The Story of THE AIRSHIP (NON-RIGID) _A Study of One of America’s Lesser Known Defense Weapons_ BY HUGH ALLEN [Illustration: Airship in flight] AKRON, OHIO, 1943 [Illustration: ADMIRAL W. A. MOFFETT To whom this book is dedicated] FIRST PRINTING, FEBRUARY, 1942 SECOND PRINTING, FEBRUARY, 1943 THIRD PRINTING, DECEMBER, 1943 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA THE LAKESIDE PRESS, R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY, CHICAGO AND CRAWFORDSVILLE, INDIANA Dedication To _Admiral William A. Moffett, and the men his leadership inspired—to Landsdowne, McCord and Berry—to Calnan and Dugan and other able juniors, to Maxfield and Hoyt, Hancock and Lawrence of an earlier decade—to the Army’s Hawthorne Gray, and as well to England’s Scott, France’s de Grenadin, Germany’s Lehmann and Goodyear’s Brannigan and Morton—names taken from lighter-than-air’s brief but distinguished casualty list—of men who believed in airships and accepted gallantly the penalty which progress eternally exacts from men—this book is dedicated._ _Not forgetting the living men, the Navy’s Rosendahl, Fulton, Mills, Settle; Goodyear’s Litchfield and Arnstein, and hundreds of others who have carried on with unshaken faith, in the face of great setbacks._ _Much of devotion and courage, of scientific research and engineering achievement has gone into this enterprise—and much has been proved. Today, airships of the non-rigid type are taking on a new responsibility to the nation. If they succeed, they may well bring back the great rigid airships, to act as long range scouts against enemy raid or surprise fleet movement, as fast moving bases and refueling points for fighting airplanes far at sea—and as factors in world commerce in days to come._ _It is this impulse which is driving forward the men who believe in airships—that the sacrifices and efforts of Admiral Moffett and the rest shall not have gone in vain._ [Illustration: E. J. THOMAS President of the Goodyear Company] [Illustration: CAPTAIN C. E. ROSENDAHL, U.S.N. He never gave up his ships] [Illustration: COMMANDER T. G. W. SETTLE, U.S.N. He explored the Stratosphere] [Illustration: CHARLES BRANNIGAN His courage still inspires airship men] [Illustration: P. W. LITCHFIELD An industrial leader, chairman of the Goodyear board, who has believed for 30 years that airships would prove useful to his country in peace or war] Foreword