doe

2 жыл бұрын

@@JollyGreenFE Ok, so I was there for some NASA project. 😐😐

My grandfather was in the US Navy at the time that this happened. He actually was there when the Macon crashed, and managed to save a few lives by rescuing him. The Navy gave him a commendation for this afterwards. He was allowed to keep a signal light from the Macon and when he returned home on leave two days later, he was asked to pose for the local newspaper holding the signal light. Sadly, his tale has been forgotten.....

@kesmarn

2 жыл бұрын

Forgotten no more, thanks to his descendant.

@video951

2 жыл бұрын

Glad you shared and you keep his memory alive. The Naval History and heritage command has a great collection of lighter than air info and memorabilia. I am sure they would love copies of anything you have. Fly Navy!

@JanitorIsBack

2 жыл бұрын

unlikely story

@kilikus822

2 жыл бұрын

Did he do the photos for the paper? They've got to be archived somewhere.

@chrisnemec5644

2 жыл бұрын

@@kilikus822 Yea, however, he is from the city of Crowell, Texas, and the newspaper was the Foard county news.

The Point Sur Lightstation tour has a bit about the Macon. After the crash landing, the location of the wreck was though to be lost. One day a customer at a local restaurant recognized a neat bit of metal hanging on the wall behind the bar as a strut from the Macon. A bit of digging turned up that a fisherman had pulled it up years earlier and traded it to the bar for a drink. The fisherman was tracked down and he still knew the location. And that's how the NOAA/Stanford expedition was able to happen.

My paternal grandfather and two other in-laws were from Lakehurst and worked on the construction of both the USS Akron and Macon. I have an original sepia photo of the Akron taken at Lakehurst, New Jersey, a gift to my father when he was given a tour of its sister ship Macon. Sadly, his tour guide, a family friend, died not long after when the Akron went down off Cape May. An earlier post mentioned their downward hanging flags, which I had never noticed until I used my iPhone magnifier and spotted it at the stern. The photo also shows just how big these ships were. What looks like a little smudge at ground level is actually most of the crew lined up. I commend the History Guy's production standards in not repeating clips just to fill up a video, something a lot of other historically-focused KZreadrs do. Thanks for that.

I grew up near, and later worked and lived near Moffett Field. From the Bayshore Freeway (US 101), you really cannot fathom the size of these hangars. The sailors who worked there would tell me that the hangars have their own climate, and even birds that have lived there for years. Later, when I lived in Mountain View, I was able to observe that up to twenty P3 Orion aircraft could be stored in a single hanger. The dirigibles were engineering icons of their time, but so were the hangars that stored them.

@davefellhoelter1343

2 жыл бұрын

we "had" hangers near the El Torro Base in So Cal, so many people had No Idea what or Why they where looking at them, or how this saga affected Billy Michel and his court-martial for being correct.

@gregparrott

2 жыл бұрын

I used to pass by that hangar as well, but no longer live in the Bay Area. Does the hangar still exist and is in use? Or was it torn down and replaced with other structures?

@gregparrott

2 жыл бұрын

@@mbryson2899 Thanks for the reply. Next time I go to the Bay, Santa Cruz, of Monterey, I'll add it to my sight seeing list.

@adameckard4591

2 жыл бұрын

Me too, remember the drive in theater too.

@steveskouson9620

2 жыл бұрын

Those 20 P3 Orions would have taken up about 10% of the floor space. I saw a C-5 in there, looked tiny. steve

Born and raised in southern New Jersey so I have passed the hangar at Lakehurst many times. I was at an airshow as a teenager back in the '90s and someone from the museum had for sale duplicate blueprint rolls for the USS Akron. They are quite large, 12 feet when unrolled. Naturally, I had to buy one and as a history teacher I make sure it is part of my classes whenever I can.

Dirigibles are my first historic obsession. So glad to see the Akron and Macon covered on this channel!

