NAS blimp bases

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Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield Last Look at Hangar One.jpg
Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield

NAS blimp bases, (Navy Air Stations Blimps bases), were United States Navy blimp bases built to protect coastal waters during World War II. Navy Blimps could stay in the air and patrol coastal waters much longer than airplanes. The bases were also called Naval Lighter-than-Air Bases. The blimps (non-rigid airships) were built by Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio. The blimps were powered by two aircraft radial air-cooled engines, the crew worked and on long patrols lived in a car under the envelope. The Navy's anti-submarine warfare operation operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. To protect the blimps from strong winds and thunderstorms on the ground most bases had one or more larger airship hangars. Due to the shortage of steel during the war, many hangars were built out of wood. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Blimps

World War I's first airship was the DN-1 which later came to be considered the A class Blimp. The B-class blimp, for which 20 were built for patrols during World War I. The C-class blimp, 10 were built near the end of World War I. Six D-class blimps were built in the 1920s, the last was retired in 1924. Only one E-class blimp was built in 1918 and retired in 1924. One F-class blimp was built in 1918 and retired in 1923. [4]

The most common World War 2 coastal defense blimp used was the US Navy K-class blimp, with 133 built. The start of World War II blimps use bgan on September 23, 1935, when the US Navy purchased the airship Defender from Goodyear. Defender was Goodyear's largest advertising and passenger airships. Defender was delivered to NAS Lakehurst on October 5, 1935. Defender was used for crew training and give the Navy designation G-1, the first G-class blimp. Defender was lost in a midair collision with the smaller L-2 on June 8, 1942, during a night flight. Seven G-class blimps were built. The L-class blimp were smaller blimps use mostly for training, with 10 built. Five L-class blimp were civil blimps of Goodyear fleet: Resolute, Enterprise, Reliance, Rainbow, and Ranger. M-class blimps was the largest anti-submarine warfare blimp, four were built for use in Latin America bases. In addition to anti-submarine warfare, the blimps did assist with Search and rescue missions. [4] US Navy blimps did over 37,000 patrols during World War II. Long patrols could be up to 26 hours in the air. The K-class blimp had a crew of 10 and had radar and Magnetic anomaly detector for sub hunting. Not used often but each blimp had up to four depth charges, naval mines or acoustic torpedoes and a .50-caliber machine gun [5]

The N-class blimp was not retired till 1962, with 18 built. The M-class blimp was retired in 1956.

United States blimp bases

Bases were built on both the East Coast and West Coast of the United States. [6]

Navy blimp K-110 with Patrol Squadron ZP-42, escorting a convoy of merchant ships on Brazilian coast during World War 2 Navy blimp K-110 Patrol Squadron ZP-42 escorting a convoy of merchant ships on Brazilian coast.jpg
Navy blimp K-110 with Patrol Squadron ZP-42, escorting a convoy of merchant ships on Brazilian coast during World War 2
US Nav LTA (blimp) display at the National Naval Aviation Museum US Navy LTA display National Naval Aviation Museum.jpg
US Nav LTA (blimp) display at the National Naval Aviation Museum

Oversea blimp bases

NAS Trinidad, also called NAS Port-of-Spain, was a large Naval base built during World War II to support the many naval ships fighting and patrolling the Battle of the Atlantic. The fighting in the area became known as the Battle of the Caribbean. Naval Base Trinidad was located on the Island of Trinidad in West Indies of the Caribbean Sea. NAS Trinidad had a blimp base and built and supported Latin America bases to protect the shipping lanes to and from the Panama Canal from U-boat attacks. All the Latin America base were closed after the war, some became civil airports. NAS Trinidad did not close till 1977. [9] [10] [11] [12]

National Naval Aviation Museum

Tillamook Air Museum, the only NAS blimp hangar open to the public daily Tillamook Air Museum (Tillamook County, Oregon scenic images) (tilD0089).jpg
Tillamook Air Museum, the only NAS blimp hangar open to the public daily

The National Naval Aviation Museum, at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, has a permanent Lighter-than-Air (LTA) exhibit, with display on the history of US Navy Lighter-than-Air Aircraft. The L-8 airship control car is on display at the museum. [24] [25] Airship L-8 crashed after its crew, for some unknown reason, departed the airship on 16 August 1942 off the coast of San Francisco, California. Two N-class blimp control cars are on display at the Museum. The K-47 Control car on static display at the Museum. [26]

