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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.04.15 17:01l 55 Lines 2435 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 52135_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 4
Path: IW8PGT<IV3ONZ<IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150404/1500Z 52135@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1933
Dirigible crash kills 73
On this day in 1933, a dirigible crashes in New Jersey, killing
73 people in one of the first air disasters in history. The Akron
was the largest airship built in the United States when it took
its first flight in August 1931. In its short life of less than
two years, it was involved in two fatal accidents.
In 1932, the Akron made a flight from New Jersey to the Camp
Kearny military base, near San Diego, California. It attempted to
land in high winds, with three groups of 30 men each assigned to
help pull in the blimp and secure it to the ground with ropes.
But the Akron, which was filled with helium, began to rise again
after the sailors had begun to secure it. Three men held on to
their ropes as the Akron rose into the air; two of the three fell
from 200 feet and were killed. The third man, Bud Cowart, managed
to hold on at the end of the rope for two hours as the Akron
dragged him 2,000 feet above the ground. Finally, the crew
managed to pull him up into the airship through a porthole.
The second accident involving the Akron occurred on April 4,
1933, while the U.S. Navy was using the airship to obtain some
technical data over New Jersey. It was well-known that dirigibles
could experience problems in bad weather, but despite the violent
thunderstorms in the area that day, the Akron was not grounded.
While in the air over the Atlantic Ocean, a miscommunication over
directions by crew members sent the Akron directly into the storm
instead of around it. The storm's winds caused the ship to plunge
nearly 1,000 feet in a few seconds.
The crew then made its second mistake: the blimp's water ballast
was dumped in order to make the flying ship rise. However, the
ballast dump thrust the Akron up too far, too fast. Critical
devices and cables were destroyed and all control was lost. The
Akron plunged into the ocean.
The rescue airship J-3 was sent to help the Akron crew. It also
crashed in of the storm, killing two of the seven crew members on
board. Only three of the Akron`s 76 crew members survived the
disaster. One of the survivors was the commander who had ordered
the fateful ballast dump.
This was the deadliest air disaster since the crash of the first
rigid airship built in the United States, the Shenandoah, which
killed 14 people on September 3, 1925.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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