My dad’s first commanding officer at NAS Beeville, TX 1943 was also on both the Akron, and Macon. He was also at Lakehurst when the Hindenburg burned. Connie Knox. My grandfather redesigned the track system at hangar 1 Moffett Field so it actually worked. The motors are from San Francisco street cars. A project of the Pelton Waterwheel Company. My mother said the Macon just cleared the Oak trees at the corner of Grant and Fremont when landing at NAS Moffett Field.

@darklordojeda

2 жыл бұрын

That's such a cool story about it barely clearing trees off Grant and Fremont. I grew up in Mountain View.

@jcsgodmother

2 жыл бұрын

I have an original photo of the Akron.

Onboard the USS Akron when she crashed was Rear Admiral William Moffett, a Medal of Honor recipient and namesake for Moffett Federal Airfield. He is also known as the Architect of Naval Aviation.

@edwardcaraher9612

2 жыл бұрын

An good book for further information I’d. Ships of the Sky

@edwardcaraher9612

2 жыл бұрын

Sorry, Ships in the Sky, Holt Publishing, John Toland, 1957

Thanks for Macon these videos!

@DeconvertedMan

2 жыл бұрын

Oooo ouch!

Merry 🎄 Christmas History Guy!!!

NOAA is one US Government agency that truly earns its keep. From coastal navigation, marine parks, iceberg tracking, and so many other things. Being in Florida I respect the Hurricane Hunters and the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Service also. One great bunch of people that do things that help us every day. Happy Trails

@glenchapman3899

2 жыл бұрын

Yep I live in Tornado alley, so we really appreciate NOAA's work

@sullivanspapa1505

Жыл бұрын

your admitting being in Florida, my thoughts and prayers are with you!

@BuzzSargent

Жыл бұрын

@@sullivanspapa1505 Florida is a good State to live in. Love it here ❗🤠

@jessepollard7132

Жыл бұрын

ah, another roy Rogers fan.

I was a cub scout in Palo Alto (this was a while ago). Every year the scouts held a 'Scouting Exposition' at Moffett Field. For a 8 year old, it was the coolest building, ever.

I currently work with airships. Been to Moffett many times - Google is building their very large Airship there in those old Navy hangars. Good stuff, HG!

@WALTERBROADDUS

2 жыл бұрын

Did you say Google? 🤔 Is this some sort of new venture? What is Google's interest in lighter than air?

@dugroz

2 жыл бұрын

@@WALTERBROADDUS curious too...

@amstrad00

2 жыл бұрын

@@WALTERBROADDUS It's not actually Google but instead its founder Sergey Brin (who is no longer with Google) who has now founded 'LTA Research' and is developing new 'Lighter Than Air' aircraft. Brin is apparently an airship fan.

@WALTERBROADDUS

2 жыл бұрын

@@amstrad00 Are these to be rigid airships?🤔

@amstrad00

2 жыл бұрын

@@WALTERBROADDUS Yup, rigid airships. They've already built at least one.

My grandfather, Dr. Karl Arnstein, was the chief aeronautical engineer of the Akron and Macon for the Goodyear Company. He was hired away from Graf Zeppelin in 1923 along with a number of Graf Zeppelin designers and settled in Akron. Those ships were on the cutting edge of aircraft technology in their day. But too many tragic crashes doomed rigid airships. The Goodyear blimps you see flying over football stadiums today are the much safer offspring of the rigid airships, and were built in Akron. The US Navy continued to use blimps throughout the 1940s - 1950s for reconnaissance and spotting.

N2627 , the Aereon 26 deserves to be remembered. A lifting body / hybrid airship design, it could've been the Next Big Thing. Author John McPhee's "The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed" tells the tale. The tattered prototype that actually flew proving it's concept now lives in a tiny military air museum ten minutes from here. We went recently to gape in awe. It's quite a story. Had they built full-scale ones they'd have carried freight trains worth of cargo at a fraction of the cost and hovered or landed without runways to load & offload. Think about that in disaster relief and wildfire containment, aside from mere cargo transport.

