From: Bruce C. Beattie (bruce@EECS.Berkeley.EDU)
Date: Mon Jan 02 2006 - 17:04:25 PST
I'll second that!
Thanks Everette!
They are a real pleasure.
Bruce
Sonny Heath wrote:
> Everette,
>
> I'm enjoying the history reminders you send us,
>
> Thanks,
>
> Sonny
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Everette" <194cbteng@bellsouth.net>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 1:15 PM
> Subject: [MV] 1942 Navy opens a blimp base in New Jersey
>
>
>>
>> January 2
>>
>> 1942 Navy opens a blimp base in New Jersey
>>
>> On this day, the Navy Airship Patrol Group 1 and Air Ship Squadron 12
>> are established at Lakehurst, N.J. The U.S. Navy was the only
>> military service in the world to use airships--also known as
>> blimps--during the war.
>> The U.S. Navy was actually behind the times in the use of blimps; it
>> didn't get around to ordering its first until 1915, at which time
>> even the U.S. Army was using them. By the close of World War I, the
>> Navy had recognized their value and was using several blimps for
>> patrolling coastlines for enemy submarines. They proved extremely
>> effective; in fact, no convoy supported by blimp surveillance ever
>> lost a ship.
>> Between the wars, it was agreed that the Army would use nonrigid
>> airships to patrol the coasts of the United States, while the Navy
>> would use rigid airships (which were aluminum-hulled and kept their
>> shape whether or not they were filled with gas) for long-range
>> scouting and fleet support. The Navy ended its construction and
>> employment of the rigid airships in the 1930s after two, the Akron
>> and the Macon, crashed at sea. In 1937, the Army transferred all its
>> remaining nonrigid blimps to the Navy.
>> Meanwhile, in the civilian world, the Hindenburg, a commercial
>> dirigible, burst into flames over Lakehurst on May 6, 1937.
>> Thirty-six of the 97 passengers aboard were killed. The explosion was
>> caused by an electric discharge that ignited a hydrogen gas leak; the
>> tragedy effectively ended the use of airships for commercial travel,
>> but they were still used to great advantage in the U.S. military.
>> At the outbreak of World War II, the Navy had 10 blimps in service;
>> that number expanded to 167 by the end of the war. The only U.S.
>> blimp lost was the K-74, which, on July 18, 1943, spotted a German
>> U-boat. The blimp opened fire on the submarine and damaged it, but
>> only one of its two depth charges released. The submarine fired back
>> and sent the blimp into the sea, but the crew was rescued. The only
>> German blimp involved in the war was a passenger craft, Graf
>> Zeppelin, which was used for electronic surveillance just before the
>> outbreak of the war.
>>
>> And as a note to this it is my understanding the only balloon
>> training base during WW II was at Paris Tennessee, some of the
>> original building are still standing and in use by an industry that
>> supplies clay used in the manufacture of ceramic toilet fixtures.
>>
>> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
>> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
>> To reach a human, contact <ackyle@gmail.com>
>> Visit the searchable archives at http://www.mil-veh.org/archives/
>>
>>
>> --
>> No virus found in this incoming message.
>> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>> Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.9/217 - Release Date:
>> 12/30/2005
>>
>>
>
>
> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To reach a human, contact <ackyle@gmail.com>
> Visit the searchable archives at http://www.mil-veh.org/archives/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Tue Jul 18 2006 - 21:39:01 PDT