When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship
Nearly everything people know about airships is wrong. Few realize that prior to the Hindenburg disaster airships transported passengers without a single casualty for more than 20 years, a record unmatched by any other form of transportation. When Giants Ruled the Sky tells the true but little-known story of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world’s largest, most expensive and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. In doing so it reveals how the American airship came within a hair’s breadth of replacing planes, trains, and ocean liners as the dominant form of long-distance transportation, and exactly what went wrong, a tale of physical courage, engineering acumen, ugly politicking and two egregious disasters.
1139711937
When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship
Nearly everything people know about airships is wrong. Few realize that prior to the Hindenburg disaster airships transported passengers without a single casualty for more than 20 years, a record unmatched by any other form of transportation. When Giants Ruled the Sky tells the true but little-known story of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world’s largest, most expensive and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. In doing so it reveals how the American airship came within a hair’s breadth of replacing planes, trains, and ocean liners as the dominant form of long-distance transportation, and exactly what went wrong, a tale of physical courage, engineering acumen, ugly politicking and two egregious disasters.
47.99 In Stock
When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

by John Geoghegan
When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

When Giants Ruled the Sky: The Brief Reign and Tragic Demise of the American Rigid Airship

by John Geoghegan

Hardcover

$47.99 
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Overview

Nearly everything people know about airships is wrong. Few realize that prior to the Hindenburg disaster airships transported passengers without a single casualty for more than 20 years, a record unmatched by any other form of transportation. When Giants Ruled the Sky tells the true but little-known story of the USS Macon (ZRS-5), the world’s largest, most expensive and most technologically advanced airship of her day, and the four men responsible for conceiving, designing, building, and flying her. In doing so it reveals how the American airship came within a hair’s breadth of replacing planes, trains, and ocean liners as the dominant form of long-distance transportation, and exactly what went wrong, a tale of physical courage, engineering acumen, ugly politicking and two egregious disasters.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780750987837
Publisher: The History Press
Publication date: 06/01/2022
Pages: 464
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

JOHN J. GEOGHEGAN began his career as a Special Correspondent for the New York Times. His first book, Operation Storm (Crown 2013), tells the story of a squadron of Japanese underwater aircraft carriers purpose-built to launch an aerial raid against the US as a follow up to Pearl Harbor. The Wall Street Journal called it ‘a fascinating, meticulously researched, and deft account.’ It has since been translated into Dutch and Japanese, published in paperback, and inspired a Channel Five documentary.

Table of Contents

Principal Players 7

Preface 13

Part I A Giant in Flight. USS Akron (ZRS-4), 1933

1 Admiral William A. Moffett: A Giant in Winter 23

2 Departures 29

3 A Night to Remember 38

4 Fight for Survival 47

5 Spotlight 54

6 Wiley on Trial 61

Part II A Giant is Born

7 Paul W. Litchfield: A Giant in Spring 73

8 Blimps Lead the Way 80

9 Dawn of the Commercial Airship 84

10 Competition 96

11 Cutting a Deal 102

12 Pitching Commercial Airships 106

13 The Design Competition 110

14 Success within Reach 117

15 For Want of a Nail 123

16 Airship Fever 129

17 Consequences 137

Part III A Giant in Trouble. USS Macon (ZRS-5), 1933-34

18 Building the Macon 145

19 Christening 154

20 Trial Flights 165

21 Lakehurst 172

22 Dr Karl Arnstein: A Giant Displaced 177

23 Doubts 184

24 Fulton 192

25 Sunnyvale 197

26 Up to the Task? 204

27 Flying Aircraft Carriers 229

28 Peril in the Sky 236

29 Fleet Problem XV 243

30 A Giant in Waiting 251

Part IV A Giant Redeemed. USS Macon (ZRS-5), 1934-35

31 The Houston Incident 257

32 Lt Cdr Wiley: A Giant Revealed 264

33 A Giant Excels 273

34 A Giant in Danger 283

35 A Giant is Lost 297

36 A Giant is Rescued 310

37 A Giant on Trial 319

38 Assigning Blame 332

39 Aftermath 344

40 A Giant is Found 350

Epilogue 358

Acknowledgements 371

Sources 375

Notes 385

Index 426

About the Author 437

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