I grew up near Moffett Naval Air Station, before it became NASA's Ames Research Center and the Federal Air Field. As such, I have attended many air shows, and often been inside the huge dirigible hanger. Truly impressive and awe inspiring structures. Thank you for sharing this bit of history that deserves to be remembered! Keep up the great work.

Thank you for this great presentation on the USS Macon.

The pilot you show flying F9C BuNo 9058, LT Harold B. "Min" Miller, was a friend of mine. He came up with the idea of removing the landing gear of the MACON'S F9Cs and replacing it with a fuel tank. Of course, this made it dangerous to either ditch at sea, or land at a land base should either of those things be necessary! During the War in the Pacific, now CAPT Miller was ADM Nimitz's public affairs officer, and when Miller retired after the War, he was promoted to Rear Admiral. I first met him in the Fall of 1970 when I was a freshman at Hofstra University, and RADM Miller was the Vice President for University Relations. I was told by another staff member at Hofstra (an LTA "lighter than air" pilot who flew with the first squadron of anti-U boat blimps to cross the Atlantic in 1944) that the Admiral was a former naval aviator, so I introduced myself. We met often to talk about his experiences in the Navy, much to the chagrin of the Admiral's secretary, because when I would ask her if the Admiral was available, he would hear my voice and invite me into his office right away!!! The Admiral retired in 1973 and I believe passed away in 1988. As usual, a great video!

How about doing an episode about building the airship hangers at Moffett field. Such large buildings must have been a technological marvel, for it's time. Thanks, yet again, for your dedication to teaching us! 👏 and 👍

@RCAvhstape

2 жыл бұрын

And the one at Lakehurst, NJ too, which was where the Shenandoah was built, and where the Hindenburg was headed when she wrecked. That one is 100 years old now.

@broncobubba3169

2 жыл бұрын

How about Hangar B at the Tillamook Air Museum. It's the largest clear span wooden structure in the world.

@thomasdupee1440

2 жыл бұрын

Or the Akron air dock where the Macon and Akron were built.

I took a road trip up the Oregon coast. When I got to Tillamook I saw the airship hanger at the airport with the words Air Museum painted on it. I had no idea it was there and hadn't planned to stop, but I made a b-line to the museum. I love airships and that hanger was amazing! The museum was fun, but only about 1/4 full. The hanger is so large compared to the collection of aircraft. It would be cool to see a video about the Tillamook Naval Air Station. I'd love to see that museum grow! It was the highlight of the road trip!

This is the first time I noticed that you you had historical information on Zepellins.

Airships have a special spot in my heart. I clicked on this video in 0.2 seconds.

They had the right idea with airships but their size was the biggest weakness. Subsequent smaller airships or "blimps" were very successful in a number of roles including anti submarine patrolling in WW2. The ability to remain aloft for long periods could be very useful today

@shawnr771

2 жыл бұрын

Years ago, Popular Mechanics had an article about extremely high altitude blimps for recon use. Think 80,000 ft and painted blue. They could loiter for days on end over a battlefield.

@geoben1810

2 жыл бұрын

@@shawnr771 Yeah and they'd make a great target for any of today's missile that could easily reach them. Now stop playing with your mommy's computer and go play in traffic with your little zombie friends 🤣

@geoben1810

2 жыл бұрын

@ tango6f Seriously? Like there isn't a missile that could reach them? And the satellites that are capable of reading license plates aren't better? Stop playing with your mommy's computer and go play in traffic with your little zombie friends like the ones Ive already tossed out 👍

@diewindows5628

2 жыл бұрын

@@geoben1810 hoes mad

@kiwitrainguy

Жыл бұрын

No allied convoy was ever lost to German U-boats when it was escorted by US Navy blimps.

