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NMUSN-5166: USS Macon (ZRS-5), March 1934

NMUSN-5166: USS Macon (ZRS-5), March 1934. On the morning of March 20, 1934, Macon is undocked from Moffett Field’s hangar for a seven-hour flight in order to exercise her hook-on planes at gunnery practice. It may be noticed that two of her propellers, Nos. 3 and 7 are tilted down to assist her takeoff. It will be noted that the water recovery condensers over No. 3 engine have been removed. The wire which loops around the Macon’s hull and under her nose is one of her radio antennae. The strange lightness in her coloring along the strakes paralleling her engines is because this area was doped with aluminum pigment, in order that the fabric would be translucent and permit daylight illumination of the keels’ gangways. The center column of the mooring mast here was “telescopic”; this was a provision to permit it to handle airships of varying heights from the ground. Note the man riding the top of the mast, at Macon’s mooring spindle. The blister beneath Macon’s control car is the bumper bag; after Wiley took command, the device was housed in the bag. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.
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Caption: NMUSN-5166: USS Macon (ZRS-5), March 1934. On the morning of March 20, 1934, Macon is undocked from Moffett Field’s hangar for a seven-hour flight in order to exercise her hook-on planes at gunnery practice. It may be noticed that two of her propellers, Nos. 3 and 7 are tilted down to assist her takeoff. It will be noted that the water recovery condensers over No. 3 engine have been removed. The wire which loops around the Macon’s hull and under her nose is one of her radio antennae. The strange lightness in her coloring along the strakes paralleling her engines is because this area was doped with aluminum pigment, in order that the fabric would be translucent and permit daylight illumination of the keels’ gangways. The center column of the mooring mast here was “telescopic”; this was a provision to permit it to handle airships of varying heights from the ground. Note the man riding the top of the mast, at Macon’s mooring spindle. The blister beneath Macon’s control car is the bumper bag; after Wiley took command, the device was housed in the bag. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.
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Topic
  • Aviation
  • Aircraft--Fixed Wing
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  • Photograph
Wars & Conflicts
Navy Communities
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  • Image (gif, jpg, tiff)
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  • National Museum of the U.S. Navy
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