00:00:07.640 - 00:00:41.810

Yeah, Yeah. When I first saw this field, there were no hangers, no jet airplanes, nor research laboratories. I remember when this air station was designed and built to handle just one thing. A giant airship. She was called Macon and I was there. Tactical officer. A year

00:00:41.810 - 00:01:01.430

and a half, she lived in this hangar here in Sunnyvale, California She made over 50 flights, spent 1800 hours in the air on traveled over 90,000 miles. And when she sank off the coast south of Monterey in 1935 it marked the end of the rigid airship

00:01:01.440 - 00:02:02.390

program in America. Making was the last of the dirigible. Uh huh. Mhm. Do you think E 1931 work begins on the frame of making that the Goodyear Zeppelin plant in Akron, Ohio. Megan will be the second airship built by Good

00:02:02.390 - 00:02:29.690

year under contract from the Navy. Her sister ship USS Akron, has just been commissioned and is assigned to Lakers New Jersey. Maken will goto the new air station being built at Sunnyvale, California Yeah, frame a massive, beautifully streamlined structure is a maze of rings, girders and

00:02:29.700 - 00:02:52.710

cables. Yeah, the material used to build The skeleton is called Dear Alleman on Ally, which has the strength of steel on the lightness of aluminum. Dural strips from which holds air cut to lighten the structure are pressed into box girders from these are for in the

00:02:52.720 - 00:03:21.770

three keels rings on the longitudinal, comprising the huge our about the same time, more than 2000 miles west of Akron. Another streamline frame is being welded together, but the picture. This is the home of the Macon on the West Coast, based for light of an air

00:03:21.770 - 00:03:50.960

operations of the Navy. It is called Naval Air Station, Sunnyvale. There are 40 buildings, including underground fuel tanks and the helium storage and purification plan. All power lines are underground, but the main attraction is the big hangar. It is three blocks long, 300 ft wide and

00:03:50.970 - 00:04:43.870

18 stories high. More than 8300 tons of steel go into the structure. Galvanized sheets of steel are used to cover the frame of the big hangar. Elevators as well as overhead cranes and catwalks are installed inside the hangar to

00:04:43.870 - 00:05:33.770

morning. Circles connected by railroad tracks are located at the southern and northern ends of the hangar doors way, 500 tons each, and it takes 150 horsepower motor to move them. Yeah, this speaking on the top of the hangar can be seen for

00:05:33.770 - 00:06:06.520

miles. It's light or guide. Make him home Safely. Covering for making is made of tightly woven cotton, which is laced to the hull. Seven acres of it are needed to cover this monarch of the skies. Some men work on ladders 85 ft high and mounted on

00:06:06.530 - 00:06:34.270

trucks. Others stand on platforms suspended from the ceiling. After the covering is finished, it is doped in waterproof to tighten the material. First coat is painted on and coats of aluminum pigment are sprayed on. This reflects the sun's rays and protects the ship from weathering. Meanwhile,

00:06:34.270 - 00:07:01.550

the rest of the metal work is completed, including the bow of the ship on finally, the finishing touches control car and the top fin spin will later collapsed, with disastrous results on March 11th, 1933. The Macon is Christian. Okay, Mrs William Moffitt, life chief of Bureau

00:07:01.550 - 00:07:26.300

of Naval Aeronautics, is invited to sponsor and Christmas ship. Little does she know. In just three weeks, her husband will be killed while on board the making sister ship Akron, before a vast crowd of onlookers. Mrs. Moffett pose Accord, releasing a bevy of pigeons, a symbol

00:07:26.300 - 00:08:01.930

of peace on the making, has walked out of the Goodyear hangar for its first trial flight. Mm, yeah. Bacon has walked out of the hangar by the ground crew of 200 men. It will take the most part of an hour to get

00:08:01.930 - 00:08:23.490

the ship in the air. The stern of the ship is moored to a self propelled truck called the Stern beam, which can haul the stern of the ship against the wind. The bow of the ship is attached to a huge pyramid on wheels mobile mooring mast,

00:08:25.640 - 00:09:38.130

finally making a centered in the morning circle. It is weathervane into the wind and made statically light by balancing at the command up ship, she has cast loose 4.5 and rises majestically to flying altitude. Yeah, thing

00:09:38.140 - 00:10:04.580

Dinos, our of the sky is the world's largest two blocks long, 150 ft wide and 11 stories high. But it is nothing more than a balloon with a power plant. Power is supplied by 8, 500 horsepower reversible engines. Thrust propellers, maybe directed forward, backward, up or

00:10:04.580 - 00:10:27.760

down. Lift is supplied by helium gas confined in 12 rubberized fabric cells located inside the ship. The gas capacity of these cells, it's enough to run a kitchen stove. For 1000 years, Megan has been built a house, a crew of 19 officers and 100 enlisted men.