These machines were the ultimate expression of the poetry of mechanical artistry, complexity and monstrosity

I used to be mildly obsessed about US Naval lighter than air aviation. The Macon and the Shenandoah were favorite studies. My father very nearly lost flight status for flying a Sabre through the dirigible hanger.

Wishing you all the best....thanks for a great episode.....cheers from Central Florida....Paul

I flew in the Goodyear Blimp back in 1994 here in Las Vegas over the Sam Boyd's Silver Bowl where UNLV beat Central Michigan at the 3rd Las Vegas Bowl 🥣 🤔 Its quite nice and somber. It made me want to put on a cape!

@Lee-70ish

2 жыл бұрын

Bet that was great fun I envy you. I was on duty at the London 2012 Olympics and an illuminated one flew over the stadium at the Paralympics it looked brilliant. The airships must have been incredible to see Been to the Cardington Airship Hangars here in the UK and they are truely huge. The modern blimps look like toys inside.

@constipatedinsincity4424

2 жыл бұрын

@@Lee-70ish They're fricken huge. I would love to see 👀 England sone day. How's the weather today?

@constipatedinsincity4424

2 жыл бұрын

@Chris Webb I have lived here most of my life and I have never been strung out..But I am still constipated. Thank you for asking

I have a tiny tool my grandpa used when he worked as a toolmaker on this project. He was born in 1897 and moved from his position began at Camp Meade and it changed to Fort Meade WWI.

I remember reading a book about this as a kid, and I'm now 58. The best I remember, the book was names Sparrowhawk. It was about the aircraft, and the trials that the pilots went through, to get the planes and the airships to be compatible. Not very many of the aircraft were ever built. I understand that the airship that crashed in the Pacific had the remains of at least one Sparrowhawk in the wreckage. Very good book! Thank you for posting this!

In the 70s there was a McDonalds near the Goodyear Air Hanger that used to have a detailed drawing of the USS Akron. I lived within walking distance of the Aron air port seeing the hanger in the move brought back memories. Thanks

I live along Interstate 77 outside of Newcomerstown OH. The crash site of the Shenandoah is south of me and the hangar for the Goodyear blimp is north of me. The Goodyear blimp used to fly over my house almost every year. Such great memories.

Thank you so much for your knowledge sharing amongst us all!!!

Oh almighty algorithm, for which with you, bless this guy of history, educated as he be, with views, comments, and shares. For his is the channel of that which should be remembered.

BTW, The dark stripes down the sides are exhaust water reclaimers so the ships do not become lighter as they burn fuel. This way they do not need to vent helium (an expensive and limited resource) as they operate.

My Father’s Uncle was Chief Machinist Mate George C Walsh on the USS Akron. His counterpart on the Macon was his Best Man at his Wedding. #Heroes

You are the best, thank you for your videos!!

2:51 [30 inch machine guns], actually .30 caliber machine guns or .30 inch........just a minor glitch.....I hope I heard it correct......cheers....Paul

@onbedoeldekut1515

2 жыл бұрын

I noticed that as well, I imagine a sparrowhawk with a 30 incher would drop like a Led Zeppelin!

@vaikkajoku

2 жыл бұрын

Minor indeed. Schwerer Gustav had a 31.5 inch gun.

@ypaulbrown

2 жыл бұрын

@@onbedoeldekut1515 true......do you know why Led Zeppelin is not spelled 'Lead Zeppelin '.because they thought the fans would think it was the Leading Zeppelin ......or one in front......cheers, Paul

Hanger 1 at Moffett Field is an engineering wonder. I was an Electronics Technician Station there in the 70’s. There was a radio transmitter room suspended from the roof at the very top of the hanger. Went up there once a week to do maintenance on the radio transmitters. Took the elevator up. Yes an elevator built in the 30 ‘s on tracks that followed the roofline all way to the top. It would break down, then you walked the stairway. Over 200 feet from ground to roof. Yes hanger 1 had its own weather. In the winter it would get foggy in the hanger and be sunny outside.

