Crash of the USS Shenandoah / Lighter-Than-Air Flight

Crash of the USS Shenandoah / Lighter-Than-Air Flight (HMAFA)

Location: Ava, OH 43711 Noble County
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Country: United States of America
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N 39° 49.843', W 81° 34.445'

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Inscription
Crash of the USS Shenandoah
September 3, 1925
On a stormy autumn morning in 1925, the giant Navy airship, christened Shenandoah, crashed near this site. Initially, the Shenandoah was commissioned to perform scouting missions for the Navy; however, she would soon be flying promotional missions. The Shenandoah had recently begun a six-day publicity tour across the Midwest when she crashed. The turbulent weather of late summer created strong winds, which ripped the 680-feet long Shenandoah in two and tore the control car from the keel. A majority of the 14 crewmen who died in the crash, including the captain, Lt. Commander Zachary Lansdowne of Greenville, Ohio, were killed when the control car plummeted to the ground. The stern section fell in a valley near Ava and the bow was carried southwest nearly twelve miles before landing near Sharon, Ohio. The Ohio National Guard was called in to control the crowds of spectators who traveled to the crash sites.

Lighter-Than-Air Flight
The USS Shenandoah was America's first rigid dirigible and was launched in 1923 at the height of the worldwide enthusiasm for lighter-than-air flight. By the early 1920s, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and France all had airships, some suffered tragic crashes. In efforts to improve on the safety of European made airships, the Shenandoah was designed to be filled with nonflammable helium instead of hydrogen and became the first rigid dirigible in the world to use helium. One year after her initial flight, the Shenandoah successfully crossed the United States logging 235 hours of flight time. With the crash of the Shenandoah and two other American airships, the Akron and the Macon, the future of rigid dirigibles was uncertain. In 1937, the fiery crash of the German airship Hindenburg brought an abrupt end to the era of the great airships.
Details
HM NumberHMAFA
Series This marker is part of the Ohio: Ohio Historical Society series
Tags
Marker Number2-61
Year Placed2002
Placed ByOhio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, Shenandoah Commemoration Committee, and The Ohio Historical Society
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, September 13th, 2014 at 7:29am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17S E 450875 N 4409126
Decimal Degrees39.83071667, -81.57408333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 39° 49.843', W 81° 34.445'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds39° 49' 50.58" N, 81° 34' 26.70" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)740
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 50523-50525 Marrietta Rd, Ava OH 43711, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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