The Flying Carriers(Part 1)

This video details the astonishing aeronautics chapter of the early 1930's, when the possibilities of airships that could carry planes was a reality. The USS Akron (1931-1933) and it's twin sister, USS Macon (1933-1935) harnessed the possibilities of this vision.

[@johnwood1948]

Astonishing!! Fifty years in the business. A founder and CEO of Airship Industries, and I’ve never seen this. Thank you!

[@GabrielJ.Fontenot]

Fancy meeting you, one of the only Eckeners of our time, here!

[@zyourzgrandzmaz]

can i have a job please

[@Semprefi]

I could watch this stuff all day. I can’t believe that I just recently discovered that a USMC base I was stationed at for three years (MCAS (H) El Toro in Tustin California)was originally built for these behemoths. That explains the LTA ( Lighter than air) designation that was still attached to the name. There was a deflated Goodyear blimp in the hanger where we played basketball.Another possible clue lol

[@ScottWenger]

This is astounding! How much certainty went behind something that would be a dead end! I have been an airship fan since collecting stamps decades ago and didn’t know this history. This is a masterpiece of historical capture that needs to be viewed far and wide.

[@lyndonowen8525]

Excellent photos....fills some voids

[@maximgarces4787]

This clip is much clearer than videos of UFO sightings nowadays.

[@skeletonwguitar4383]

Because most or all of the sightings are misidentifications, unknown natural/terrestrial phenomenas that we haven't got around on or, OR... hoaxes and fakes as they always are

[@allim623]

Jjzj A A

[@42lookc]

Excellent USS Akron & Macon video--excellent! The incredible amount and level of engineering that went into those vessels adds an extra poignancy of tragedy to their loss.

[@7775Kevin]

Nicely done. Thanks for your hard work. In spite of all the reading I have done about airships over the years I learned a lot of new things from this.

[@baystgrp]

Just beginning this series and very impressed with the level of information. Lived in Palo Alto during graduate work at Stanford and visited the museum and airship sheds at Moffett Field in Sunnyvale many times. Two things I have always been astonished by are first, the hubris of carrying commercial passengers in highly explosive, hydrogen-filled airships. World War I Zeppelins were regularly turned into flaming funeral pyres over Britain, cremating their entire crews. Yet these examples seem to have been willingly ignored by those promoting the airships of the 1920s and 30s. Yes; I understand the scarcity of helium due to the US position on not allowing to go to foreign powers. So the hydrogen-filled ships of those early days were inefficient, potential flying bombs. Second is the decision by the US Navy to carry no parachutes aboard the its rigid airships and, in the case of Akron at least, no life preservers. That made a lot of sense. “We’ll never have an accident, flying thousands of feet in the sky, so no need for parachutes... and since we’ll be flying over the ocean, no need for life preservers in case we go down at sea, either.” Fate proved otherwise for the crews of three of the Navy’s rigids. A fascinating period in aviation history, and thanks to those who made this series on the flying carriers. BTW when I was an officer in the US Army I was a Master Parachutist. I remember the sign on the wall of the parachute rigging unit at the Airborne Department at Fort Benning, Georgia: “The sky, even more than the sea, is unforgiving of the slightest mistake.”

[@creativeengineer8365]

This is underrated This deserves more attention

[@Spacekriek]

Thank you for this short series, I have enjoyed it tremendously. Just when I think I have seen about all there is to be seen and learned of this subject, some new material pops out again.

[@Qossuth]

Viewed parts 1 & 2 so far and as the other airship nerds here have said, this is truly good information, I haven't heard a single questionable fact. And so much of the footage I've never seen before, really great!!

[@jordanroberts3007]

Best video I've seen on the subject so far.

[@PRH123]

Fascinating video. Have never seen before this level of technical detail. It really underlines the high technologies and massive resources that were going into these machines. Literally the Apollo moon program of its day.

[@tomh6183]

Absolutely fascinating story which I knew about but never experienced it in videos such as these.

[@machia0705]

Excellent.

[@steveperry1344]

these were so massive and impressive craft to look at but ended up being a bad idea.

[@zuutlmna]

5.5 Tons of fabric for covering. So wondering how much additional weight the coatings added to the fabric covering?

[@abundantYOUniverse]

Fantastic documentary thanks.

[@deandeann1541]

At 18:15 there are the gas cylinders - my god, there are so many it doesn't look real - it looks like a matte painting for a science fiction movie. I tried to roughly estimate how many - they look like k cylinders - maybe 210-240 cubic feet each dep. on fill pressure. My best estimate is about 10,000 cylinders, but that's only at most 2.4 M cu.ft., so there actually may be 25,000 or so cylinders. Mind boggling scale - I didn't know there were that many k cylinders in the whole country then. Amazing. Those cylinders can last in service 60 years or more. I wonder if those cyl. were sold or scrapped after use?

[@PRH123]

Struck me too, really underlines the massive cost and resources that went into this project. Would be fascinating to know how they got the helium from that one underground reservoir of natural helium that existed at the time, into those bottles. Must be a tale as fascinating as the airship itself.

[@lisacrosby2888]

that's pretty cool I'll call you later I have to go to the store waiting to see if she wants to go with thanks for the movie

[@jayreiter268]

Is Ramey Cord Bungy cord? Cannot find it on a search.

[@johncampbell7469]

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[@alexblankenship7737]

Who else found this after watching Indians Jones and the Last Crusade?