Rudyard Kipling, not an author one usually associates with science fiction and futurism, wrote an intriguing short story; "with the night mail", the tale of an airship crossing the Atlantic in a storm. Some very interesting concepts about abandoned airships and the use being so common it was positively mundane, sort of like the Pan am space travel advert in 2001 a space odyssey.

@CurCam713

2 жыл бұрын

The Graf Zeppelin flew over one million miles in its lifetime.

@HM2SGT

2 жыл бұрын

@@CurCam713 Indeed. There were several successful dirigible passenger services, but it seems like there were disastrous crashes as often as there were successes. Still, wouldn’t it be shiny to be able to fly the North America - South America route? A shame it couldn’t succeed today.

I still remember a very young child walking in to the Macon's hangar at Moffett Field during an air show. It is by far the largest room I have ever been in. I was maybe 5 so it made an impression on me because I still remember that. Years later I enjoyed watching the Navy P-3s based there coming and going. I love Moffett Field. There's a lot of history there.

The Navy used airships in WWII. Although not rigid or the size of the Macon or Akron they used blimps for anti submarine patrol and convoy escort. They were extremely effective. The pilots wore a naval aviator insignia with just one wing.

Thanks THG. Uplifting episode.

@jackpavlik563

2 жыл бұрын

Oh the humanity. Of your pun…

I grew up in Sunnyvale in the 1970s and Moffatt was still very active. If you ever get a chance you need to see the museum that's on the now decommisipn base. They have a fa beautiful model of the Macon. Its a large cut away model showing the insides with the sparrow hawks sitting in their "hanger". The base is open to everyone and you can drive up to see "Hanger 1" where these ships were housed. Sadly the took all the skin off the Hanger and its all the structures and girders left. I drive and think the "grand old lady" now sits naked and forlorn. So much history there.

@darklordojeda

2 жыл бұрын

I still don't understand why they don't hold air shows anymore, the last time there was an airshow there was very early 2000's and they said that over a million people attended over 1 weekend. Seems like easy money to me. Probably too many chumps in Sunnyvale and Mountain View whining about the noise.

Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas 🎅

I remember being disappointed when I was younger when, after seeing pictures of these gigantic floating things I learned that their time had passed long before I was born, and the realization I'd never look up and see one of them floating overhead. Seeing them must have been amazing for the landbound in those days.

@stevek8829

2 жыл бұрын

We still have blimps! I haven't seen any for a few years now, come to think. But, more than Goodyear have them.

Fascinating story. Always loved the way airships looked.

I love your videos. A rather remarkable coincidence re your video on the Macon: two after I watched it I was talking with a nephew who currently works at Moffet Field in the large hangar for a company named Lighter Than Air (LTF). Amazingly they are in the process of building an airship based largely on the Macon, due to be launched in January 2022. The purpose of the ship is for studying the atmosphere and climate and carrying out humanitarian missions in other parts of the world. Thought you might want to know. Again, thanks for your vids. They are great.

Being from Macon, Ga, this one is near and dear to the heart... had to add, and lived very close to the Shenandoah River in West Virginia...

This information should be more widely told, I'm into airships & I had no idea about most of this, especially about the bits about on board aircraft, the things you learn.

Delightful story!

Awesome episode!!

I remember the time I ran across a book about the aircraft carriers Akron and Macon. I thought I knew all the Navy's carriers and so I pulled the book off the shelf and was amazed to find that I was looking an AIRSHIP aircraft carrier! what an amazing time that was for experimentation, though we were so unknowing. Thanks for all the great video and stills of the events surrounding this incredible moment in the development of air travel.

This is great - when I first moved to the bay, I’d drive down the 101 and wonder, “what the hell was stored in those?!” After learning it was airships, it’s great to hear one of their stories!

HG - Another outstanding lesson in history. Keep them coming and thanks for all that you do sir.