Tillamook Air Museum

The Tillamook Air Museum is the only NAS blimp hangar open to the public daily. Hangar B is used as an indoor aircraft and World War 2 Museum. NAS Tillamook was home Squadron ZP-33, which had eight K-Class airships. Tillamook Air Museum opened in 1994 in Tillamook, Oregon. The hangar is over 7 acres and is made of over 3.2 million board feet of Pacific Northwest lumber. [27]

See also

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Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moffett Federal Airfield</span> Joint civil-military airport in California

Moffett Federal Airfield, also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November 10, 2014, NASA announced that it would be leasing 1,000 acres (400 ha) of the airfield property to Google for 60 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hangar</span> Closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage

A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word hangar comes from Middle French hanghart, of Germanic origin, from Frankish *haimgard, from *haim and gard ("yard"). The term, gard, comes from the Old Norse garðr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakehurst Maxfield Field</span> Military unit

Lakehurst Maxfield Field, formerly known as Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst, is the naval component of Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, a United States Air Force-managed joint base. The airfield is approximately 25 mi east-southeast of Trenton in Manchester Township and Jackson Township in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. It is primarily the home to Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst, although the airfield supports several other flying and non-flying units as well. Its name is an amalgamation of its location and the last name of Commander Louis H. Maxfield, who lost his life when the R-38/USN ZR-2 airship crashed during flight on 24 August 1921 near Hull, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K-class blimp</span> Class of non-rigid airships built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy (1938-59)

The K-class blimp was a class of blimps built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio for the United States Navy. These blimps were powered by two Pratt & Whitney Wasp nine-cylinder radial air-cooled engines, each mounted on twin-strut outriggers, one per side of the control car that hung under the envelope. Before and during World War II, 134 K-class blimps were built and configured for patrol and anti-submarine warfare operations, and were extensively used in the Navy’s anti-submarine efforts in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G-class blimp</span> American non-rigid airship

The G-Class Blimps were a series of non-rigid airships (blimps) used by the United States Navy. In 1935, instead of developing a new design airship, the Navy purchased the Goodyear Blimp Defender for use as a trainer and utility airship assigning it the designator G-1. Defender was built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio and was the largest blimp in the company’s fleet of airships that were used for advertising and as passenger airships. Goodyear built additional G-class airships for the Navy during World War II to support training needs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L-class blimp</span> Class of non-rigid airships built by Goodyear Aircraft Company for the U.S. Navy (1930s)

The L-class blimps were training airships operated by the United States Navy during World War II. In the mid-1930s, the Goodyear Aircraft Company built a family of small non-rigid airships that the company used for advertising the Goodyear name. In 1937 the United States Navy awarded a contract for two different airships, K-class blimp designated K-2 and a smaller blimp based upon Goodyear's smaller commercial model airship used for advertising and passenger carrying. The smaller blimp was designated by the Navy as L-1. It was delivered in April 1938 and operated from the Navy's lighter-than-air facility at Lakehurst, New Jersey. In the meantime, the Navy ordered two more L-Class blimps, the L-2 and L-3, on September 25, 1940. These were delivered in 1941. L-2 was lost in a nighttime mid-air collision with the G-1 on June 8, 1942.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">N-class blimp</span> American patrol airship

The N-Class, or as popularly known, the "Nan ship", was a line of non-rigid airships built by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron, Ohio for the US Navy. This line of airships was developed through many versions and assigned various designators as the airship designation system changed in the post World War II era. These versions included airships configured for both anti-submarine warfare and airborne early warning (AEW) missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Air Station Hitchcock</span>

Naval Air Station Hitchcock was a Naval Air Station built by the United States Navy during World War II to accommodate lighter-than-air aircraft, more commonly known as blimps. It was located in the small town of Hitchcock, Texas, about fifteen miles (24 km) northwest of Galveston. Construction began in 1942 and the base was commissioned on May 22, 1943. The most prominent feature of the base was the 1,000-foot (300 m) long, 200-foot (61 m) tall largely wooden blimp hangar. The blimp hangar, which held six aircraft was built at a cost of $10 million. The purpose of the base and its aircraft was to search for Axis power submarines in the Gulf of Mexico. Beside the hangar there were auxiliary buildings including barracks, warehouses, a mess hall, gymnasium, auditorium and an Olympic-size swimming pool which was used to teach swimming and water-rescue.