00:10:30.040 - 00:10:59.450

And that's a lot of men, toe feed and house, especially when a normal flight last from 3 to 4 days. Part of the test flight includes a bird's eye view of the Century of Progress exhibition over Chicago. Additional trial flights are successful. Making is accepted by

00:10:59.450 - 00:13:33.320

the Navy on after shakedown flights at Lakers New Jersey. She is assigned to her new base at Sunnyvale, California on E, Yeah, yeah, Okay. I'm going to happen. Yeah, this is my friend. Okay. In

00:13:33.320 - 00:13:55.410

the days before, radar dirigible serves as the eyes of the fleet. Since Macon has a range of thousands of miles and the ability to stay up for several days at a time, it can scout far over the ocean for signs of enemy activity. It is personal

00:13:55.410 - 00:14:25.130

enough to hide above fog. Banks are in clouds, lower spy baskets are released. Fighter planes for scouting and reconnaissance in order to test and experiment with this new military weapon, were ordered to participate in war games. After the ship is airborne, trapeze artist man their planes

00:14:25.130 - 00:14:45.800

and take off. There are five planes assigned to the making. They get their names from the ingenious method used to stow the planes, and the ship sort of fish hook is installed on top of the plane. The plane has flown underneath the hull of the Macon

00:14:46.650 - 00:15:15.210

and hooks onto the cross bar of a trapeze, which retracts into the ship are small. Fighter planes are used extensively during these war games for reconnaissance purposes, to make contact with the enemy and to repel enemy planes. One of our unconventional experiments is the spy basket.

00:15:15.640 - 00:15:36.250

This sub cloud car can be lowered on a cable several 1000 ft below the dirigible, and an observer with binoculars could spy on the enemy. While the ship is completely hidden in the cloud layer, all during the year of 1934 we take part in many war

00:15:36.250 - 00:16:00.320

games. In May, she joins the combined fleet on maneuvers in the Caribbean after passing El Paso, Texas, on the transcontinental flight. She encounters violently turbulent air in the mountain passes that severely damaged the port. Horizontal fins. Temporary repairs are made in Florida. When she returns to

00:16:00.320 - 00:16:25.130

Sunnyvale, permanent repairs are ordered. It has decided that these are to be made during routine maintenance periods. They're not all completed on February 12 1935. While returning from a war game with a fleet in the waters off Santa Barbara, Macon comes to her disaster. Spend here

00:16:25.130 - 00:17:00.240

is how Commander Herbert Wiley, captain of the Macon, describes it in his official report while off point sewer course northerly all engines standard speed. 63 knots. Altitude. 1250 ft. Air Squali At times about 503 p. M. Pacific time casually occurred in the stern. I thought elevator

00:17:00.240 - 00:17:32.050

control carried away ship took bow up. Inclination and rose rapidly ordered all ballast and fuel slip tanks dropped from aft of midships. Received prompt word. Number one gas cell under the fin was gone and stern was crumbling on. Finally, that number to sell was gone. Tried

00:17:32.060 - 00:18:13.040

to land ship near cruisers off point sewer, but could not see the service until shortly before landing. Ship landed. Stern first at 5:40 p.m. All hands took two rubber boats. Discipline. Excellent. Saw ship finally sink. No. Of the 83 men on board making only two lost

00:18:13.040 - 00:18:36.050

their lives. The remainder are picked up by ships of the Pacific Fleet. It was quiet at the air station in Sunnyvale that night groping fingers of light from the beacon on top of the big hangar, back in in vain for a returning queen of the skies.

00:18:37.890 - 00:19:56.230

The beacon would not be needed anymore. Okay? Yeah. So there. Yeah, well, the other thing that needs to be a great right. Did you? Every time. Yeah. The loss of the making marks the end of dirigibles. All of the

00:19:56.240 - 00:20:28.920

three rigid airships built in the United States had ended in catastrophe. Shannon DOA was ripped apart in a thunderstorm over Ohio in 1925 on the night of April 4th, 1933 USS Akron sister ship of Macon crashed in the Atlantic Ocean during a violent storm. 73 died

00:20:28.920 - 00:20:58.460

in the tragedy, including Admiral William Moffitt and then the Macon. Megan has been gone almost 30 years now, but the hangar is still here, a symbol of the past that remains for those to see who travel down the Bayshore Highway. It stands there reminiscent of some

00:20:58.470 - 00:21:24.700

prehistoric monster that has outlived its usefulness. But it did serve a purpose. Things learned on the ridge. IDs added materially to the lower of airmanship metals that have the strength of steel with the lightness of aluminum. Advances in navigation equipment on techniques mark progress in weather

00:21:24.710 - 00:21:56.550

forecasting, development of helium reserves together with a method of handling and purification tentative steps that lead to the control of Air Patrol planes. Even though the airship program was costly by the monetary standards of the day on costly in human lives, it was not in vain.

00:21:59.340 - 00:23:07.630

Yes, I remember the days when Martha Field used to house an airship. She was called Macon, and she was the last of the dirigible. Yeah, right. No, you're right. Yeah, E e