I just love Air-Ships,I love to draw them❤️

Would love to see a return to airships

Thank you for this video. I read the books about the Macon, the Akron, the Los Angeles, and the Shenandoah when I was in high school. These were very brave and dedicated crews.

Great video as always.

I understand that Naval Air Station Lakehurst was a boondoggle, That the U.S.N. did not want it as Lakehurst was TOO WINDY for safe aviation (leave along Lighter-Than-Air) operation.

The History Guy: another great video, thanks for shedding light on the forgotten airship history. Happy Holidays!

Decent input 👍

Sorry to be "that guy" but I wanted to correct a couple of things. The machine guns aboard the parasite fighter were not "30 inch" in size. You can either say .30 caliber or .30 inch. Also the two seat trainer built by WACO is pronounced WAH-coe, not WHACK-o. It's an acronym for Weaver Aircraft Co. Thanks for a great video!

@stevek8829

2 жыл бұрын

As WA Co. is an abbreviation, it's never had a correct pronunciation. Yes it's normally not said like the Texas town, that doesn't make it a word. They should just call it a Weaver.

Thanks, History Guy! I'm a longtime dirigible buff; I'm delighted to see an episode about one of the few U.S. Navy ships which raised her flag at dusk and lowered her flag at sunrise.

As usual, very informative, and also entertaining. Thank you again THG.

Thanks for this, HG. In fiction, Pynchon has a boys club of explorers going about in a blimp filled with gadgets. Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon. That Cagney picture is a good look. Also Charlie Chan at the Olympics features an Atlantic crossing to Berlin- on the Hindenburg.

THG. I have really come to enjoy and learn much from you videos. While not a historian I am interested in history. In particular the WWII era. Thank you so much for your work and research. Your efforts at shining a light on "history that deserves to be remembered" are greatly appreciated.

Great stuff

Magnificent video, thank you! I recall once seeing an F9C1 Sparrowhawk at the Dayton Air Force Museum, complete with top hook and no landing gear.

Thanks for a video that gave me more information, and made no obvious errors. There are far too many vvideos that have glaring obvious errors (like talking about one ship but showing a quite different one. I appreciate videos that do a good job.

Goodyear built 168 airships during ww2. The United States was the only power to use airships during World War II, and the airships played a small but important role. The Navy used them for minesweeping, search and rescue, photographic reconnaissance, scouting, escorting convoys, and antisubmarine patrols. Airships were based on the Atlantic and pacific coasts of the USA, the Caribbean, South America, France, and Italy. A former ww2 zeppelin hanger in tillamook, Or. currently houses an aircraft museum.

My late father was 7 years old in 1934 and told a story of the Macon flying low over his house in Shreveport, LA early one evening. Said it was enormous and made a humming sound as it passed.

@bobcastro9386

2 жыл бұрын

My barber told the story of his aunt as a child working in the fields outside Atlanta Georgia in the 1930's when an enormous silver ship came flying overhead; blocking out the sun and terrifying the kids. They did not realize airships like that existed and thought it was Judgement Day. After the haircut, I returned with an airship book and showed him pictures of the Akron/Macon. Perhaps the Macon was flying to visit its namesake city?

"Two thirty-inch Browning machineguns." Bringin' Battleships to a Biplane fight!

@hawkinsdale

2 жыл бұрын

Very funny. Perhaps they were thirty inches LONG.

@funstuff2006

2 жыл бұрын

@@hawkinsdale Nope, try "thirty calibre."

Love the new cube intro! Very shanazzy!

great video, and at the end there is an interesting retelling of NOAA's arc.

Excellent video! Seems like all of your videos are well thought out and presented clearly, carefully and easily understandable. Well done sir

Amazing!

Another thrilling video sir. I’m 63 and have seen a lot in my time. I’ve always been interested in aircraft, air travel, and space travel. But two things I truly regret not seeing are these airships and the Pan Am China Clippers. I can only imagine traveling in such luxurious crafts as the Clippers to exotic locations. If you haven’t produced a video on the Clippers please do!