Naval Air Station Tillamook, located just south of Tillamook, Oregon, was a U.S. Naval Air Station during World War II. Commissioned in 1942 and decommissioned in 1948, it was used primarily to house blimps. The station was the base of operations for Squadron ZP-33, with a complement of 8 K-ships. Each hangar was designed to house up to six blimps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Air Station South Weymouth</span> Airport in and Abington, Massachusetts

Naval Air Station South Weymouth was an operational United States Navy airfield from 1942 to 1997 in South Weymouth, Massachusetts. It was first established as a regular Navy blimp base during World War II. During the postwar era the base became part of the Naval Air Reserve Training Command, hosting a variety of Navy and Marine Corps reserve aircraft squadrons and other types of reserve units. Like most BRAC sites, environmental contamination was detected in 1986, and since 1993 numerous remedies and long term monitoring of ground water are in place. Since 2005, over 600 acres have been transferred to the affected towns for reuse, and in 2011 the Navy signed a $25 million contract to transfer its remaining land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Air Station Glynco</span> Former military air base

Naval Air Station Glynco, Georgia, was an operational naval air station from 1942 to 1974 with an FAA airfield identifier of NEA and an ICAO identifier of KNEA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakehurst Hangar No. 1</span> United States historic place

Hangar No. 1 is an airship hangar located at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. It was the intended destination of the rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg prior to the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, when it burned while landing. Built in 1921, it is one of the oldest surviving structures associated with that period's development of lighter-than-air flight. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

Airship hangars are large specialized buildings that are used for sheltering airships during construction, maintenance and storage. Rigid airships always needed to be based in airship hangars because weathering was a serious risk.

The Naval Lighter Than Air Station Richmond was a South Florida military installation about 18 miles (29 km) south of Miami and 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of US 1. It was an active air base during World War II.

The Weeksville Dirigible Hangar is an airship manufacturing, storage and test facility originally built by the United States Navy in 1941 for servicing airships conducting anti-submarine patrols of the US coast and harbors. It is located on the former Naval Air Station Weeksville in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, approximately 2 miles southeast of the present day Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City.

The U.S. Naval Air Station, Sunnyvale Historic District, also known as Shenandoah Plaza, is a historic district located on 62.48 acres (25.3 ha) at Moffett Field, California.

In the nation's quest to provide security along its lengthy coastlines, air reconnaissance was put forth by the futuristic Rear Admiral William A. Moffett. Through his efforts, two Naval Air Stations were commissioned in the early 1930s to port the Naval Airships (dirigibles) which he believed capable of meeting this challenge.

The United States Navy proposed to the U.S. Congress the development of a lighter-than-air station program for anti-submarine patrolling of the coast and harbors. This program proposed, in addition to the expansion at Naval Air Station and Lakehurst, the construction of new stations. The original contract was for steel hangars, 960 ft (290 m) long, 328 ft (100 m) wide and 190 ft (58 m) high, helium storage and service, barracks for 228 men, a power plant, landing mat, and a mobile mooring mast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Naval Base Trinidad</span> Major World War 2 base

Naval Base Trinidad, also called NAS Trinidad, NAS Port-of-Spain, was a large United States Navy Naval base built during World War II to support the many naval ships fighting and patrolling the Battle of the Atlantic. The fighting in the area became known as the Battle of the Caribbean. Naval Base Trinidad was located on the Island of Trinidad in West Indies of the Caribbean Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrier Aircraft Service Units</span> United States Navy aircraft repair unit

Carrier Aircraft Service Units (CASU) were United States Navy units formed during World War II for the Pacific War to support naval aircraft operations. From 1942 to 1946, 69 Carrier Aircraft Service Units were formed to repair and maintain aircraft. The first unit was deployed to Naval Station Pearl Harbor. The CASU-11, was deployed on January 22, 1943 at Naval Air Station San Diego. During the war the Navy lacked enough aircraft carriers to complete all the operational requirements.

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