Very interesting thank you

Thank you History Guy for this great episode. I worked in Hanger 1 in the mid 80's at the flight simulator command. They had a 3 story building inside the hanger at the north end and it looked small inside the hanger. There were always many aircraft inside, mostly P3's from the training squadron VP-31 but also others. Always something interesting, like NASA U-2s for example and when an air show was in town the Blue Angle FA-18s would be parked there. Today Hanger has had all of it's skin removed and is a skeleton. There are plans to re-skin / restore it with Google funding it. The other 2 hangers at Moffett Field where built for blimps during WW2 and were made of wood. Many of these were built during the war for coastal antisubmarine patrol.

Amazing story from my favorite history professor, merry Christmas to you history guy

Steam punk! There is just something COOL about these massive airships.

Now this is an interesting episode! Had no idea they were ever considered as an aircraft carrier. Interesting indeed!

@WarblesOnALot

2 жыл бұрын

G'day, Using Airships to carry and release Parasite Fighters was pioneered by the British, during WW-1 ; using Sopwith Camels. AmeriKa..., came Latte, To the Pate...; As per usual (!). Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

Hands-down, my favorite YT channel. 😎

Merry Christmas to you, History Guy!!!!

“Gas bag” and “Sky hook” - you’re making this up!

Amazing great ships. Thank you.

The Macon used Hanger 1 at Moffet Field. At an air show in 1961, one of the Blue Angels flew through the hanger. It was not planned, and very spontaneous.

My Great uncle, Herbert Smart, was mayor of Macon at that time. The only airport in Macon was named after him. In 1947 a tornado severely damaged the buildings, and a bigger airport, better able to handle commercial air traffic was built, at that time the new airport was called Cochran Field. Both airports are still in operation. I was 17, in 1974, when I got my pilots license, at the “down town airport“, Smart Field.

Most thoroughly enjoyed, and then some!!!!

I often ask my students trivia questions about naval history. of these questions, my favorite is this: "In the whole history of the US Navy, only two ships perform their Colors ceremony backwards. That is, they lower the American Flag every morning at 0800, and they raise the flag every evening at sunset. What ships are these, and why?" The answer, to you who have watched this video, is clear. The USS Akron and USS Macon, flying aircraft carriers, have their flagpoles on the bottom of the ship. To display the colors as required, they must lower the flag in the morning, and then recover the colors by raising them in the evening. They are the only two vessels in the US Navy to do so. I also delight in asking about the only submarine in the service that had a non-whole-number for its hull number. That would be the USS Seal, SS-19_1/2, so numbered because it was built before the hull number system was implemented, and was not initially included in the system.

@grizwoldphantasia5005

2 жыл бұрын

What about the USS Shenandoah and USS Los Angeles?

@kotori87gaming89

2 жыл бұрын

@@grizwoldphantasia5005 Honestly I'm not sure. They may not have had flagpoles, or maybe my book of naval trivia was wrong. It's always a fun process watching young sailors try to figure out the answer, though.

Great look at an interesting page of history.

There was a great alternate-history computer game set in 1937 which took the concept of airborne aircraft carrying zeppelins and ran with it, called Crimson Skies, which I loved growing up as a kid! It's an aerial combat game which cast the player as the leader of a band of aerial pirates, playing it as a kid I had no idea that it had been based partially on a real concept!

@derekr1282

2 жыл бұрын

Never played the first one, but High Road to Revenge was one of my favorite games from my childhood. Wish they would make more games like that one. An immersive world, great gameplay, stunning visuals (for the time), and a brilliant soundtrack.

Just amazing interesting stuff . Thanks

I fly into Moffet Field occasionally and you can still see that massive dirigible hangar there.

Your aviation related videos are my favorite, although I also watch all the others you make. Thanks.

Excellent video. Thanks.

I loved this one and was a great disply of human imagination.